Toyota BTCC driver Ingram gets close-up view of manufacturer’s WEC operation at Silverstone
British Touring Car race winner Tom Ingram had a close-up view of the Toyota Gazoo
Racing LMP1 sportscar during the build-up to last weekend’s World Endurance Championship clash at Silverstone.
Ingram, who races a Team Toyota GB Corolla in the BTCC, is eighth in the chase for this year’s title with two race wins. He was invited by Toyota to inspect the TS050 HYBRID, driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley, as the team prepared for the UK’S four-hour round on Sunday.
The BTCC is set to introduce hybrid regulations in 2022, and Ingram was given a lowdown on the technology by Toyota Gazoo Racing ambassador Alex Wurz.
Ingram said: “[Alex] gave me loads of useful snippets about how they deploy the TS050’S hybrid systems and the procedures they have in place. It was fascinating to hear his thoughts. Alex has had an interesting career and I could have chatted to him for hours. It’s exciting to be associated with Toyota and be allowed to get up close and personal with such a cutting-edge LMP1 car and to see the inner workings of a championship-winning team.”
The hybrid system in the BTCC will be a bolt-on 60-volt version supplied by Cosworth which will be activated by a push-to-pass button. Ingram said that he absorbed as much information as he could about the electric systems on the TS050.
Ingram added: “After learning more about it, I’m super-excited about when we go hybrid in the BTCC. It’s obviously still quite a way off, and the hybrid system we’ll use in BTCC will be different to the one on the TS050, but it is interesting to get a little bit of information from the guys who are at the top level when it comes to hybrid racing technology.”