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Toyota Wins WEC for First Time

Finally, after all the bad luck encountered in the previous season, Toyota wins this year’s Brazil race, the last in the 2014 World Endurance Championship season, and cements its way to the first global motorsport crown in 15 years.
Toyota TS040 winning 1 photo
Photo: Toyota
Toyota Racing’s two-car TS040 Hybrid team ended this season setting milestones like achieving four pole positions, winning five of the eight rounds, scoring 12 podium finishes and setting the fastest lap times in four races.

All these led to Toyota becoming the first Japanese manufacturer to win the WEC title since the series begun in 1953, a very important trophy for them which can be easily shelved next to to the 1999 World Rally championship grand prize. To boot, engineers could use all the racing experience to improve consumer vehicles.

"Toyota will use these experiences in the FIA World Endurance Championship to help revolutionize hybrid technology and to help make ever-better cars that delight people around the world," Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda said.

The mighty 1,000 hp TS040 Hybrid

This season, Toyota used the next iteration of its hybrid prototype, namely the TS040 which packs no less than 1,000 hp under its aerodynamically revised shell.

While other automakers had to shrink their engines and turbocharge them for this year’s WEC season to meet fuel regulations, Toyota actually increased the capacity of its V8 and added an extra electric motor at the front. Total output gained well over 100 kW (136 hp) reaching a peak of 735 kW (1,000 hp).

The extra motor at the front is also helping the car recover more energy while braking, refilling the super capacitor much faster which is then unleashed on certain parts of the tracks.

This piece of technology (minus the super capacitor) can already be seen on the Lexus NX 300h compact crossover, which has a separate electric motor at the rear axle which kicks in whenever 4x4 traction is required.

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