<< Prev Page 2 of 3 Next >> As mentioned earlier the TS010 first raced late in 1991, during the 430 km race at Autopolis in Japan. It was the perfect opportunity to size up the competition as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Peugeot had all brought their 3.5 litre Group C cars for the final round of the World Championship. The fresh Toyota finished a promising sixth and just three laps behind the winning Mercedes-Benz. A winter's worth of developing would most certainly be sufficient to bring the TS010 right to the head of the field. Sadly it was not just Toyota's hard work that brought that about; both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz withdrew from the world championship. The Jaguars lived on as the Judd engined Mazda MXR-01, but the only real competition from the Japanese manufacturer was Peugeot.
A team of two Toyotas travelled to Monza for the opening round of the 1992 World Championship. Sadly only ten other cars joined them including two Peugeots and two Mazdas. Even though the world championship was in an absolute dire state, the cars themselves were absolutely superb. The Peugeot that claimed pole position set a lap time faster than Nigel Mansell's fastest lap in the Formula 1 race later in the season, despite the considerable weight disadvantage. Although the new 3.5 litre cars were incredibly quick, they also proved very fragile. At Monza just four cars were classified, but most importantly it was one of the Toyotas that took the flag first, recording the company's very first World Championship win. Throughout the season, the Toyotas and Peugeots were closely matched. Building on two years of experience with their V10-engined machine, Peugeot did have the edge.
The legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans was the third and obviously most important round of the championship. Here the old Group C cars were still eligible to run, so Toyota brought three TS010s and one V8-engined 92C-V. Peugeot were clearly interested in pleasing the partisan crowd and clinched the pole by quite a wide margin. In the race it evened out quite nicely, although the Peugeots proved to be the most consistent and reliable. Toyota walked away from the TS010's first Le Mans with a second place finish and a fastest lap. Among the team that finished second was Masanori Sekiya and he became the first Japanese to climb the podium at Le Mans. In the final three rounds of the championship Toyotas finished on the podium every time, but all races were won by Peugeot. << Prev Page 2 of 3 Next >>
Ultimatecarpage.com
> Cars by brand
> Japan
> Toyota
Racing cars
> Group C / IMSA GTP
As mentioned earlier the TS010 first raced late in 1991, during the 430 km race at Autopolis in Japan. It was the perfect opportunity to size up the competition as Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Peugeot had all brought their 3.5 litre Group C cars for the final round of the World Championship. The fresh Toyota finished a promising sixth and just three laps behind the winning Mercedes-Benz. A winter's worth of developing would most certainly be sufficient to bring the TS010 right to the head of the field. Sadly it was not just Toyota's hard work that brought that about; both Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz withdrew from the world championship. The Jaguars lived on as the Judd engined Mazda MXR-01, but the only real competition from the Japanese manufacturer was Peugeot.