Toyota confident there is more to come from new car after Silverstone podium

Toyota is confident it will make rapid progress with its new TS050 LMP1 after the car finished second on its debut in the Silverstone World Endurance Championship opener.

The car features a new 2.4-litre V6 with direct injection turbo and a move to the 8MJ hybrid class thanks to a switch from supercapacitors to highvoltage lithium-ion batteries. It was reckoned by the team to be around a second off in terms of race pace and did not threaten the Porsche or Audis, but is still early in its development.

“In terms of performance, we were behind Audi and Porsche but we improved during the race,” said Stephane Sarrazin, who shared the second-placed car with Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi. “The pace was not far off at the end. We have good potential but we need to improve everything for the next race.”

Conway admitted that work is still being done on getting the car running as hoped before moving to fine tuning.

“We were just trying to get all the systems dialled in and maximise the performance,” he said.

The sister car of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima was on course to finish ahead before the Japanese driver suffered a rightrear puncture. The flailing rubber did extensive damage to the bodywork, sidepods and floor and forced a stop for repairs. The car did finish 16th, which was enough to give Toyota the lead in the manufacturers’ championship.