page_title: Toyota in motorsport
section_title: Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship
hierarchical_section_title: Toyota in motorsport / Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship
caption_attribution_description: Toyota TS-020 (ver. 1998)
context_page_description: Since its introduction to motorsport in the early 1970s, Toyota has been involved in a number of motorsport activities, most notably in Formula One, NASCAR, IndyCar, sports car racing, various off road rallies and the WRC. Currently, Toyota participates in the Toyota Racing Series, Super Formula, Formula Three, NHRA, USAC, Super GT, NASCAR, the WRC and the WEC.
context_section_description: Toyota's 24 Hours of Le Mans efforts date back to the 1980s with Dome prepared Group C cars. Factory supported Toyota Team Tom's competed in World Sportscar Championship and Le Mans until 1994, with varying results. Toyota achieved 2nd place in the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans.
  Toyota started recruiting staff for their Le Mans efforts in 1997, with an aim to start a Formula One team. Toyota's efforts for a Le Mans car was the Toyota GT-One. Driver line-up included ex-Formula One drivers Martin Brundle, Thierry Boutsen and Ukyo Katayama. The 3.6-litre twin-turbo GT-Ones were beaten in 1998, but in 1999 they were the quickest cars in the field. However, they failed to achieve a victory after a tire failure late in the race. The GT-One held the lap record for the Circuit de la Sarthe up until 2006, however.
  Toyota returned to the Le Mans 24 Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012 with a petrol-electric hybrid car, the Toyota TS030 Hybrid.
  In the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship Toyota won the Manufacturers championship and Toyota team drivers Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi won the Drivers championship in the Toyota TS040 Hybrid.
  In 2016 they led the Le Mans 24 Hours for 23 hours and 55 minutes, until the car inexplicably stopped due to a mechanical failure, and the then-second placed Porsche overtook them for the win. The other Toyota went on to finish second. The initial leading Toyota eventually completed the final lap in 11 minutes and 55 seconds, but was not classified, as it could not finish the final lap in 6 minutes as required by race regulation 10.5.
  After the 2017 season, both Audi and Porsche had left the series, leaving Toyota as the only manufacturer entry and the only hybrid entry in the series, including Le Mans.
  In 2018, Toyota broke its curse at Le Mans when the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid won the race, becoming the second Japanese manufacturer after Mazda to win outright at the Circuit de La Sarthe.
caption: The Toyota GT-One was raced in the 1998 and 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ex-Formula One drivers: Thierry Boutsen, Martin Brundle and Ukyo Katayama drove the GT-One in both events.
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