Toyota Reveal Le Mans & World Endurance Championship Programme

Toyota Racing revealed today their plans for this years Le Mans 24 Hour race and the inaugural FIA World Endurance Championship.
The team will be run out of Toyota's TMG Motorsport base in Cologne, Germany, home of the companies former Formula One operation, and will make their race debut at Spa on May 5th, the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Toyota will also enter two of it's new TS030 LMP1 Hybrid cars at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June with other races to be confirmed.

The drivers will consist of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima sharing one car with the drivers of the other still to be decided, however, young Italian Andrea Caldarelli has been signed as the team's junior driver. Caldarelli, 21, is a former member of Toyota's Young Driver Programme and has previously raced in Formula Nippon and Formula 3. He will join the team at the track during several WEC races where he will take part in briefings, technical discussions and in several sessions on TMG's driving simulator to allow him to get used to the LMP1 car and circuits.

Toyota's new TS030 HYBRID LMP1 car is the successor to the firms TS010 and TS020 cars which raced at Le Mans with podium success during the 1990's, TS being an acronym for TOYOTA Sport. The Japanese automaker becomes the first manufacturer to confirm its participation in the FIA's new World Endurance Championship using a hybrid system.

The THS-R (TOYOTA Hybrid System - Racing) powertrain is designed to deliver maximum performance and features an all-new V8 3.4litre normally aspirated petrol engine and hybrid system with capacitor storage developed by Nisshinbo. The team will use the TS030 HYBRID’s first test to evaluate the potential (within the current regulations), of a front motor system produced by Aisin AW and a rear motor system developed by DENSO. Those regulations limit hybrid systems to recovering a maximum of 500kJ between braking zones whilst restricting deployment to only two wheels. Energy is generated under braking and the TS030 HYBRID can operate in electric-only mode, achieving zero emissions and zero fuel consumption.

A brand new carbon fibre LMP1 chassis has been developed and produced at TMG, where the complete car was assembled for the first time in preparation for a roll-out on 11-13 January at Paul Ricard. During a private test session at the French track, which included running at night to simulate Le Mans conditions, the TS030 HYBRID completed several hundred kilometres, showing impressive reliability and performance for this early stage in the car’s testing programme. Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre both put the car through its paces at Paul Ricard and were joined by 30-year-old Japanese driver Hiroaki Ishiura, who is a candidate to join the driver line-up at races where the team will run with two cars.

Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: “Of course we would love to win Le Mans; that is the dream for all competitors in this race. But we are realistic and we know we need to develop and to learn in order to compete with some very strong competition. Our target this year is to show the performance level of our car and particularly the THS-R powertrain. Hybrid is a core technology of TOYOTA so it is important to demonstrate this in a motorsport arena and we want to prove it can bring a performance advantage, both in terms of lap time and fuel efficiency. Everyone involved in designing, developing and preparing the car - both at TMG and at Motor Sport Division in Japan - has worked incredibly hard to reach this point and we are all very excited to be back on the race track again.”

Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director: “The two main performance drivers of our TS030 HYBRID car are the aerodynamics and the hybrid system. The regulations for hybrid powertrains allow us to recover energy under braking and release this to improve acceleration out of a corner, delivering lap-time benefit. For any given performance level, a hybrid powertrain will achieve this with less fuel so it is an extremely relevant technology and one we are excited to be bringing to endurance racing. Another key point in our development phase has been delivering aerodynamic efficiency. The development team at TMG has worked very hard to achieve an optimum aero concept using our state-of-the-art aero development processes based on combined wind tunnel testing and CFD. Judging by the positive feedback we received during the roll-out we have a very good base on which to build in the coming weeks.”

Hisatake Murata, Hybrid Project Leader: “TOYOTA has been working on hybrid systems for motorsport for several years, during which time we have made huge progress. Now we feel ready to bring our technology to the ultimate motorsport test: the Le Mans 24 Hours. Integrating a hybrid powertrain is, of course, a different challenge compared to a ‘standard’ powertrain. But we have worked together with partners such as DENSO, Aisin AW and Nisshinbo to develop the THS-R technology so it is part of

the overall concept of the TS030 HYBRID. This technology will be used to recover up to 500kJ between braking events, energy which can be released via either front or rear motors to deliver a performance advantage. TOYOTA’s hybrid technology has already won a 24-hour race - the Tokachi 24 Hours in 2007 - so now we are bringing the latest THS-R development to global motorsport; we know this is a technically-demanding exercise but we are well prepared for the challenge.”

Alex Wurz: “It was cool to drive the TS030 HYBRID car for the first time. Just leaving the garage on the electric power is very futuristic, then when you let the clutch go and the internal combustion engine kicks in it is like an old friend has returned! When we put on the slick tyre I could feel the car generates a very good amount of grip so I think we have a good base and I think we can turn this into a really fast car. I am definitely very happy but my nature is to also be analytical and therefore I know there is still a lot of work to be done. It’s really good to work with all the mechanics and engineers; the TOYOTA Racing team is very international and this works well. I am very comfortable in this team because they are all extremely professional, that is really clear.”

Nicolas Lapierre: “My first impression from the roll-out was positive; the chassis is really advanced and the hybrid system works very well. The TS030 HYBRID car has good reaction to the steering with quick and efficient response combined with an impressive base level of downforce which is a nice feeling for a driver. It is totally different from anything I have known before because the philosophy is different. So our roll-out was promising and we saw the car’s potential on several levels; we still have plenty of work to do but I think that we will have a strong package. We are starting from a blank page so the challenge is exciting."

Kazuki Nakajima: “I cannot wait to drive the TS030 HYBRID for the first time. I spoke a lot with Alex and Nicolas about the car during the roll-out and it obviously has great potential. I have been doing a lot of time in the TMG driving simulator so I have got to know the car in a virtual world, as well as the Le Mans track; now it’s time to drive it for real. It is a great opportunity for me and I am thoroughly looking forward to the experience of racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship with TOYOTA Racing. To return to Le Mans with hybrid technology is a big challenge for TOYOTA but it is also a real opportunity for all the drivers and I hope my recent Super GT experience will be a benefit. It’s a great feeling to be involved in this project and I am really motivated for this season.”

Andrea Caldarelli: “I am really pleased to be joining TOYOTA Racing as the junior driver and I expect to gain a lot of invaluable experience. Even though I have been racing cars since 2005, I am still only 21 so there is plenty to learn and this is another milestone in my career. I know some of the guys in the team having been part of the TDP scheme for several years so it will be fun to work together again. For a young driver like myself to work as part of such a professional and experienced team will be a big benefit and I am looking forward to learning a lot more about the challenge of endurance racing.”

Andrea Caldarelli Profile

Born                            14 February 1990, Pescara, Italy
Height                                1.75m
Weight                                70kg

Career History

2000-03                             Karting
2005                            Formula Azzurra: 4th
2006                            Formula Renault 2.0 Italia: 14th
                                   Formula Renault 2.0 Asia Trophy
2007                            Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (Prema Powerteam)
                                   Formula Renault 2.0 Italia (Prema Powerteam)
                                   Member of TOYOTA Young Driver Programme (TDP)
2008                            Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup (SG Formula): 3rd
                                   Formula Renault West European Championship (SG Formula): 3rd
                                   Member of TOYOTA Young Driver Programme (TDP)
2009                            Formula 3 Euro Series (SG Formula): 14th
                                   Member of TOYOTA Young Driver Programme (TDP)
                                   Young driver test for Panasonic TOYOTA Racing
2010                            Italian Formula 3 Championship (Prema Powerteam): 3rd
                                   Young driver test for Scuderia Ferrari
2011                            Formula Nippon (Kondo Racing): 16th
                                   GP2 Asia Series (Ocean Racing Technology): 21st
                                   GP3 Series (Tech 1): 10th (4 races)
                                   FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy member    By James Foreman

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