Toyota TS050 Hybrid
Debut | 2016 6 Hours of Silverstone | ||||||||||
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First win | 2016 6 Hours of Fuji | ||||||||||
Last win | 2020 8 Hours of Bahrain | ||||||||||
Last event | 2020 8 Hours of Bahrain | ||||||||||
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Constructors' Championships | 2 ( 2019–20 FIA WEC ) |
The Toyota TS050 Hybrid is a
Development
An initial shakedown of the car was performed at
Subsequent alterations
2017
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.
Competition history
2016
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.
2016 24 Hours of Le Mans
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]
2017
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]
2018
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.
2019
Toyota dominated the 2019 half of Super Season by finishing 1–2 in
2020
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.
Complete World Endurance Championship results
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.
Year | Entrant | Class | Drivers | No. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Points | Pos |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
LMP1-H | SIL | SPA | LMN | NÜR | MEX | COA | FUJ | SHA | BHR | 229† | 3rd | ||
Sébastien Buemi | 5 | 16 | 17 | NC | 5 | Ret | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | |||||
Anthony Davidson | 16 | 17 | NC | 5 | Ret | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
Kazuki Nakajima | 16 | 17 | NC | 5 | Ret | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
Mike Conway | 6 | 2 | Ret | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||
Stéphane Sarrazin | 2 | Ret | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 2 | Ret | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||
2017 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
LMP1 | SIL | SPA | LMN | NÜR | MEX | COA | FUJ | SHA | BHR | 286.51 | 2nd | ||
Mike Conway | 7 | 23 | 2 | Ret | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 23 | 2 | Ret | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||||||
José María López | 23 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
Stéphane Sarrazin | Ret | ||||||||||||||
Sébastien Buemi | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
Kazuki Nakajima | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Anthony Davidson | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Stéphane Sarrazin | 3 | ||||||||||||||
Nicolas Lapierre | 9 | 5 | Ret | ||||||||||||
Yuji Kunimoto | 5 | Ret | |||||||||||||
Stéphane Sarrazin | 5 | ||||||||||||||
José María López | Ret | ||||||||||||||
2018–19 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
LMP1 | SPA | LMN | SIL | FUJ | SHA | SEB | SPA | LMN | 2162 | 1st | |||
Mike Conway | 7 | 2 | 2 | DSQ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | ||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 2 | 2 | DSQ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |||||||
José María López | 2 | 2 | DSQ | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |||||||
Fernando Alonso | 8 | 1 | 1 | DSQ | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Sébastien Buemi | 1 | 1 | DSQ | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Kazuki Nakajima | 1 | 1 | DSQ | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
2019–20
|
Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
LMP1 | SIL | FUJ | SHA | BHR | COA | SPA | LMN | BHR | 241 | 1st | |||
Mike Conway | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
Kamui Kobayashi | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
José María López | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||
Brendon Hartley | 8 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
Sébastien Buemi | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
Kazuki Nakajima | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
1 The two highest-finishing cars for each manufacturer scored points.
2 Only the highest-finishing car for each manufacturer scored points.
See also
References
- ^ "TS050 Hybrid: New Car, New Challenge for Toyota GAZOO Racing". Toyota. 24 March 2016. Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ "TS050 HYBRID: NEW CAR, NEW CHALLENGE FOR TOYOTA GAZOO RACING". Toyota. 24 March 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Toyota TS050 Hybrid Technical Specifications 2019–2020". Archived from the original on 15 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
- ^ "TEASER. Toyota's Le Mans contender 'won't give up'". 17 February 2016. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- ^ "Toyota TS050 Hybrid unveiled". 24 March 2016. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- ^ "Toyota TS050 Hybrid for 2016 WEC revealed with twin-turbo V-6, 986 hp: Video". Motor Authority. 25 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- ^ Sam. "Toyota TS050 2017". Racecar Engineering. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- ^ Sam. "Toyota TS050 2017". Racecar Engineering. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
- ^ Perkins, Chris (31 March 2017). "Here's The LMP1 Machine Toyota Hopes Will Win Le Mans". Road & Track. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
- ^ "After a crushing defeat last year, will 2017 finally be Toyota's year at Le Mans?". www.digitaltrends.com. 3 April 2017. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
- ^ CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "TOYOTA GAZOO Racing INSPIRED TO WIN IN 2017 | WEC | 2017 | PRESS RELEASE". TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ "Porsche wins Le Mans in dramatic fashion as Toyota falters". Associated Press. Le Mans: AP Sports. Associated Press. 19 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- Haymarket Press. Archivedfrom the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
- Haymarket Press. Archivedfrom the original on 18 April 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Schrader, Stef (15 June 2017). "Toyota Just Set The Fastest Lap Ever At Le Mans". Jalopnik. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
- ^ Lickorish, Stephen; Straw, Edd (18 June 2017). "Porsche defeats LMP2 cars to win 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours". Autosport. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.