Toyota Racing back in action at Magny-Cours

TOYOTA Racing will return to the track on 4 May with a functionality test of its TS030 HYBRID at the Magny-Cours circuit in France.
 

Following the accident at Paul Ricard on 4 April, which damaged the monocoque of the first TS030 HYBRID, the team has worked hard to accelerate production of a second car. This will be completed directly before transportation to the one-day functionality test.
 

A total of seven test days were cancelled in April as a result of the testing accident, giving the team no opportunity to validate the aerodynamic and hybrid system specifications intended for its first race.
 

So the team had no choice but to miss the WEC Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps event, which takes place on 3-5 May.
 

Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: “I would like to express my thanks to the staff members at TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH who have worked so hard to deliver our second monocoque ahead of schedule. Now we have a very intense testing programme to prepare for Le Mans, beginning with an initial functionality test to shakedown our systems.”
 

TOYOTA Racing’s first race will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 16-17 June, where the team will enter two TS030 HYBRID cars.
 

 

About TOYOTA Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship:


TOYOTA first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 1983, marking the start of a long period of participation in endurance racing which included several editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours. In total TOYOTA has raced in 13 Le Mans 24 Hours races, with a total of 36 cars taking part.


TOYOTA has finished on the podium three times, all second places. Including those results, it has finished in the top six a total of nine times. In qualifying, TOYOTA has four front-row starts to its name, including two pole positions. For 2012, TOYOTA will return to endurance racing and the revived FIA World Endurance Championship by entering selected rounds, including Le Mans, with a hybrid LMP1 car. The chassis has been designed and built by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG), where the race team is based.


TMG is the former home of TOYOTA's World Rally and Formula 1 works teams, and was responsible for design and operation of TOYOTA's TS020 (GT-One) Le Mans car in 1998-99. TMG now combines works motorsport participation with a new direction as a high-performance engineering services provider to third party companies, as well as the TOYOTA family.
 
 

Alastair Moffitt, -