The demise of the #7 TS030 Hybrid back in the Bahrain six-hour race might not be a piece of news that Toyota had been waiting for, especially when the car had so much potential in grabbing the podium spot. But at least they have something to be glad with for the time being as a team from Toyota Motorsport GmBH had just managed to set an all-new Nurburgring record for an electric car.
This was not a first run for Toyota, as they had done a similar run back in August 2011 with their TMG EV P001 prototype electric car. With a time of 7:47.79 around the 20.8km circuit, it was just 30 seconds behind the monstrous Nissan GT-R and Viper ACR. But was that enough for Toyota to call it a day? Not even close as they took out their new electric toy, the TMG EV P002, to once again blitz across the legendary German circuit, setting an astonishing new record of 7:22.239.
Piloted Jochen Krumbach, this new P002 churns out 469-horsepower and 663 lb-ft of torque, and this great record came shortly after the team made a record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb as the fastest EV. So in just one year, Toyota had managed to shave off 25 solid seconds off from the previous lap time, bringing them inches away from the top 10 spots for street-legal machines. Who knows what will actually happen if they decide to again attack the Nurburgring in 2013?
