[PHOTOS] Toyota Unveils Updated TS040 Hybrid WEC Race Car
Last year, Toyota was crowned champion of the World Endurance Championship, making the brand the first-ever Japanese company to win the title. The automaker’s race car—the TS040 Hybrid—played a major part in this success, and now Toyota has revealed an updated version ready to take on the competition in the 2015 race series.
The updated 2015 Toyota TS040 Hybrid
This year’s car sees updated aerodynamics, a revised front end (which includes crash structure and new suspension kinematics), and other weight-saving measures to ensure that this is one efficient machine. The Toyota team has been working on developing these enhancements since the end of last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, and testing began this year on January 13th. In total, the updated TS040 Hybrid has already logged more than 25,000 kilometers (15,534 miles).
In total, two versions of this car will be produced. The #1 car will be driven by world champions Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, as well as Kazuki Nakajima; while the #2 car will be driven by Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, and Mike Conway.
The cars will debut when the season begins at Silverstone on April 12th, and will then appear at Spa-Francorchamps on May 2nd, Le Mans on June 14th, Nürburgring on August 30th, Austin on September 19th, Fuji Speedway on October 11th, Shanghai on November 1st, and finally Bahrain on November 21st. We look forward to seeing it in action!
Gallery: Updated 2015 Toyota TS040 Hybrid Le Mans Racer
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