We were just chatting to a well known LeMans winning driver this afternoon who let slip that he thought Toyota might well be returning to LeMans racing next year. We did a little digging around but no-one else seemed to know. However, The Driver is a successful racer, previously LeMans 24 hours winner and current ALMS driver, so we thought he ought to know…..
Just a few hours later comes the press release from Toyota Motorsports Europe giving details of a Lola Chassis and Rebellion Racing engine deal for an LMP1 car. Here’s the release, don’t forget you heard it here first….
REBELLION RACING AND TOYOTA MOTORSPORT GmbH CONFIRM LMP1 ENGINE SUPPLY PARTNERSHIP
Thursday 2 December 2010
LAUSANNE, Switzerland & COLOGNE, Germany – REBELLION Racing and Toyota Motorsport GmbH are pleased to confirm their plans for a Le Mans Prototype LMP1 engine supply partnership.
The agreement will see two REBELLION Racing Lola LMP1 cars powered by Toyota engines, commencing with the 2011 season when REBELLION Racing will be the exclusive partner of Toyota Motorsport in LMP1.
Alexandre Pesci, Rebellion Racing Team Principal, said: “This agreement is the cornerstone of REBELLION’s challenge for the forthcoming season. Toyota is an impressive and remarkable industrial giant, we are proud to have been selected by Toyota Motorsport as their partner in this project. It means a lot for our team to have secured their support in our efforts to target the victory.”
Bart Hayden, Rebellion Racing Team Manager, said: “We are delighted to become a partner of Toyota Motorsport and are excited about working alongside a company with a Formula 1 background and a rich history at Le Mans. We look forward to establishing a strong and long term relationship with them.”
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Toyota Motorsport President, said: “Toyota Motorsport has recent experience of engine supply partnerships from our Formula 1 days so we are drawing on that to deliver a reliable and competitive engine. We are looking forward to working with REBELLION Racing on this exciting project and it was very pleasing to see this engine running in a car for the first time, particularly because the performance, as well as the reliability, was very encouraging.”
Martin Birrane, Executive Chairman of Lola Group, said: “Lola is delighted to be the 2011 LMP constructor of choice for Toyota Motorsport and REBELLION Racing. Supporting our customers at the very highest level has always been and will continue to be very important to Lola. We once again look forward to taking the challenge to the factory works teams next year.”
The partnership between REBELLION Racing and Toyota Motorsport started some weeks ago when, as the first result of combined work from Lola and Sebah Automotive, an interim Lola-Toyota was shaken down in early October at Snetterton in the UK.
At the end of October, REBELLION Racing and Toyota Motorsport engineers conducted an evaluation test programme at Portimao, Portugal and Monteblanco, Spain.
The Lola-Toyota test car achieved high mileage, providing valuable data and experience in terms of performance and reliability with the Toyota engine.
About Toyota Motorsport GmbH:
Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) was established in 1993 after the Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) took sole ownership of Toyota Team Europe. The company has been based in Cologne, Germany since 1979 and built its reputation in the World Rally Championship, winning four drivers’ and three manufacturers’ title during a long participation which ended in 1999. TMG was also the home of Toyota’s works Le Mans 24 Hours (1998-1999) and Formula 1 (2002-2009) teams, both of whom achieved pole and podium positions, and a tuning and sports conversion subsidiary (established in 1994). Since November 2009, TMG has transformed into a specialist engineering supplier, providing design, development and manufacturing for high-performance sectors. For more information, please visit www.toyota-motorsport.com.
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