Toyota has outlined its aims for the 2026 World Endurance Championship, stating it needs to finish its Le Mans 24 Hours victory drought and cut back operational errors.
As soon as the benchmark within the WEC’s high division, Toyota went the primary seven rounds of the 2025 season with out scoring a race win, earlier than lastly breaking via within the season finale in Bahrain.
It’s now three years because the marque final gained Le Mans and two because it claimed the drivers’ title, whereas 2025 marked the primary time it didn’t win the producers’ title within the Hypercar period.
However the Japanese producer is conscious of its shortcomings and has developed a closely revised model of its Le Mans Hypercar, which was formally launched earlier this week underneath the TR010 Hybrid title.
It’s the third main evolution of the automobile that initially debuted because the GR010 Hybrid in 2021, with a specific focus made on aerodynamics to maximise its velocity underneath the Steadiness of Efficiency framework.
Toyota Racing vice-president Kazuki Nakajima admitted that the model has been annoyed by its outcomes at La Sarthe in recent times, however is assured the TR010 Hybrid may also help reverse that pattern.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima
Picture by: Toyota Racing
“The largest goal is clearly to win Le Mans,” Nakajima advised Motorsport.com. “After three years of irritating leads to Le Mans, that is clearly the largest goal, in addition to successful the championship, as a result of we at all times search for these two large targets.
“But when I’ve to charge between two, I believe Le Mans comes first precedence.”
Toyota was lengthy considered the strongest operational outfit within the WEC, usually successful races via superior execution – at the same time as competitors intensified within the Hypercar period.
However the Cologne-based crew’s traditional scientific method faltered on a number of events in 2025, because it tried to beat what it felt was an unfavourable BoP at instances.
The Lone Star Le Mans spherical proved notably pricey, with Toyota making a sequence of errors, together with an ill-timed name to suit slick tyres on the #7 GR010 Hybrid whereas the monitor was nonetheless damp late within the race.
Nakajima admitted that the crew hasn’t been on high of its sport this yr and has made addressing this weak point a precedence for 2025.
“The crew’s execution like technique, pit cease, drivers’ efficiency, not making errors and issues like that, these are an enormous a part of the efficiency issue within the race,” he mentioned. “We simply have to give attention to this half.
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“We have now to confess that we’ve got not been on the degree that we’re aiming for when it comes to crew execution this yr [2025].
“In some races, we actually carried out properly as a crew however in some [other] races, we made errors. So, as a crew we nonetheless want to enhance ourselves, and it is a clear goal for subsequent yr.”
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