THE VICTORY LANE

With Toyota Gazoo Racing taking triple crown at the world’s greatest endurance race, we decode the links between the race and road programs of Toyota’s hybrid technology

- SUVRAT KOTHARI

SEPTEMBER 20, 2020. IT’S A bright and sunny day at Le Mans and the Toyota TS050 Hybrid is blasting around the Circuit de la Sarthe, maxing out at over 330kmph at the end of the legendary Mulsanne Straight. The conditions are vastly different from the year before. It’s only the second time in the history of the sport that the race was held at a later date than scheduled — the first delay was due to the civil unrest in France in 1968 and this year, COVID-19 has had its influence on all fields, including motorsports, with some of our favourite tracks staying shut for the longest time ever. The crowds around the 13.5km racetrack are absent but that hasn’t deterred Toyota. With two victories in 2018 and 2019 already under its belt, the TS050 Hybrid stayed fast and trouble-free to take the chequered flag for a ‘three-peat’ or a hattrick as we’d say in cricketing parlance. And that’s the thing about Toyota. Once committed to a sporting category, they stay committed. And once committed to a technology, they stay committed. Manufacturers have come and gone at the Le Mans 24 Hours but Toyota have stayed the course and not let the fans down. Faced with competition from diesels, Toyota kept the faith with their petrol-hybrid technology and the results are now there for all to see and admire – Toyota forever enshrining themselves in the history books by taking the last victory of the current LMP1 category rules, with the petrol-hybrid. Victory at the Le Mans 24 hours have confirmed the prowess of TS050 Hybrid’s powertrain and also its reliability and with Toyota firmly in the Race On Sunday, Sell on Monday camp, that can only mean good things for us, as Toyota Gazoo Racing team’s motorsport learnings go into making our road cars faster, more efficient, more reliable and of course more enthusiastic.

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