Ten years of title triumphs: A hybrid trailblazer meets a Hypercar icon
Two icons of endurance racing, each representing a world championship-winning chapter in Toyota’s illustrious motorsport history. A decade on from its 2014 title triumph, the TS040 HYBRID meets TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s latest world-beater, the GR010 HYBRID.
Both cars tell a tale beyond sporting success, encompassing innovation towards a more sustainable future.
As Toyota’s second hybrid-powered car in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the TS040 HYBRID – with its 1,000PS and advanced four wheel-drive hybrid system – set new standards and acted as a rolling test-bed for subsequent road car technologies.
More recently, as well as continuing to contribute to high-performance hybrid development, the GR010 HYBRID championed alternative fuels and became the first 24 Hours of Le Mans and world championship-winner powered exclusively by 100 per cent renewable biofuel.
Bringing the two prototype legends and technical innovators together evokes memories of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s journey to the top of the endurance world, and of its first title success, achieved on 30 November, 2014 at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Brazil.
Interlagos – as the track is better known – was similarly the scene of Toyota’s breakthrough FIA WEC triumph, when Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre prevailed in just the TS030 HYBRID’s third outing in 2012 – but the circuit would go on to claim an even more significant place in the company’s decorated motorsport history.
In 2014, the TS040 HYBRID had won five of seven rounds that year and, as Sébastien Buemi recalls: “In terms of pace, we were dominating.” But victory at Interlagos was not the number one priority – that was the Manufacturers’ crown. Going into the season finale, Toyota held a 40-point lead over Audi, with Porsche a further 52 points in arrears, and a solid finish would secure its maiden circuit racing world title.
An immense joint effort from the technical centres in Higashi-Fuji and Cologne had already propelled Buemi and Anthony Davidson to the Drivers’ laurels a fortnight earlier in Bahrain. Six hours around the demanding 4.309km Interlagos track in the São Paulo suburbs stood between the team and a championship double – the first for a Japanese carmaker in FIA WEC.
“It was a really tight fight with Porsche at Interlagos. There were a lot of incidents, and the race finished behind the safety car. We didn’t win [the race] in the end, but we were close,” remembers Buemi, whose second place alongside Davidson in the #8 TS040 HYBRID successfully sealed the deal. “It was a great achievement to win the title against Porsche and Audi.”
In the sister #7 entry, Mike Conway shared in the celebrations in only his third start for the team, taking the chequered flag fourth in Brazil alongside Alex Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin. “The TS040 HYBRID was really awesome in 2014, and it was pretty special to be part of the first Manufacturers’ world title for Toyota in FIA WEC,” the Briton reflects. “I was test and reserve driver in 2014 but got to do a few races so I could help add to the points tally.”
A decade on and Interlagos played a key role in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s latest world championship, too, with the #8 GR010 HYBRID piloted by Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa earning one of the team’s three wins in 2024. The 26 points pocketed in São Paulo would ultimately prove critical during a campaign in which Toyota wound up a mere two points clear of Porsche in the standings.
A highly competitive season, featuring no fewer than nine Hypercar protagonists, evolved into a three-way battle for glory between Ferrari, Porsche and Toyota. The GR010 HYBRID – powered by a 707PS 3.5-litre, V6 twin-turbo engine and 272PS RACING HYBRID system – already had three Manufacturers’ titles to its name, but the team went into the eight-hour Bahrain finale trailing Porsche by ten points.
An incredible comeback drive, from tenth with barely an hour remaining, saw Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa defeat the odds to earn victory and clinch Toyota the coveted crown behind the wheel of the #8 GR010 HYBRID.
“It’s always a beautiful feeling to win a world championship,” acknowledged Buemi, the Japanese outfit’s longest-serving driver and the most successful in FIA WEC history. “We still have a lot of colleagues who were part of the team in 2014, so it’s amazing to keep winning together ten years later. Hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Having been part of the crew taking on Audi and Porsche in 2014, Conway similarly played a pivotal role in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing overcoming eight Hypercar rivals a decade on, winning the 6 Hours of Imola alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.
“It has been a cool experience to develop the cars and hybrid technology over the years,” he commented. “A lot of drivers have been involved, along with engineers, mechanics and everyone else in the team. They all contribute so much to every success. It’s been a great team effort to win every title, especially this year when we were up against manufacturers with such a fantastic heritage in motorsport.”
Fans can get up close to Toyota’s history-making models at the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Europe (TGR-E) Motorsport Museum in Cologne, Germany, showcasing cars from the company’s three different eras. The brand’s endurance racing heritage is represented by the TS010 Group C sportscar and the mighty TS050 HYBRID, its first Le Mans winner.
