Toyota return to Sportscars (incl. Le Mans 2012)

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Toyota are back! Could this be the renaissance of the sports car series as we know it?

[Morteza]

I would love to see Toyota name back(If they come back of course ). If they bring some competitiveness to the series, that will make the ultimate return. Fingers crossed for that

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Certainly be interesting how they pit up against the TDI and HDI FAP diesel powered Audi and Peugeots.

I wonder if the likes of Mercedes BMW and Ferrari are looking at LMP1. It certainly is a series to showcase your tech as Audi and Peugeot have demonstrated.
There is also a closer link to the cars these people actually sell than F1.

[Pandamasque]

Certainly be interesting how they pit up against the TDI and HDI FAP diesel powered Audi and Peugeots.

I'm quite sure the petrol-diesel equivalence will be readjusted as soon as they appear More importantly, they are sure of it. Otherwise they'd stay away. At the moment Toyota engines are barely competing with grandfathered old petrols and completely blown away by the grandfathered diesel run by Oreca. Both were supposed to be less powerful than anything build to 2011 regs. With big factory efforts on both sides of the fence there's a chance that rules become more fair.

[Earnard Beccelstone]

I really hope Toyota will be competitive straight out of the box, as it will be nice to see another manufacturer apart from Peugeot and Audi running up front at Le Mans.

I have the feeling that it will take a year or two for Toyota to find its feet though - look at how well Aston Martin's return to LMP1 went this year: both cars out at Le Mans within 10 laps and the company reverting to its older, enclosed cockpit design for the ALMS series.

I pray that their lackluster F1 results aren't repeated... [-o<

More interesting will be 2014, when new Le Mans rules come into play. Nissan has confirmed that it is interested in putting a factory car into LMP1 and there are rumors that Mazda and Honda are interested in re/entering the category with factory cars as well.

[Lurk]

And Porsche will be there too

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

And Porsche will be there too

LMP1????

[Earnard Beccelstone]

Porsche is coming back to LMP1 in 2014, possibly (probably??) with a petrol hybrid, based around the technology in their GT3 hybrid.

Toyota are looking at petrol hybrids as well.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

I was aware Toyota had a petrol hybrid in the works, but Porsche coming back to top class? I haven't seen anything official although I haven't really checked.

I wonder if sportcars will be the first proper racing series to introduce a fuel cap? Can you imagine the final 2 hours at Le mans?!

[Steven]

@JET: Porsche will return with an LMP1 in 2014
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10297

Also, what about the final 2 hours of Le Mans? Cars can still be refuelled in Le Mans, and we are a long long way off of having sportscars run 24hours on a single fuel tank.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Thanks Tomba, I must have missed it!

Yes they can refuel. But what if you limit then to say 500 litres for the race? Teams would have to strategise fuel usage...or optimise their engines to be more fuel efficient instead of more powerful, it's the way of the world now.

[scuderiafan]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/95979

Driver line-up for the team. I'm assuming they'll only run one car for at least this year. It's also nice to see Nakajima racing, I always thought he had good talent and not enough luck.

[donskar]

It's easy to forget Toyota's performance background. We all know about the current Lexus supercar. Few remember my favorite -- the AE86 (rear-drive Corolla of the early/mid 1980s). 1600cc four cylinder 4AG engine, twin cam, 20 (!) valves, 200+ HP on carbs, naturally aspirated. And there are some fun Toyotas coming soon. (Yes, I'm biased -- they pay me well. But not totally biased -- I drive a Nissan!)

[marcush.]

Dieter Gass leaving Team Lotus ,err Caterham ...he will go back to his old home one might suspect?

[PaulB]

It looks like, that Toyotas LMP1 car will be shown somwhere in January. I'm curious about how the car's looking.
http://www.mulsannescorner.com/newsjan12.html