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Back to September 2012 Motorsports News Archive
| 24-09-2012 at 01:00: Historic Victory for Toyota in Brazil | |
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Drivers Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre started from pole position as the #7 Toyota car maintained its record of having led every race in which it has competed. The result marks Toyota’s first victory in an FIA world championship race since the 1999 Rally of China. It is 20 years since victory for the TS010 at Monza in 1992, Toyota’s last success in international endurance racing. The victory completes a remarkable journey for the THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System – Racing). The project to develop a hybrid system for motorsport began in 2006 under Hisatake Murata, now Hybrid Project Leader at Toyota Racing. The project created history in July 2007 when a Toyota Supra became the first-ever hybrid winner, in the Tokachi 24 Hours. That pioneering super capacitor technology has been extensively developed, reducing weight and increasing power, leading to the unique powertrain in the TS030 Hybrid. At Interlagos, Lapierre took the rolling start in bright sunshine and held the lead into the first corner. He set the pace at the front as he skilfully fought through the traffic before handing over to Alex with just over 90 minutes gone. Soon after Alex made a fuel stop, an incident down the field caused a short safety car period, helping the #7 extend its lead to over 40 seconds. At the restart, Wurz maintained the blistering pace to stretch his advantage to over a minute before handing back to Lapierre with two-and-a-half hours to go. He extended the lead to a complete lap as the final quarter of the race began. The TS030 Hybrid was clearly the fastest car and, as the race entered its final hour, Lapierre handed over to Wurz. A very short fuel stop with just a few minutes to go allowed him to take a well-deserved victory by over a minute. Toyota Racing’s next action comes at the Bahrain International Circuit for the Six Hours of Bahrain on 29 September when Wurz and Lapierre will again be driving the #7 TS030. “I am proud to be a Toyota driver,” said Alex Wurz. “Toyota has developed this incredible hybrid technology and I think we have shown it. Our Toyota Hybrid System – Racing has been simply outstanding. I like Interlagos, a circuit that is really special for me, so it is a great feeling to win here with Toyota Racing in only our third race. “Thank you to all the team and Nico for their great job. It was not easy and we pushed like crazy. The key was certainly the tyre management and we were able to make the difference in the second stint thanks to our Michelin tyres. Kinoshita san said at Le Mans “you watch, we push”. We will continue in this way during the following races.” |
Toyota Racing’s TS030 Hybrid led from start to finish for the team’s first victory in just its third race with a dominant performance in the Six Hours of Sao Paulo at Interlagos, the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.^ Back to top ^
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