Toyota to return to Le Mans with LMP1 Hybrid

Submitted by Rich Fowler on October 18, 2011

Toyota has announced a return to Le Mans in 2012. The Japanese carmaker will enter the premier LMP1 class with a completely new Hybrid sports car aimed at challenging the diesel-burning entries from Audi and Peugeot.

The new team will be based at Toyota Motorsport’s headquarters in Cologne. The Germany-based team, will develop the chassis while that hybrid drivetrain will be engineered by Toyota back in Japan.

Tadashi Yamashina, Toyota motorsport chairman, said: “By using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge.

“In addition, we aim to learn from the experience of competing in such a challenging motorsport environment to enhance our production car technology”, he added.

Toyota’s history at Le Mans dates back to the ’80s and ’90s. The team produced the massively quick GT-One which finished second at Le Mans in 1999 led by Ukyo Katayama