Toyota Confirms Return To World Endurance Racing In 2018/19

After a bunch of speculations Toyota confirmed its return to the 2018/19 season of World Endurance Racing. Toyota Gazoo Racing's Team President Hisatake Murata confirmed the Japanese manufacturer's commitment to the WEC. Toyota has won five races this season including an incredibly strong run of three consecutive victories at the final three races of 2017.

Toyota Gazoo Racing will return with two LMP1 Hybrid cars to compete against the new generation of non-hybrid LMP1s. Toyota joins confirmed privateer entries from SMP Racing, DragonSpeed and Manor in the top prototype class next year, with additional LMP1 non-hybrids expected in the new-look category.

While the new technical and sporting regulations covering this new-look top category are yet to be announced, Toyota said in a statement that 'Following the publication of the LMP1 regulations for next season, which Toyota has played an active part in defining, the team can commit to enter its TS050 HYBRID race cars for at least the 2018-19 season.' Company president Akio Toyoda explained that Toyota had decided the benefits of racing at Le Mans were still sufficient to stay in the WEC even with no manufacturer LMP1 rivals after Porsche’s exit.

The 2018/19 season officially begins with the Prologue on April 6-7, 2018 at Circuit Paul Ricard and the company is yet to announce the driver line-up. In fact that announcement will be made on January 12.