Following the emergence of a couple of leaked images last week, Toyota Racing has officially unveiled its all-new TS030 Hybrid race car.
It couples a 3.4 litre, normally-aspirated, V8 petrol engine with THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System - Racing) that powers an electric motor. The benefit of such a configuration is that energy can be recovered under braking and then released to help acceleration out of corners, thereby reducing both lap times and fuel consumption. As the regulations dictate that only two wheels can be driven by the hybrid components, part of the test programme will evaluate whether the motor should be front- or rear-mounted.
Run by Toyota Motorsport from its base in Cologne, the team will be competing in the LMP1 class of the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship.
A debut appearance is scheduled for the second round of the series, which is the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May. Just one car will be entered in that event, with a confirmed driver line-up of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima.
The following month sees the main race of the championship, the Le Mans 24 Hours. Toyota Racing will be competing with two TS030 Hybrids in the French classic, although the drivers for the second car have yet to be announced.
Given that it’s a new set-up and a new car, Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Toyota Racing Team President, is being suitably pragmatic about what can be achieved this season. He commented: “Of course we would love to win Le Mans; that is the dream for all competitors in this race. But we are realistic and we know we need to develop and to learn in order to compete with some very strong competition.
“Our target this year is to show the performance level of our car and particularly the THS-R powertrain. Hybrid is a core technology of Toyota so it is important to demonstrate this in a motorsport arena and we want to prove it can bring a performance advantage, both in terms of lap time and fuel efficiency.
“Everyone involved in designing, developing and preparing the car - both at TMG and at Motor Sport Division in Japan - has worked incredibly hard to reach this point and we are all very excited to be back on the race track again.”
Related posts:
2012 Toyota hybrid LMP1
Hybrid Toyota for Le Mans
It couples a 3.4 litre, normally-aspirated, V8 petrol engine with THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System - Racing) that powers an electric motor. The benefit of such a configuration is that energy can be recovered under braking and then released to help acceleration out of corners, thereby reducing both lap times and fuel consumption. As the regulations dictate that only two wheels can be driven by the hybrid components, part of the test programme will evaluate whether the motor should be front- or rear-mounted.
Run by Toyota Motorsport from its base in Cologne, the team will be competing in the LMP1 class of the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship.
A debut appearance is scheduled for the second round of the series, which is the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in May. Just one car will be entered in that event, with a confirmed driver line-up of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima.
The following month sees the main race of the championship, the Le Mans 24 Hours. Toyota Racing will be competing with two TS030 Hybrids in the French classic, although the drivers for the second car have yet to be announced.
Given that it’s a new set-up and a new car, Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Toyota Racing Team President, is being suitably pragmatic about what can be achieved this season. He commented: “Of course we would love to win Le Mans; that is the dream for all competitors in this race. But we are realistic and we know we need to develop and to learn in order to compete with some very strong competition.
“Our target this year is to show the performance level of our car and particularly the THS-R powertrain. Hybrid is a core technology of Toyota so it is important to demonstrate this in a motorsport arena and we want to prove it can bring a performance advantage, both in terms of lap time and fuel efficiency.
“Everyone involved in designing, developing and preparing the car - both at TMG and at Motor Sport Division in Japan - has worked incredibly hard to reach this point and we are all very excited to be back on the race track again.”
Related posts:
2012 Toyota hybrid LMP1
Hybrid Toyota for Le Mans
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