Toyota To Enter Hybrid LMP1 Racecar at 2012 Le Mans

TOKYO — Japanese automaker Toyota confirmed that it plans to enter a gasoline-hybrid endurance racecar in next year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, as well as other selected events in the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship series.

The hybrid powertrain will be engineered in Japan and the racecar will be built by Toyota Motorsport in Cologne, Germany.

Toyota said endurance racing will enable the company to "further explore the potential of its world-leading hybrid technology."

Toyota last competed at Le Mans in the late 1990s with its GT-One racecar.

The company's motorsport division plans to roll out the new hybrid racer in early 2012 for what it says will be "an extensive pre-season testing program."

Toyota Motorsport Chairman Tadashi Yamashina, in a statement, said: "Toyota has entered Le Mans before, but by using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge. We want to write a new chapter in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as in the FIA World Endurance Championship, through our use of hybrid technology."

Inside Line says: With the turbodiesels of Audi and Peugeot now dominating world endurance racing, Toyota's task seems enormous.