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98-610: The Toyota TS040 Hybrid is a Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) sports car built and used by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in the 2014 and 2015 seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship . Work on the car's design began in November 2012, when the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) published its 2014 technical regulations and Toyota utilised its resources after the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans . The car

196-475: A Super Formula commitment that weekend at Autopolis . On a wet track which made driving tricky, Buemi and Davidson achieved another pole position for the No. 7 car; Sarrazin and Conway started fifth. Buemi led for the first hour, with Wurz moving the No. 7 car up to second in the opening laps. A heavy thunderstorm in the second hour stopped the race after Lapierre and Conway aquaplaned off the circuit. This put Lapierre

294-434: A 4.2-litre naturally-aspirated V8. In seasons 2017 through 2020, the engine produced about 600  bhp . Dallara , Onroak Automotive (Ligier), Oreca and the joint-venture Riley Tech / Multimatic were selected by FIA as the four exclusive chassis constructors, which must be closed-cockpit designs. Before the start of the 2021 season LMP2 cars have been slowed down to ensure the necessary lap time difference between

392-562: A class above production-based grand tourer cars, which compete alongside them in sports car racing . Later, LMP1 designs included hybrid cars that use electric motors to assist acceleration. The Le Mans Prototype LMP1 class has been replaced by Le Mans Hypercars in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) and in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from the 2021 season . Non-hybrid LMP1 cars were eligible to be "grandfathered" for two more seasons and compete alongside

490-520: A fully owned part of Toyota, TMG were employing 300 staff from 17 nations. In 1998 and 1999 , TMG entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans , finishing 2nd in 1999 with their Toyota GT-One . After 1999, Toyota stopped participating in rallying and sportscar racing in order to prepare for a switch to Formula One (F1) in 2002 using existing TMG resources. From 2002 to 2009, TMG operated its parent company's Formula One team named Panasonic Toyota Racing , starting 139 Grands Prix. In that time they finished on

588-420: A half an hour with an alternator problem in the second hour, allowing No. 7 to win the race; Buemi and Davidson recovered for an eleventh-place overall finish, earning them the 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Championship with a round to spare. Conway was again called up for São Paulo because Nakajima had visa problems. Buemi and Davidson recorded the third-quickest time in qualifying, and Conway and Sarrazin were

686-453: A lap behind the leaders, and Conway was beached in the gravel trap . They restarted in fourth and seventh overall; Buemi drove the No. 8 car to third place, and Wurz finished sixth in No. 7. Lapierre missed the 6 Hours of Fuji due to "personal circumstances"; Toyota did not replace him with Conway, leaving Davidson and Buemi to drive the No. 8 TS040. They again took the pole position, and Wurz and Nakajima were fourth. The No. 8 car only ceded

784-521: A minute and twelve seconds behind its sister car in second. Nakajima missed the Bahrain round due to a conflicting Super GT commitment in its season-closing race at Twin Ring Motegi , and Conway took over his role in the No. 7 car. Buemi and Davidson qualified the No. 8 TS040 in second, with Wurz and Conway obtaining a fourth-place starting position for the No. 7 car. The No. 8 car was delayed for

882-598: A new Yaris WRC around it. In 2021, following the purchase by Toyota, TMR was subsequently renamed to Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team Oy, and it became a branch of TGR-E. The facility in Cologne continued to provide engines for the new hybrid Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car used in WRC from 2022. In addition to spearheading Toyota's efforts in the World Rally Championship, the group has also developed and run

980-431: A petrol engine similar to that found in their customer P1 car. The car would be entered in the inaugural season of the FIA World Endurance Championship , though it would miss the first round of the series. Toyota suffered a severe setback with a crash in late April preventing the debut of the car at the 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps , but managed to get two TS030s ready by Le Mans. Unfortunately, neither car finished

1078-524: A rapid deflation. The car was destroyed and Boutsen suffered injury to his lower back. At the break of dawn, the No. 15 BMW was almost a lap ahead of the No. 3 Toyota which had been quietly cruising around at a steady pace. With this sniff of a win Ukyo Katayama put the foot down in the Toyota and set the fastest lap of the race. He narrowed the gap to less than a minute till again a tyre blowout befell

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1176-632: A revised Toyota TS030 driven by Stéphane Sarrazin , Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi . The sister car finished in fourth several laps down. Toyota finished the WEC season in second place again, taking two wins at rain-shortened Fuji and Shanghai. Toyota announced in October 2013 that it would continue racing in the World Endurance Championship in 2014. In order to comply with new-for-2014 LMP1 rules, Toyota revealed its new car,

1274-453: A single entrant appearing in the 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km . Although the race mostly consisted of Japanese teams, thus leaving out most of the manufacturers that had competed at Le Mans, Toyota still had to compete against rival Nissan, who also entered their R391 . In the end the GT-One would fall short once again, finishing second and only one lap behind the winning R391. The GT-One program

1372-538: A third-place finish for the No. 1 car (driven by Buemi, Nakajima and Davidson) at the 6 Hours of Silverstone , the TS040 struggled against rivals Audi and Porsche in the seven remaining rounds before Wurz, Sarrazin and Conway's No. 2 entry finished second at the season-ending 6 Hours of Bahrain ; Toyota placed third in the World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship. The TS040 was replaced by

1470-400: A total of 986 hp (735 kW). Its motor generator unit acted as a generator while braking, harvesting energy from the drive shaft to slow the car and convert into electricity which is stored in the supercapacitor. The 2014 regulations divided the motor-generator unit hierarchy into 2 MJ (0.56 kWh) increments, from 0 MJ (0 kWh) to 8 MJ (2.2 kWh). Toyota chose

1568-531: Is an aerodynamic improvement on its predecessor, the TS030 Hybrid , and its design allowed four-wheel drive . It has two kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative-braking devices at the front and rear axles to charge a supercapacitor and, in accordance with the 2014 regulations, was placed in the 6 MJ (1.7 kWh) class. The TS040's engine was carried over from the TS030; its displacement

1666-740: Is commonly referred to as a Le Mans car in the media. The first use of what would become Le Mans Prototypes was at the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans . In an attempt to increase the number of entrants beyond the small field of Group C competitors that the World Sportscar Championship had to offer, older Porsche 962s were allowed entry in Category 3. To further increase the size of the field, small open-cockpit race cars using production road car engines which were raced in small national championships were allowed in Category 4. Later, ACO announced its intentions to completely replace

1764-524: Is fully-owned and controlled by Toyota Motor Corporation . TGR-E's principal operation is technical development of motorsport vehicles and their competitive entries on behalf of Toyota's Gazoo Racing brand in the FIA 's World Endurance Championship (WEC) and World Rally Championship (WRC). The latter is run from a satellite facility in Jyväskylä , Finland , known as Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT . TGR-E

1862-483: The 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship under the new Le Mans Hypercar regulations. It has a 3.5L V6 twin-turbo petrol engine connected to the rear wheels, and a battery hybrid system connected to the front wheels. † Season still in progress. The company revealed in its annual review that it has developed an electric racing car based on the Radical sportscar, along with Cologne company e-Wolf . The TMG EV P001

1960-471: The 24 Hours of Le Mans test day on 30 May, and was announced as taking part in the race four days later. In its three qualifying sessions, Sarrazin put the No. 2 car seventh; the No. 1 entry, driven by Nakajima, took eighth in the first session. None of Toyota's drivers improved their respective car's times in the later sessions. Toyota could not match Audi and Porsche's race pace, despite being more than two seconds per lap faster than in 2014. Davidson damaged

2058-600: The 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps , Neel Jani and Marc Lieb 's No. 14 Porsche beat Buemi and Davidson for the pole position in the final seconds of qualifying; Sarrazin and Nakajima placed fourth. The No. 14 Porsche held the lead for the opening two hours, before Buemi took over the position (due to Toyota's double-stinting their tyres) and Lieb stalled in the pit lane which allowed Buemi to increase his advantage over Lieb and (later) Romain Dumas , who slowed with an electrical fault which disabled his hybrid system and resulting in

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2156-705: The Algarve International Circuit and the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón . On 26 March, the TS040 was introduced to the press during the three-day preseason test session at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The cars had covered more than 25,000 km (16,000 mi) before their competitive debut at the season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone in April. At Silverstone (despite not topping any of the three practice sessions held before qualifying),

2254-531: The Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The technical requirements for an LMP include bodywork covering all mechanical elements of the car. As of 2023, there are two classes within Le Mans Prototypes, designated LMP2 and LMP3 . While not as fast as open-wheel Formula One cars around a track, the LMP1s were the fastest closed-wheel racing cars used in circuit racing. Le Mans Prototypes are considered

2352-489: The TS050 Hybrid for the 2016 season. The TS040's initial studies and simulations began immediately after the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) published its first revision of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship technical regulations in November 2012 . Toyota gradually increased their involvement in the car's development, focusing on the project after the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans . The TS040, designed to meet

2450-624: The Toyota GT-One and Toyota TS030 Hybrid in sports car racing . The GT-One entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans in both 1998 and 1999 , and the TS030 Hybrid made its début in 2012 . Introduced in time for Le Mans in 1998 , the GT-One first appeared at the official testing days for the race held in May. Three GT-Ones appeared, setting the second, fifth, and tenth best times, easily beating out custom built prototypes which were meant to be

2548-477: The Toyota TS030 Hybrid in the World Endurance Championship. In 2015, it was announced Toyota would return to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with a Yaris WRC built and prepared by TMG in Cologne. However, several months later it was announced TMG would only be responsible for engine development whilst Tommi Mäkinen Racing Oy (TMR) would develop the car and run the entry from Finland. TMG

2646-565: The Toyota TS040 Hybrid . The car has a 3.7L V8 normally aspirated petrol engine powering the rear wheels, and regenerative-braking devices at both axles to allow temporary four-wheel drive . The Toyota TS050 Hybrid was developed for the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship . It was powered by the H8909 2.4L V6 twin-turbo petrol engine for the first time and a 2.22 kWh battery hybrid system. The Toyota GR010 Hybrid competed in

2744-503: The World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship at the season-ending 6 Hours of São Paulo . The car was further developed after the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans in accordance with the 2015 regulations. The front of the TS040 changed, a new suspension preserved tyre life, its supercapacitor was altered for better performance, and two body kits were created to match the car to a track. Although the season began with

2842-472: The safety car start due to morning rain, Davidson ran fifth until a slow puncture forced him into the pit lane. He regained the place until Wurz spun on the wet track and Nakajima spun into the gravel trap on the track's final turn. The track gradually dried, and Buemi drove the No. 1 car to a fifth-place finish; Sarrazin took sixth in the No. 2 car. Toyota again began from the third row of the grid, with Davidson and Nakajima going faster than Wurz and Sarrazin at

2940-822: The 2015–2019 first-generation ruleset were the Ginetta-Juno P3 , Ligier JS P3 , Norma M30 , ADESS-03 , and the Ave-Riley AR-02. The cars were eligible in a number of series, such as the Asian Le Mans Series, the European Le Mans Series, as well as the V de V Endurance Series and the IMSA Prototype Challenge . A number of championships for the class have also been created, such as the FRD LMP3 series and

3038-412: The 6 MJ (1.7 kWh) category, since the 8 MJ (2.2 kWh) class had a negative effect on lap time due to its additional weight. New regulations were enacted for 2015, requiring an 80-per cent redesign of the TS040; this included a new front-end crash structure , a suspension optimised to preserve tyre life and additional weight reduction. Two body kits were designed: one for fast tracks and

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3136-520: The Americas , Buemi and Davidson's No. 1 car narrowly clinched fifth place ahead of teammates Sarrazin and Conway in the No. 2 car. Buemi briefly moved to fourth place on the opening lap, with Wurz fifth. Davidson later relieved Buemi, but incurred a stop-and-go penalty for missing the pit-lane entry and narrowly avoided running out of fuel. After a 12-minute full-course yellow when an LMP2 car crashed, Conway spun to avoid hitting slower LMGTE traffic he

3234-818: The British LMP3 Cup. First-generation cars were powered by a 5.0-litre normally-aspirated Nissan VK50 V8 engine , producing 310 kW (420 hp). A 2nd Generation ruleset was introduced for 2020, with new cars introduced: the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 , Ligier JS P320 , Duqueine D-08 , and the ADESS-03 Evo. These cars can be built from its predecessors using an upgrade kit. The new LMP3 prototypes are used in Asian Le Mans Series, Michelin Le Mans Cup , IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge , European Le Mans Series, and Prototype Cup Germany. For

3332-642: The Corolla was not yet ready), Toyota continued to support the Celica ST205 rallied by Italian HF Grifone team, Toyota Team Sweden, Marlboro Toyota Team Belgium, and Tein Sport in selected WRC events. In the new World Rally Car era of the WRC, Toyota introduced the Corolla WRC in the 1997 Rally of Finland with a new team name sponsored by the lubricants company, Castrol . The team however, did not enter

3430-632: The GT class regulations, forcing the ACO to promote them as prototypes. In 2000, changes were made to the LMP regulations, as the ACO once again split the open-cockpit LMP class. The two new classes became known as "LMP900" and "LMP675", with the numbers denoting the minimum weight requirements (in kilograms) for each class. The LMP900s were to be more powerful and faster in top speed, but also heavier and more cumbersome. The LMP675s were to be smaller and more nimble, yet lack

3528-519: The Group C cars with Le Mans Prototypes . Two classes were created, with LMP1s running large displacement custom-built engines that were usually turbocharged, and LMP2s using the smaller displacement production-based engines. Both classes were required to have open cockpits. However, LMP1 cars that year were just former Group C cars, some still with closed cockpits ( Toyota 94C-V , Courage C32 , Kremer K8 Spyder , Porsche 962C GTI , ALD C289 and Alpa LM). At

3626-692: The Hypercar category, a single aero kit has been made mandatory across the whole season and is limited to the Le Mans specification in the WEC; the ELMS teams have retained the right to switch between the aero kits. LMP3 is an entry-level prototype class intended for introducing young drivers and new teams to endurance racing before they progress to the higher classes of prototype racing, LMP2 and ultimately Hypercar. LMP3 uses closed-cockpit chassis, which can be built by any licensed constructor. Cars eligible for

3724-540: The LMP2 and a new class—Hypercar. In the original version of the new ruleset, revealed in November 2020, only the power of the Gibson engine has been reduced—to 560 bhp. Right before the start of the season, the cars were further weakened, by trimming an additional 20 bhp to a total of 540 bhp. The minimum weight of the cars has also been increased by 20 kg and has been set at 950 kg. Furthermore, mirroring

3822-563: The No. 2 car was close behind in fourth. Competing with the TS040 Hybrid for the second consecutive year, Toyota accumulated 164 points and finished third in the World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship. Bird, Conway and Davidson shared driving duties of a TS040 at the post-season rookie test session at the Bahrain International Circuit the day after the 6 Hours of Bahrain. A 2015-specification TS040 chassis

3920-471: The No. 20 Porsche; pole position was awarded to the latter, since they set their times first. Wurz and Nakajima were a further two-tenths of a second behind in fourth. Buemi and Davidson gained the lead from Porsche in the first minutes of the second hour through better pit-stop strategy and did not relinquish it, setting fast lap times consistently for the rest of the race to win. The No. 7 car had intermittent power issues which were eventually fixed, and finished

4018-441: The No. 7 TS040 driven by Wurz and Nakajima took pole position by five-thousands of a second from the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Loïc Duval and Tom Kristensen ; Davidson and Lapierre's No. 8 car qualified fifth. In the race, Wurz led from the start until he was delayed by traffic and overtaken by André Lotterer in the No. 2 Audi on the fourteenth lap and sometime later Buemi moved to second. Rain fell soon afterwards; Wurz

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4116-404: The No. 7 car bumped Porsche from the top of the time sheets and improved in the following session to secure Toyota's first pole position at Le Mans since the 1999 race . Buemi put the No. 8 car third, separated from Nakajima by Dumas' Porsche. Wurz started in the No. 7 car and led for most of the opening hours, and Lapierre spun from second after leaving a Mulsanne Straight chicane . Lapierre put

4214-553: The No. 8 car out of contention in the second hour, caught by a change in weather conditions between Marco Bonanomi 's No. 2 Audi and Sam Bird 's No. 81 AF Corse Ferrari 458 on the Mulsanne Straight and aquaplaning into the barriers. Lapierre returned to the pit lane, and the No. 8 car recovered to finish third overall. Sarrazin took over from Wurz, and lost the lead through the pit-stop phase to Porsche drivers Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard before reclaiming it in

4312-438: The No. 88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR in the third hour, losing thirteen minutes as the No. 1 car's cooling system needed replacing; multiple penalties for the car's crew restricted them to sixth. At the 6 Hours of Shanghai , Toyota once again qualified on the third row of the grid; Buemi and Davidson started from fifth place, and Wurz and Conway secured the sixth position. After some positional changes following

4410-511: The TS040 had two kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative braking devices (the ACO used the alternate acronym, ERS) produced by Toyota Racing Development at the company's road research and development Higashi-Fuji Technical Center to charge a Nisshinbo supercapacitor . Additional power was directed to the axles (the rear by Denso and the front by Aisin AW ), giving it an automatic horsepower increase of 473 hp (353 kW) for

4508-453: The Toyota team again. Katayama was however able to return to the pits for new tyres and continued. He managed to finish second after a valiant effort placing first in the GT-P class. However, they fell short of the overall victory at Le Mans, which would have made them only the second Japanese manufacturer to get an overall win ( Mazda being the first in 1991 ). The GT-One raced only once more,

4606-605: The WRC Driver's and Manufacturer's Titles in 1993 with Juha Kankkunen , and in 1994 with Didier Auriol . In 1995 TTE was banned for 12 months from the World Rally Championship (WRC) for cheating by designing an illegal air restrictor on the ST205 that included both a bypass mechanism and spring-loaded devices to conceal it from scrutineers. While under suspension in 1996 (as well in 1997 , when

4704-420: The back of the front wheel guards . Independent push-rod suspensions are linked to a bellcrank , and the torsion bar is mounted at the pivot point. Total , Toyota's petrol supplier, worked with the team to enhance fuel efficiency and performance. The car's seven-speed sequential gearbox was made of aluminium, and the multiplate clutch was supplied to Toyota by ZF Friedrichshafen . The TS040's driveshaft

4802-421: The car losing two laps. Davidson, Buemi and Lapierre's No. 8 TS040 was unhindered thereafter for their second consecutive win. The No. 7 Toyota's oversteer and lack of grip cost Wurz, Nakajima and Sarrazin a battle between the lead Audi of Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Duval in the second half of the race. In the trio of qualifying sessions held to determine the grid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Nakajima in

4900-538: The costs, FIA introduced a new set of LMP2 regulations, which will be locked in through 2020, aiming for a significant power increase, to the range of 150 horsepower (which is expected to lead to a four-second decrease in lap time at Le Mans). Gibson Technology is the exclusive engine supplier for LMP2, producing a four-litre normally-aspirated V8. Biofuels , specifically petrol with 10% ethanol and biodiesel ( BTL ), are allowed in both LMP1 and LMP2 categories. The fuel tank size and minimum weight for non-hybrid cars

4998-587: The end of the 1999 season in order for Toyota Motorsport GmbH to focus on entries in Formula One and CART . The facility continued to provide services and support to customer teams within the sport. Toyota Motorsport developed an early prototype Toyota Yaris WRC in preparation for the Toyota Gazoo Racing entry in the 2017 World Rally Championship. Ultimately, TMG only produced the engine whilst Tommi Mäkinen Racing Oy of Finland (TMR) developed

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5096-477: The fifth-fastest. Toyota battled with rivals Audi and Porsche during the race, and Davidson's No. 8 TS040 was almost fifteen seconds behind Jani's No. 20 Porsche before competition ended with Webber's serious crash. Sarrazin was closing on the No. 1 Audi of Kristensen until the battle ended in Kristensen's favour. Toyota scored 289 points to win the 2014 World Manufacturers' Championship . The 2015 TS040 Hybrid

5194-420: The final hours) to finish sixth. Buemi and Davidson were nominated to drive the No. 1 TS040 to qualify for the inaugural 6 Hours of Nürburgring as part of the World Endurance Championship and placed fifth, with Wurz and Sarrazin starting from sixth. Both cars again could not match Audi and Porsche's pace, finishing three and four laps behind for fifth and sixth place. In qualifying for the 6 Hours of Circuit of

5292-403: The fourth hour. As Nakajima drove the No. 7 Toyota into its ninth hour in the lead, the car lost power when an FIA-mandated piece of monitoring equipment melted a wiring loom and forced him to abandon the car at Arnage corner. Seven weeks before the 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas , it was announced that Conway would take over Nakajima's driving duties in the No. 7 TS040 because Nakajima had

5390-419: The front right corner of the No. 1 car when he made contact with a Ferrari he was lapping (affecting its handling), and had another minor collision soon after. A thirteen-minute pit stop for replacement front and rear bodywork and the installation of a new left-rear suspension dropped him five laps behind the leader, and the car finished eighth. The No. 2 car passed the No. 9 Audi (when it had technical problems in

5488-444: The inlet tract and placed over the angled throttle valves relative to the inlet path. They were fitted with eight solenoid injectors which sent power each of the throttle runners and into the inlet portlets. Toyota installed two systems featuring knock control to detect vibration and real-time combustion pressure sensors to tune the spark timing among other engine components during a race for reliability purposes. Like its predecessor,

5586-501: The latter was unavailable, and Buemi and Davidson drove the No. 1 TS040 as a two-person entry. Starting in sixth place, they held fifth until Duval and di Grassi passed them; Conway and Sarrazin qualified in seventh. Both cars lacked the Audis' and Porsches' speed; the No. 2 car finished fifth, and the No. 1 car finished eighth with throttle and electrical problems. Nakajima was cleared by FIA medical delegate Jacques Tropenat to participate in

5684-511: The lead on the race's first lap and the pit stops to Webber's No. 20 Porsche (which made an unscheduled pit stop to replace a punctured tyre ) to win; the No. 7 came second. Going into the 6 Hours of Shanghai , Lapierre was announced as not taking any further part in 2014 and plans were made to substitute him with Conway for the season's two remaining races: the 6 Hours of Bahrain and the 6 Hours of São Paulo . Buemi and Davidson qualified with an identical two-lap average time with Lieb and Dumas in

5782-595: The manufacturer ultimately decided to remain in the 6 MJ (1.7 kWh) class. However, the TS040's supercapacitor was modified for enhanced performance. Construction of the car began immediately after the 2014 24 Hours of Le Mans , and continued until January 2015. Toyota announced that they would continue participating in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a new car in July 2013. Drivers Alexander Wurz , Nicolas Lapierre , Kazuki Nakajima , Anthony Davidson , Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Buemi were resigned to

5880-605: The manufacturer's championship that year. When they returned to contest the championship in 1998 , they did so with the Corolla WRC driven by the crews of Carlos Sainz/ Luis Moya and Didier Auriol/ Denis Giraudet . They finished the season in second overall in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships. In 1999 however, the manufacturers championship was taken, the third in TTE's existence. Toyota withdrew from rallying at

5978-520: The morning of 21 January at the Circuit Paul Ricard , when Wurz and Davidson completed a shakedown session and remained at the track for two days without major problems. The first long-distance pictures of the car being tested at the track were published in the automotive media eight days later, and more photographs and the first video of the TS040 being driven by Davidson in wet weather were released on 3 March. Testing continued into March at

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6076-607: The new Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) regulations to improve driver safety and enhance visibility, was an aerodynamic improvement on the TS030 Hybrid . Built at Toyota Motorsport headquarters in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Cologne , the car's chassis design was supervised by engineer Pascal Vasselon . The TS040's engines were built in Japan, and the team was directed by the French racing squad Oreca . The car

6174-662: The new class for the 2021 to 2022 seasons. Starting from the 2023 season of WEC and IMSA SportsCar Championship, Le Mans Hypercars are joined by Le Mans Daytona h (LMDh) cars. These two kinds of prototypes will form the top class of endurance racing: Hypercar in WEC and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) in IMSA. Le Mans Prototypes have used various names depending on the series in which they compete. The FIA 's equivalent cars were referred to as Sports Racers (SR) or Sports Racing Prototypes (SRP). The American IMSA GT Championship termed their cars World Sports Cars (WSC), while

6272-486: The other for tight turns. Designers added a guide vane below the car's headlights for balance while braking, but felt that a second (at the rear of the vehicle) would create turbulence . Little work was conducted on the powertrain . Although Toyota considered changing to a battery system, comparing its hybrid technology with that installed in the Porsche 919 Hybrid and switching to the 8 MJ (2.2 kWh) category,

6370-487: The pit lane for a nose-cone change after running over a thin trackside bollard while lapping the No. 50 Larbre Compétition Chevrolet Corvette C7.R at Becketts corner. During practice for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps , Nakajima collided heavily with the back of Oliver Jarvis 's No. 8 Audi on the Kemmel Straight due to spray-impaired visibility and broke his back. He was not replaced by Kobayashi because

6468-745: The podium 13 times, earned three pole positions and scored a total of 278.5 points. TMG also provided their Toyota F1 engines to the Jordan Formula One Team in 2005, which was then sold and renamed as Midland F1 Racing in 2006, but continued using Toyota F1 engines until their withdrawal from F1 at the end of 2006. Williams Formula One Team were also TMG's customers for their Toyota F1 engines from 2007 to 2009. On 4 November 2009, Toyota announced their withdrawal from F1. TMG moved back into sports car racing from 2011 as an engine supplier to Lola Cars , powering Rebellion Racing . In 2012, TMG fully returned to sports car competition entries with

6566-522: The race: the #8 car being driven by Anthony Davidson suffered a massive crash with a Ferrari 458 (which also fractured two of Davidson's vertebrae), while the No. 7 car hit the DeltaWing and later retired with an engine failure. Toyota continued to compete in the rest of the WEC season with a single car, collecting three wins including the 6 Hours of Fuji . At the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans Toyota achieved its fourth second-place finish at Le Mans with

6664-456: The same class structure as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, meaning it was the first championship to use the LMP name. At the same time, the ACO greatly altered their LMP classes. The smaller LMP2 class were briefly eliminated, while a new class of closed-cockpit prototypes was allowed in, known as "LMGTP" (Le Mans grand touring prototype). These cars were evolutions of production-based road cars that the ACO considered too advanced and too fast to fall under

6762-494: The same time, the IMSA GT Championship announced the end of their closed cockpit GTP and Lights classes, deciding as well to replace them with a single open-cockpit class of World Sports Cars equivalent to LMP1. This formula continued up to 1996, with many manufacturers embracing the LMP and WSC classes, including Ferrari , Porsche , and Mazda . In 1997, the first European series based around Le Mans Prototypes

6860-404: The season-ending 6 Hours of Bahrain . Both cars moved into fourth and fifth after the No. 17 Porsche was forced into the pit lane for repairs. Later, Nakajima was forced into the pit lane to change the No. 1 vehicle's front bodywork after hitting the No. 36 Signatech Alpine A450b . The No. 2 car moved into third when the No. 8 Audi required repairs, and held the position for the rest of the race;

6958-518: The season. Nicolas Lapierre , Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi won the season's opening two races in the No. 8 car; Lapierre aquaplaned , crashing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans before recovering to finish third. After the crash, Lapierre was dropped and Buemi and Nakajima won two more races and had another podium finish to win the 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Championship . Consistent performances from Alexander Wurz , Stéphane Sarrazin , Kazuki Nakajima and reserve driver Mike Conway won Toyota

7056-475: The second generation, engines were upgraded to the 5.6-litre Nissan VK56 , increasing horsepower to 340 kW (455 hp). For 2025, the engines used in the class are set to be replaced with the twin-turbocharged 3.4-litre Toyota V35A , bringing about a power increase to 350 kW (470 hp). LMPC ( Le Mans Prototype Challenge ) was an earlier entry level class, introduced in 2009, consisting of competitors running identical Oreca FLM09 cars. The class

7154-521: The short-lived United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) used the classic Can-Am (CA) name for their prototypes. Since 2004, most series have switched to referring to these cars as Le Mans Prototypes . The American Le Mans Series , the successor to the IMSA GT Championship and the predecessor of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, officially referred to the cars simply as Prototypes (P1, P2, or PC). An LMP

7252-588: The situation becoming somewhat reminiscent of 1998, when the No. 1 and No. 2 car were retired. Martin Brundle in the No. 1 Toyota suffered a puncture at high speed on the Mulsanne Straight , the cars rear suspension was badly damaged and he was unable to get back to the pits. The No. 2 Toyota being driven by Thierry Boutsen was next to go when he suffered a high speed crash under the Dunlop bridge due to

7350-665: The sportscar championship of the 1970s. However, the USRRC collapsed before the end of 1999, with the series becoming the Rolex Sports Car Series chose to use the FIA's SR1 and SR2 formula instead. 1998 saw a great expansion for the ACO's LMP classes. Following the cancellation of the IMSA GT Championship at the end of 1998, the ACO allowed for the creation of the American Le Mans Series. This series used

7448-424: The superior class. For the race week itself, all three cars performed admirably in qualifying by continuing their quick pace, qualifying second, seventh, and eighth, being beaten only by their GT class competitor, Mercedes-Benz. For the race itself, the No. 28 GT-One suffered from a high speed accident halfway through the race, taking it out of competition. The two other entrants continued to fight on, both remaining in

7546-445: The team's test driver. At the season-opening 6 Hours of Silverstone , Davidson and Nakajima qualified the No. 1 car in fourth position, and Sarrazin and Conway placed the sister No. 2 car in sixth. Toyota were briefly first and second, challenging rivals Audi and Porsche before the No. 1 car finished fifteen seconds behind the No. 7 Audi of Marcel Fässler , Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer . The No. 2 car finished fourth; Conway had to enter

7644-579: The team. Details of the TS040 Hybrid were released to the public by engineer Pascal Vasselon at the 2013 6 Hours of São Paulo meeting on 31 August. Toyota signed IndyCar Series driver (and 2013 Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) quadruple winner for G-Drive Racing ) Mike Conway as a reserve and test driver. The TS040s' lineups were changed in February 2014, with Sarrazin moving to the No. 7 car and Lapierre to No. 8 entry after Toyota evaluated driver strengths and characteristics. The TS040 began private testing on

7742-409: The top 10. However, within the closing hours, the higher ranked No. 29 GT-One suffered a gearbox failure while in competition for the race win. Thus Toyota was left to take ninth place in the race with the lone No. 27 entry, which ended the race 25 laps behind the winning Porsche 911 GT1 . Their 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans started bitterly after the team was plagued by multiple Michelin tyre failures,

7840-535: The top speed of the larger class. Both classes were intended to be able to compete for overall wins. Audi , Chrysler , Cadillac , and Panoz opted to use the LMP900 formula, while MG were the only major manufacturer to attempt the LMP675 class. The LMGTP class also continued, with Bentley being the only manufacturer to build a closed-cockpit prototype after the regulation changes in 2000. In 2017, in order to limit

7938-446: Was subject to adjustment to reduce the difference in performance between hybrid and non-hybrid cars. There were no limits on the number of cylinders for any type of engine. Bodywork was required to cover all mechanical elements of the car, so that they couldn't be visible when the car is viewed directly from the front, side, or top. The LMP1 cars were generally the most powerful, with higher straight-line speeds. The LMP1 category

8036-593: Was also previously known as Andersson Motorsport and Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), both of which ran Toyota Team Europe (TTE) entries in the WRC. TGR-E began as Andersson Motorsport in Sweden, a company established by rally driver Ove Andersson for his own motorsport career. His relationship with Toyota began in 1972 when he was offered a Toyota Celica to drive in the RAC Rally in the autumn of that year. The relationship developed and from 1973, Andersson Motorsport

8134-523: Was also the time they revealed their first four wheel drive car, the Toyota Celica GT-Four , driven by Juha Kankkunen and Kenneth Eriksson . Carlos Sainz won the 1990 FIA World Rally Championship Title for Drivers with ST165 . The newer GT-Four, ST185 , made its debut at the 1992 Rallye Monte Carlo, culminating in Sainz again winning the title in this year. The ST185 also won

8232-494: Was appointed for responsibility of Toyota's works entries in the then new World Rally Championship , competing in the name of Toyota Team Europe (TTE). In 1975, the team and organisation moved to Brussels, Belgium; then again in 1979 to Cologne, Germany where it was established as Andersson Motorsport GmbH. In 1993, Toyota Motor Corporation bought Andersson Motorsport GmbH and renamed it to Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG). Andersson remained as team manager of TTE. At this time, as

8330-407: Was carried over from the TS030 Hybrid. Its displacement , increased from 3.4 L (210 cu in) to 3.7 L (230 cu in) by lengthening the stroke for better efficiency, supplied 513 horsepower (383 kW) to the rear wheels. The engine was developed to run with a fuel flow metre promoting a concept switch to efficiency from power. The bosses-mounted injection system were in

8428-418: Was conducted at Toyota Motorsports' wind tunnel in Cologne. Toyota achieved their objective of lowering the car's weight by the mandated 45 kg (99 lb) with design and lightweight components. The TS040's design permitted four-wheel drive , and its chassis consisted of carbon fibre and aluminium materials. Front airflow to cool the chassis was enabled with exit ducts under the wing mirror stalk at

8526-551: Was dropped in European Le Mans Series in 2014 . As the cost of running an LMPC team was found to be comparable to that for an LMP2 team, the class was dropped after the 2017 season in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH ( TGR-E ) is an automotive engineering and motorsport services facility based in Cologne , Germany . It

8624-425: Was increased from 3.4 L (210 cu in) to 3.7 L (230 cu in) for better efficiency, producing 513 horsepower (383 kW) to the rear wheels. The TS040 was shown to the press for the first time at the 26 March preseason test session at Circuit Paul Ricard , and was driven 25,000 km (16,000 mi) before the start of the 2014 season. Toyota supplied two cars, driven by six drivers, for

8722-593: Was introduced at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 26 March, after 25,000 km (16,000 mi) of testing at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón and the Algarve International Circuit. There were two driver changes, as Nakajima moved to the renumbered No. 1 TS040 full-time (after leaving Super GT) and Conway was promoted to a full-time spot in the No. 2 car. Former Formula One racer Kamui Kobayashi was signed as Toyota's reserve driver, and Lapierre became

8820-500: Was lapping. He soon lost control of the No. 2 car on turn eleven kerbing while going past slower cars, and retired after a heavy impact with the barrier. Nakajima later drove the No. 1 car to fourth after the No. 18 Porsche experienced technical problems. Buemi and Nakajima qualified fifth, and Sarrazin and Conway took sixth for the 6 Hours of Fuji . Changeable weather conditions in the race's first two hours allowed Toyota to challenge Audi and Porsche until they were distanced. Sarrazin hit

8918-451: Was launched, known as the " International Sports Racing Series ". Using classes similar to LMP1/WSC and LMP2, these cars were known as "SR1" and "SR2" by the FIA. 1998 saw the creation of another series of Le Mans Prototypes, with the new United States Road Racing Championship attempting to break away from the IMSA GT Championship. To differ from IMSA'S WSC class, the USRRC named their open-cockpit prototypes " Can-Am " in an attempt to resurrect

9016-424: Was not continued into 2000, Toyota instead turning TTE into leaders of the new Toyota F1 team. This would mark a hiatus in Toyota's attempts at Le Mans until the 2012 season, over a decade later, when Toyota decided to once again contest at the top tier of sports car racing. In October 2011, Toyota announced its return to Le Mans in 2012 after twelve-year hiatus, with a hybrid-powered Le Mans Prototype , sporting

9114-400: Was on rain tyres , and Buemi was on intermediates. The weather conditions improved afterwards, and Buemi's strategy gave the No. 8 car the overall lead. Lapierre and (later) Nakajima did not cede position for the rest of the rain-shortened race to win. Sarrazin and (later) Davidson prevailed over Mark Webber 's No. 20 Porsche to finish second. Two weeks later in changeable track conditions at

9212-565: Was refined with hardware-in-the-loop technology and computer-calculation hardware to test individual components based on track data, enabling engineers to optimise its design; and was more efficient than test driving. The new LMP1 regulations made the TS040 10 cm (100 mm) shorter than its predecessor and reduced the width of the tyre arches by 5 cm (50 mm); most attention focused on reducing drag and increasing downforce (improving road grip ), lowering its fuel consumption by 25 per cent over 2013 . The TS040's aerodynamic design

9310-423: Was renamed to Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe in April 2020. In 2021, TGR-E assumed the running of the WRC team from Tommi Mäkinen Racing. Toyota Team Europe (TTE) began in February 1975. In August of that year, Hannu Mikkola won TTE's first rally, the 1000 Lakes Rally in a Corolla 1600, where the competition used 2.0 L engines. In September 1987, TTE moved to a larger premises, in which they still reside. It

9408-429: Was retired at the end of the 2020 season, replaced by a new top class of the endurance racing: Hypercar . From 2017, in order to limit the costs, FIA introduced a new set of regulations, which will be locked in through 2025. The rules allow a significant power increase (150 horsepower) which is expected to lead to a four-second decrease in lap time at Le Mans. Gibson Technology is the exclusive engine supplier, producing

9506-603: Was tested in January 2016 at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón and the Circuit Paul Ricard with its successor, the TS050 Hybrid . (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype ( LMP ) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans , FIA World Endurance Championship , IMSA SportsCar Championship , European Le Mans Series , and Asian Le Mans Series . Le Mans Prototypes were created by

9604-401: Was the constant-velocity joint type (including tripods), with a viscous-constructed mechanical locking differential . The dual-circuit Brembo brake discs , made of lightweight carbon ceramic materials, enabled hydraulically-activated power steering . Michelin remained the team's tyre supplier. The car's mid-mounted , naturally-aspirated petrol V8 engine , angled at 90 degrees,

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