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Category | LMP1-H | ||||||||||
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Constructor | Toyota | ||||||||||
Designer(s) | Pascal Vasselon [1] | ||||||||||
Predecessor | Toyota TS040 Hybrid | ||||||||||
Successor | Toyota GR010 Hybrid | ||||||||||
Technical specifications | |||||||||||
Chassis | Carbon fibre Composite | ||||||||||
Suspension (front) | Independent, double wishbone, pushrod-system | ||||||||||
Suspension (rear) | As front | ||||||||||
Length | 4,650 mm (183 in) | ||||||||||
Width | 1,900 mm (75 in) | ||||||||||
Height | 1,050 mm (41 in) | ||||||||||
Engine | Toyota Gazoo Racing H8909 2.4 L (146 cu in) 90-degree V6 twin-turbocharged rear mid-engined with rear-wheel-drive layout, longitudinally mounted | ||||||||||
Electric motor | Toyota Hybrid System – Racing (THS-R), li-ion batteries Aisin AW (Front Hybrid Motor) Denso (Rear Hybrid Motor) | ||||||||||
Transmission | Toyota transversal 6-speed + 1 reverse (7 in 2016 only) sequential semi-automatic | ||||||||||
Power | (ICE) 368 kW (493 hp; 500 PS) (Electric Motors) 368 kW (493 hp; 500 PS) 735 kW (986 hp) (Combined) | ||||||||||
Weight | 2016, 2017, 2018-19 Spec: 875 kg (1,929 lb) 2019-2020 Spec: 888 kg (1,958 lb) 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans Spec: 895 kg (1,973 lb) | ||||||||||
Fuel | Shell V-Power (2016-2017) Total Excellium (2018-2020) | ||||||||||
Lubricants | Mobil 1 | ||||||||||
Brakes | Brembo carbon ventilated front and rear discs + Brembo pads + Akebono calipers | ||||||||||
Tires | Michelin radial 31/71-18 front and rear | ||||||||||
Competition history | |||||||||||
Notable entrants | ![]() | ||||||||||
Notable drivers | |||||||||||
Debut | 2016 6 Hours of Silverstone | ||||||||||
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Constructors' Championships | 2 (2018–19 FIA WEC, 2019–20 FIA WEC) | ||||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 2 (2018–19 FIA WEC, 2019–20 FIA WEC) |
The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is a sports prototype racing car developed for the 2016 Le Mans Prototype rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the direct successor of the Toyota TS040 Hybrid, which competed in both the 2014 and 2015 FIA WEC seasons. Drivers that have tested the TS050 include Sam Bird, Thomas Laurent, Pipo Derani, Kenta Yamashita, Nyck de Vries, and Yannick Dalmas. The TS050 was revealed at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 24 March 2016 due to Toyota's two-year cycle policy. [2] The engine is a 2.4L twin-turbocharged petrol V6, while the two previous cars used a naturally aspirated petrol V8. It has an 8-megajoule hybrid system, which uses lithium-ion batteries. [3]
An initial shakedown of the car was performed at Aragon in late February 2016, with the car having covered over 22,000 km in testing prior to its public unveiling. [4] On 24 March 2016, ahead of the WEC Prologue, Toyota publicly unveiled the TS050 at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Compared to the TS040, the TS050 features a number of changes, with the naturally-aspirated 3.7-liter V8 engine being replaced by an all-new Toyota H8909 2.4-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine. [5] In addition to this, the capacitor hybrid energy storage system was replaced with a new lithium-ion battery system, with the car now moving to the 8-megajoule LMP1 Hybrid sub-class. [6] Initial photographs revealed that the car used a suspension concept appearing similar to that previously used in the TS040—a double wishbone arrangement with pushrod-actuated internal components paired with torsion bars. Compared to the TS040, the nose was also raised (a trait shared with its rivals, the Audi R18 and the Porsche 919 Hybrid), which allowed for a large opening beneath the nose, and for elements to be placed to tune airflow. [7]
For the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship, the TS050 underwent a substantial redesign, with majority of the previous year's bodywork being heavily modified or removed, with the monocoque being the sole piece of bodywork which was carried over. At the front of the car, the nose was raised slightly, while an undercut was made into the sidepod of the car. Internally, the car also underwent changes, with the coolers being relocated and the rear suspension layout being slightly modified. [8]
Due to new regulations in the championship aimed at reducing the speeds of the cars, the front splitter was raised by 15 mm, while the rear diffuser was narrowed. Other regulations implemented as a form of cost control meant that only two aerodynamic configurations were introduced, down from the previous year's three. The car featured a new 2.4L twin-turbocharged V6 engine, replacing the previous year's design, while the previous year's 8-megajoule hybrid system was upgraded and carried over to the new car. Toyota had reworked the block, head, and combustion chamber on the engine to allow for a higher compression ratio and boost its thermal efficiency. [9]
The hybrid system of the car was upgraded with smaller and lighter motor-generator units, whilst the lithium-ion battery pack was also modified. [10] Prior to the WEC Prologue pre-season test, it was also revealed by Toyota that the car had undergone 30,000 km in testing, consisting of five tests, at various circuits, including the Circuit Paul Ricard, Ciudad del Motor de Aragón, Algarve International Circuit. Of the five tests, four of these were revealed to be 30-hour endurance tests. [11]
Toyota started the season with a second place and points finish at Silverstone, and followed up with a good performance at Spa Francorchamps only to have engine trouble hit both cars, later attributed to the unique forces applied whilst going through the infamous Eau Rouge corner.
Toyota had a very strong race at Le Mans, qualifying 3rd and 4th behind the two Porsche 919 Hybrids. The cars worked their way into the lead, setting up what seemed like an inevitable victory, which would be the first for the manufacturer, following four previous second-place finishes in 1992, 1994, 1999, and 2013. As the race drew to a close, the #5 Toyota had a lead over the #2 Porsche. With 6:30 left, the gap between the lead #5 Toyota and the #2 Porsche was 1:14, with both cars on the lead lap. Delayed radio transmissions by Kazuki Nakajima revealed at about this time that the #5 was experiencing a severe loss of power on acceleration, and this was evidenced by the #2 rapidly catching it. With 4:30 to go, the gap had been reduced to 37.580 seconds, and Toyota had to decide whether to bring its car into the pits or to keep it on the race track. The team elected to keep the car on track, and Nakajima had to stop the car, but stopped it just after the finish line as the #5 car's power gave out entirely, with 3:25 remaining on the clock. The #2 Porsche passed it a few seconds later to claim the LMP1 and overall victories in what turned out to be the final lap of the race. [12]
Nakajima held the #5 car stationary just past the start/finish line until the 24 hour clock officially ran out, then pushed the car ahead at whatever speed it could manage to complete the last lap. Officially, it took the #5 Toyota 11:53.815 to complete the final lap of the race, which is above the maximum allowed time of six minutes. This led to the #5 car not being classified in the race results and not earning any championship points. [13]
For the first time since the team rejoined the race in 2012, Toyota announced that it would enter 3 cars at the 2017 Le Mans 24 hours. [14] The third car would be driven by Toyota half-retiree Stéphane Sarrazin, Super Formula champion Yuji Kunimoto and Nicolas Lapierre (the latter returning after being dropped from the Toyota squad in 2014). On 15 June 2017, a TS050 driven by Kamui Kobayashi set a lap time record of 3:14.791 during a qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the fastest lap ever set at Circuit de la Sarthe since chicanes were added to the Mulsanne Straight in 1990. [15] During the 24 hour race itself, the No. 8 car finished 8th overall, while the No. 9 and the No. 7 cars had their race cut short due to a puncture and an MGU issue respectively. [16]
Toyota came into the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship season as the only LMP1 team with hybrid entries. After taking a one-two victory at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, they became the second Japanese car manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans after Mazda in 1991 with the Mazda 787B, Toyota scoring another 1–2 finish. In Silverstone, the Toyotas were disqualified after originally finishing 1–2. The team moved on to take 1–2 in Fuji and Shanghai.
Toyota dominated the 2019 half of Super Season by finishing 1–2 in Sebring, and the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, which along with the win in 2019 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, helped them secure the LMP1 World Endurance Championship. The #8 crew secured the Drivers' title with their victory at Le Mans. For the following season, a harsher Equivalence of Technology (EoT) was implemented to allow non-hybrid privateer entries compete effectively against the Toyotas, as well as a success ballast, which aimed to handicap cars based on their points total in the championship. The changes had their desired effects, as the TS050's pace advantage was reduced and the privateer cars found themselves closer as the success ballast was implemented. Toyota was able to secure pole positions and 1–2 finishes in Silverstone and Fuji, but lost on the overall victory in Shanghai to Rebellion, finishing second and third. It was the first time that the TS050 finished a race behind an internal combustion engine privateer. Toyota was able to recover in Bahrain and secure another 1–2 despite missing out on the pole position on the final race of the year.
Toyota entered 2020 in the lead of both championships halfway through the 2019–20 season, but found themselves down on pace against Rebellion's R13, as the success ballast penalized said lead in the championship. Toyota missed again on the victory at the 2020 Lone Star Le Mans in favor of the R13, which took pole and lead from the start. Toyota came back to secure another 1–2 finish in the next race at Spa despite missing out on pole. At the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota took its first pole of the year and the first since Fuji, and the #8 won for the third straight year. The #7 ran on the lead for the first hours of the race until a turbocharger failure during the night caused it to have a lengthy stop. The car recovered and secured third place during the last hour. The Le Mans result clinched the World Endurance LMP1 Championship for Toyota and set a showdown between the two cars at Bahrain for the drivers' title. The #7 took victory in Bahrain in what was the last race for the Toyota TS050 Hybrid and Conway, Kobayashi and López secured the World Endurance LMP Drivers' Championship.
Results in bold indicate pole position. Results in italics indicate fastest lap. Pink background indicates third manufacturer entry; manufacturer points only awarded at Le Mans.
1 The two highest-finishing cars for each manufacturer scored points.
2 Only the highest-finishing car for each manufacturer scored points.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH (TGR-E) is an automotive engineering and motorsport services facility based in Cologne, Germany. It is fully-owned and controlled by Toyota Motor Corporation.
The Audi R18 is a Le Mans Prototype (LMP) racing car constructed by the German car manufacturer Audi AG. It is the successor to the Audi R15 TDI. Like its predecessor, the R18 uses a TDI turbocharged diesel engine but with a reduced capacity of 3.7 litres and in a V6 configuration. For the first time since the 1999 R8C, the Audi Le Mans prototype used a closed cockpit design. The R18 is also the first racing car from Audi to feature hybrid power.
The Toyota TS030 Hybrid is a Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) sports car built by Toyota Motorsport GmbH and used by the manufacturer in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 and 2013. It was Toyota's first all new prototype since the GT-One last competed in 1999, and was the first petrol-hybrid engine car to participate in the World Endurance Championship. Work on designing the car began in late 2010 when early chassis designs were presented to Toyota Motorsport. The project was stopped briefly after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, but the car's building was approved six months later. The TS030 Hybrid featured a Kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative braking device to charge a super capacitor. Its engine, a naturally aspirated petrol 3.4-litre (210 cu in) V8 power unit, was mounted at a 90-degree angle, produced 530 horsepower, and was based on Toyota's Super GT project.
The Porsche 919 Hybrid is a Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) dual hybrid racing car built and used by Porsche in the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It has a two-litre (120 cu in) 90-degree V4 mid-mounted mono-turbocharged petrol engine that produces 500 hp (370 kW) and acts as a chassis load-bearing member – and two separate energy-recovery hybrid systems to recover thermal energy from exhaust gases and convert kinetic energy into electrical energy under braking for storage into lithium-ion battery packs. In accordance with the 2014 regulations, the vehicle was placed in the 6 MJ (1.7 kWh) class.
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 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 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 2014 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas on 20 September 2014. It served as the fourth of eight rounds of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship and was the second time the race was held as part of the championship. A total of 50,334 spectators attended the event.
The 2015 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, formally the WEC 6 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps, was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars on 2 May at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, Belgium. Spa-Francorchamps hosted the second race of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship with 54,000 people attending the race weekend.
The CLM P1/01, renamed ENSO CLM P1/01 in 2017, is a sports prototype racing car built for Lotus Racing in 2014. The Lotus team entered the last five rounds of the World Endurance championship in 2014, but later took name as the Austrian based team ByKolles Racing. It is designed to meet the 2014 LMP1-L regulations for Le Mans Prototypes in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The P1/01 debuted at the 2014 6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas, round four of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 2015 6 Hours of Nürburgring was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 28–30 August 2015. Nürburgring served as the fourth round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship, and it marked the inaugural running of the event as part of the championship. A total of 62,000 people attended the race weekend.
The 2016 6 Hours of Silverstone was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England on 15–17 April 2016. Silverstone served as the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, and was the fifth running of the event as part of the championship. A total of 52,000 people attended the race weekend.
The 2016 WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, formally the WEC 6 Heures de Spa-Francorchamps, was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium on 5–7 May 2016. Spa-Francorchamps served as the second race of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, and was the fifth running of the event as part of the championship. A total of 56,000 people attended the race.
The 85th 24 Hours of Le Mans was a 24-hour automobile endurance race for 60 teams of three drivers in Le Mans Prototype (LMP) and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) cars. It was held from 17 to 18 June 2017 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, near Le Mans, before 258,500 spectators. The race's 85th running, organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest, was the third of nine rounds in the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship. A test day was held two weeks earlier on 4 June.
The 2016 6 Hours of Nürburgring was a six-hour endurance sports car racing event held for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars at the Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany on 24 July 2016. The Nürburgring round served as the fourth race of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, and was the second running of the event as part of the championship. A total of 58,000 people spectated the event.
The 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship was the sixth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. The season began at the Silverstone Circuit in April and will end at the Bahrain International Circuit in November, and include the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. World championship titles will be awarded to the leading prototype drivers and manufacturers, while for the first time in the World Endurance Championship the leading grand touring drivers and manufacturers will also be awarded a world championship.
The Rebellion R13 is a sports prototype racing car built by French constructor Oreca on behalf of Swiss-based team Rebellion Racing. It is a variation of the Oreca 07, created to compete in the LMP1 class. It would later be renamed by Alpine to Alpine A480 when it was rebadged to run as a grandfathered into the Hypercar class in 2021 and 2022.
The 2019 4 Hours of Silverstone, officially known as the 2019 WEC 4 Hours of Silverstone, was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 1 September 2019, as the opening round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship. This was the inaugural running of the race, in a 4 hours format, having previously been run as the 6 Hours of Silverstone. The race was won overall by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and José María López, in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid run by Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The 2019 6 Hours of Fuji was an endurance sports car race held on the 6th of October 2019, at the Fuji Speedway. It was the 2nd round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The 2019 8 Hours of Bahrain, formally known as the 2019 BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain, for sponsorship reasons, was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 14 December 2019, as the fourth round of the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship. This would mark the return of the FIA WEC to the Bahrain International Circuit for the first time since 2017, and would also be the inaugural running of the race, in an extended 8 hours format, having previously been run as the 6 Hours of Bahrain.
The Toyota GR010 Hybrid is a sports prototype racing car developed for the 2021 Le Mans Hypercar rules in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is the successor of the Toyota TS050 Hybrid, which competed in the WEC from 2016 to 2020, achieving two double WEC world titles and three straight victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 2018 to 2020. The GR010 Hybrid was revealed online on 15 January 2021.
The Toyota H8909 engine family is a series of twin-turbocharged, four-stroke, 2.4-liter and 3.5-liter, V6 racing engines, made by Toyota Gazoo Racing for use in their TS050 and GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Prototype race cars, since 2016.