Toyota’s attempt in conquering the 24 Hours of Le Mans might have ended in misery, where one of their cars went airborne in a horrifying manner and the others plagued with technical difficulties. But those are far from being an excuse for Toyota to throw in the towel for the endurance racing scene, as they did not only managed to secure the pole position for the Six Hours of Sao Paulo race, the TS030 Hybrid Le Mans prototype had also managed to charge on to victory for the first time.
As the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), the #7 TS030 Hybrid piloted by drivers Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre defended the pole position throughout the whole six hours of the race, forcing the mighty Audi R18 e-tron quattro to admit defeat for the first time on this season. The duo managed to complete 247 laps during the race which included seven pit stops along the way.
This is also marks Toyota’s first victory in an FIA world championship race since the Rally of China back in 1999, and their last international endurance racing success since the victory in Monza with the TS010 in 1992. With almost a decade of absence from the endurance racing scene, this is definitely a clear message from Toyota, stating that they are still an opponent not to be messed with.
A quick peek on the TS030’s specs, this new Hybrid racing machine falls under the LMP1 category and is powered by a 3.4-liter gasoline V8. This system is matched with a pair of electric motors powered by a capacitor-storage system, where they will again see action in WEC’s next race at the Six Hours of Bahrain on September 29.
