Following what can only be described as a ‘difficult’ season for Toyota in 2015, the Oxfordshire-based 2014 World Endurance Champion heads to Silverstone with an all-new LMP1 car, with almost every component changed from the previous TS040.
The Toyota TS050 HYBRID features a new V6 turbo engine and an updated transmission to deal with the increased torque generated by the new engine unit. As his Toyota Gazoo Racing bosses noted at the car’s launch at The Prologue on 24th March, theprogress rate in the WEC recently has been rapid and Toyota could not afford to have any area of the package which was not fully optimised. The TS050 HYBRID has been developed on that basis – to be competitive and to get the Japanese marque back to its 2014 winning ways.
Sharing the car with Swiss Sébastien Buemi and Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson can’t wait to get out on track and see how his new challenger measures up against the opposition.
“It’s always a challenge to start with your home race first, there’s big pressure,” he reflects. “There’s been a lot of work done over the winter but you never know where you’re going to be when you arrive at Silverstone. It’s exciting to see how you fare against the competition and it’s exciting times, not just for us drivers but for the teams and all the fans as well.
“There is zero compromise in the way you drive these cars, it’s flat out racing from start to finish. It is six hours but it feels like 24! You’re dead at the end of the race with how much you’re pushing, you’re sweating, you’re relieved when your double stint is over, and then the next guy gets in, does exactly the same again followed by the third guy. If you’ve got the winning recipe at the end of it the elation is massive.
“You’re so physically drained, mentally drained from the challenge, and you are overtaking at least on average five cars per lap and that goes on and on; this type of racing is relentless. You only have to take a look at one of the on-board shots from the cars to realise what goes on in these cars. I’m getting goose bumps just thinking about it!”
Fiona Miller
