TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s history-making TS050 HYBRID has been further optimised ahead of the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season as the team prepares to defend its World Championship and Le Mans 24 Hours titles.
The eight-race 2019-2020 season, which kicks off this week with the annual Prologue test in Barcelona, represents the final competitive action for the TS050 HYBRID, which made its debut in 2016 and has been at the centre of iconic moments in endurance racing history ever since.
“It was hard spectating at Le Mans, but it was crucial to observe and begin integrating with my new team,” commented Brendon Hartley. “I fell in love with Le Mans when I first raced there in 2012 so, after missing two years, I can’t wait to return.
“Since Le Mans I had my first real test in the TS050 HYBRID and I am already feeling at home in the car and up to speed. My goals are always personal rather than results based, so I want to perform at my best, although of course a world championship and a Le Mans victory would be nice!”
Its Le Mans debut almost ended with victory before the unprecedented drama of a technical issue on the penultimate lap. In 2017, Kamui Kobayashi piloted the TS050 HYBRID to the fastest-ever Le Mans lap on his way to pole position, while Mike Conway set a new race record this year.
The 2018-2019 WEC season saw the TS050 HYBRID go down in history in 2018 as the first TOYOTA to win Le Mans, while a repeat one-two victory a year later capped an extraordinary season which saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing win the teams’ and drivers’ World Championships.
For the upcoming season, the most successful car in TOYOTA’s circuit racing history, a 1,000PS four-wheel-drive hybrid prototype, has been modified with revised aerodynamics and further fine-tuning of mechanical parts to strengthen reliability.
Behind the wheel, the #7 TS050 HYBRID features an unchanged line-up of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López while Brendon Hartley, a former Le Mans winner and WEC champion, joins World Champions Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in the #8 car. Thomas Laurent will combine his new role as test and reserve driver with an LMP2 race seat with Signatech Alpine in order to enhance his development.
A farewell tour for the TS050 HYBRID begins on 1 September with the 4 Hours of Silverstone, the first of eight races on four continents featuring a combined 66 hours of racing on historic tracks such as Sebring, Spa-Francorchamps and Fuji Speedway, ending at Le Mans on 13-14 June 2020.
2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship calendar:
1 September 4 Hours of Silverstone
6 October 6 Hours of Fuji
10 November 4 Hours of Shanghai
14 December 8 Hours of Bahrain
1 February 6 Hours of Sao Paulo
20 March 1000 Miles of Sebring
2 May 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
13-14 June Le Mans 24 Hours
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