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Toyota reveals heavily-revised TS030 HYBRID Le Mans contender
Toyota has unveiled a significant evolution of its successful TS030 HYBRID ahead of this year's World Endurance Championship.
The new petrol-electric LMP1 challenger has a revised front-end aerodynamic treatment, which has been facilitated by a new monocoque.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne, which has masterminded the Japanese manufacturer's return to top-line sportscar racing, has produced a new tub that does away with the compromises made to last year's version.
The 2012-specification TS030 has been described as a laboratory car that was designed to accept energy-retrieval systems working off either the front or rear axle.
TMG technical director Pascal Vasselon said: "We have redesigned the monocoque to optimise it without the front motor."
Vasselon described the 2013 Toyota as an "evolution of the initial concept".
"The obvious target has been to fix all the little issues that we found during last season.
"Last year's performance was very satisfying and we felt we ticked most boxes, so there has been no concept change, just refinement and optimisation of the 2012 car."
Chassis project leader John Litjens said: "Our simulations show we have made good progress in performance and our hands-on experience suggests we have eliminated some of the serviceability issues that occasionally cost us time in 2012."
The revised TS030 HYBRID had already undergone a shake down and is due to begin testing in earnest at Paul Ricard this week.
Toyota, which won three of the six WEC races it entered last year, is planning to field two cars in the full season with an unchanged line-up of drivers.
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