The impressive early Toyota performance in 2012 was marred by a lapped Ferrari in the GTE Am class that pulled into an overtaking TS030 at the end of the famed Mulsanne Straight where Toyota and other unlimited cars reached a top speed of more than 330km/h.
Toyota Racing unveiled today a revised TS030 Hybrid car that will lead the team’s quest for victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship this season. The first full test of the 2013 car will begin at Paul Ricard in southern France tomorrow.
Toyota Racing will run a two-car team for the WEC season. Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima team up again in the #7 TS030 Hybrid. TS030 Hybrid #8 will compete outside of Le Mans for the first time, with a team of Anthony Davidson, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Buemi.
In a hard fought Le Mans race in 2012 that was marred by accidents, two Audi diesel hybrid P1 cars took first and second at the 24 hours, with another Audi in third. Toyota, though it did not finish in its first Le Mans race with a hybrid, provided a strong challenge to Audi and posted some of the fastest racing laps.
This impressive early Toyota performance was marred by a lapped Ferrari in the GTE Am class that pulled into an overtaking Toyota at the end of the famed Mulsanne Straight where Toyota cars reached a top speed of more than 330km/h. The amateur Ferrari punted the #8 Toyota off the track into a tire barrier, breaking the back of driver Anthony Davidson, who, along with co-drivers Stéphane Sarrazin, and Sébastien Buemi, was challenging Audi in Toyota’s first Le Mans race of this century.
At one point Toyota briefly led, but after the accident one-quarter of the way through the grueling contest, the remaining #7 (Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima) Toyota TS030 hybrid spent too much time in the pits, first with an alternator problem; then finally retiring with an engine failure after 10-and-a-half hours. In total, 21 of the 56 cars that started the race retired.
The 2013 TS030 Hybrid uses a revised version of the Toyota Racing hybrid system first used in 2012. The super capacitor-based system delivers 300 horsepower boost automatically, on top of the 530 horsepower provided by a 3.4 liter, normally aspirated V8 gasoline engine.
“We achieved more than we expected in 2012 but this only motivates us to push harder and enjoy more success,” said Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President, as the car was unveiled today.
“We are competing against very tough opposition and we knew from the start of this project that we have to perform at our top level to achieve our goals. We believe we have made strong progress with the car but we will not know if it is enough until the checkered flag falls at Le Mans.”
The complete WEC schedule is: Silverstone,UK (14 April); Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium (4 May); Le Mans, France (22 June); Sao Paulo, Brazil (1 September); Austin, United States (22 September); Fuji, Japan (20 October); Shanghai, China (10 November); Bahrain (30 November).
See:
- Toyota Hybrid in First Win Beats Audi in Six Hours of Sao Paulo
- Audi Hybrids One-Two at Le Mans. Toyotas Crash, Break
- Mazda to Supply Diesel Engines for 2013 Le Mans 24 Hour
I am very happy with the feeling, the feedback and the performance of the updated car. There are clear improvements, on aero, steering feelings or on curb riding. It is nice to start again and to join my team-mates, the engineers and the whole team. Last year at the same period, we had no idea of our performance. Now we know that every little improvement will help us to make a step closer to potentially win the championship.