Exceeding simulation predictions!
Kamui Kobayashi makes an astonishing course record

June 15, 2017. Shortly after 8:15 pm local time, shock waves echoed through the Circuit de la Sarthe, the stage of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

In the second qualifying session, the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID driven by Kamui Kobayashi recorded an extraordinary lap time (3'14.791), beating the former course record by over two seconds.

This record time brought cheers not only from the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team, but from the rival Porsche pit as well.

At last year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team had recorded the fastest time in the qualifying sessions of 3'20.737.

Despite the various newly introduced regulations, the team had managed to cut their lap times by nearly six seconds as a result of untiring efforts and their "hate to lose" attitude.

Kobayashi's record held through the third qualifying session and won the team the pole position for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

"Kobayashi's qualifying time was something we could not have expected from the numerous simulations we ran beforehand. Did Kamui run straight through the Porsche Curve?" One of the team's engineers asked himself in disbelief.

But the qualifying is not the most important thing at Le Mans.
It is the race for 24 hours.

Kamui Kobayashi's time was definitely an exceptional feat.
But the time difference between the fellow No. 8 TS050 HYBRID in the 2nd in the qualifying and No. 1 Porsche in the 3rd, was no more than 0.131 seconds.

At the Circuit de la Sarthe of 13.629 km, that time difference was all but meaningless.

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team had won the first two rounds of this year's FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season. It had also recorded the fastest lap time on the Le Mans official pre-race test day.

“Porsche is also fast.”
The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was anxious.

President Akio Toyoda visits Le Mans

June 17, race day for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
One year had passed since that fateful day in 2016.

The determination of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team including all the drivers, engineers and mechanics brought to this race was beyond description.

President Akio Toyoda arrived at Le Mans to be on site together for the fight that lays ahead.
He shook hands with Kamui Kobayashi who won the pole position, and is starting the race from the front row.

President Toyoda told the drivers, "Drive with full faith in the cars the mechanics have prepared, and enjoy Le Mans."

President Toyoda also saw again Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG. He enjoyed making one round of the Circuit de la Sarthe together with Porsche prior to the battle for next 24 hours.

In the passenger seat beside President Toyoda was Alex Wurz, who was a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and serving as the team advisor and ambassador. Together with Wurz, President Toyoda enjoyed driving around the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Cars No. 7 and No. 8 lead in the early stages of the race battling fiercely with the Porsche cars

The race started at 3:00 pm local time.
As soon as it started, the No. 7 and No. 8 TS050 HYBRID cars took the lead.

The two TS050 HYBRID cars were going very fast. They looked as if they were competing in a sprint race.

The two cars were holding 1st and 2nd place, but two Porsche cars were not far behind.

The Toyota cars were in a position where they could quickly be overtaken if they let their guard down for even a moment.
The worst situation that the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was afraid of, was about to occur.

Unlike a typical mild weather of June in western France, it was a day of blazing summer heat.

That was making both the drivers and the machines hotter than in normal years. In tough conditions that the increased physical and mechanical stress of the heat was causing, they continued to run hard at full speed without relaxing at any moment.

Watching the battle from the pit, Kamui Kobayashi was preparing himself for a long and hard race.

For roughly three hours before the sun went down at just after 10:00 pm, the race had continued as a tense dead heat between the Toyotas and the Porsches.

The Le Mans night turns into a nightmare.
Trouble strikes both Porsche and Toyota.

A change in the tight race had occurred three hours and thirty minutes after the start.

One of the two Porsches, the No. 2 car that had been running in 4th position, suddenly returned to the pit.

The car had to be taken into the garage to fix a problem.

Next problem to arise was for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.

Eight hours after the start, as the shades of night fell over Le Mans, white smoke began to pour from the area of the front tires on the No. 8 TS050 HYBRID during pit work while it stood in 2nd position in the race.

Car No. 8 was immediately wheeled into the garage for repair.
The cause of the problem was the front electric motor.

The repairs in the garage resulted in a big time loss.

With this, both Porsche and the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team had seen each one of their cars pushed far behind the battle for the victory in the early stages of the race.

Now it was night in Le Mans.
With their headlights shining brightly, the leading No. 7 TS050 HYBRID and the No. 1 Porsche battled on for the lead.

Night also brought reduced drivers vision and increased risk of collisions with back markers.
But slowing to a more cautious pace would allow the Porsche in 2nd place to close the gap. The close race went on.

In the midst of this tense race, it was the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing car that was first to encounter unexpected trouble.

It was 10 hours into the race, just when the Safety Car was returning to the pit lane to signal the re-start of the race, the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID was struck by clutch trouble.
Kamui Kobayashi, who was driving at the time immediately radioed the pit, and was trying to head back to the pit on just his battery and electric motor, but he was still in the middle of the circuit when he could no longer make headway.

Then, to add to the team's troubles, the No. 9 TS050 HYBRID was hit by another car and suffered body damage. This made No. 9 unable to run as well, taking two of the three TS050 HYBRID cars out of the race in quick succession.

With these developments, it was the No. 1 Porsche that found itself in the lead.
Amid the tight battle at the limits of car performance, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team had finally given up the lead.

As it turned out, however, this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans race wasn't over yet.

Sixteen hours after the start, with eight hours remaining in the race, it was now the No. 1 Porsche car that became the victim of trouble. The car came to a stop on the course.

The three cars of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and the two Porsche cars, five of the LMP1-H class cars had all been struck with trouble.

This year's 24 Hours of Le Mans had truly turned into a survival race.

The "hate to lose" determination!
Battling back from virtually the back of the pack

About the same time that two of the TS050 HYBRID cars had to drop out of the race, the No. 8 TS050 HYBRID was just returning to it after nearly two hours of repair work.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing had only one car left, the No. 8 TS050 HYBRID.

At that point, Car No. 8 was 29 laps behind the leader.
It was 54th place, which was virtually at the very back of the field.

There was no hope of winning now.

But the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team didn't give up.

Three drivers of the No. 8 TS050 HYBRID continued to charge up through the field at a tremendous pace.

Recording the fastest lap of the race along the way, No. 8 passed one competitor after another in a resolute attempt to make it to the goal that had eluded them a year earlier.

At 24 Hours of Le Mans this year, it had eventually been the No. 2 Porsche that had fought back from trouble suffered early in the race to win in the end.

The No. 8 TS050 HYBRID fought back and completed the race at 8th position, nine laps behind the winner.

When that moment came, President Akio Toyoda was there at the pit wall.

After he watched the No. 8 car finish the race, President Toyoda received an invitation from driver Kazuki Nakajima.

"President Toyoda, we weren't able to win, but all of us drivers and the everyone on the team gave it their all. If you wouldn't mind, would you step up on the podium with us even though we are not winners? It'll be my first time to go on the Le Mans podium."

President Toyoda answered immediately, "OK. Let's step together."

As he went up on the Le Mans podium, the message in President Toyoda's heart was: "Sorry we weren't able to let you drive all out" as stated in the offcial message to the press later.

Normally, it would be proper to start off with words of appreciation for the support provided to us by our fans. However, for this time at Le Mans, I think I must first direct my opening words to our drivers.

To me, at Le Mans for the first time, our drivers said, “We want you up together with us at the center of the podium”, “For that, we definitely don't want to lose”, and “So fight together with us.”

In return, I said: “Drive all out. Trust the cars the mechanics readied for you. Enjoy Le Mans.”

Despite telling them such, I was not able to allow them to drive all out. This, I truly regret. Even though our drivers drove believing in our cars, I can only say how sorry and how full of regret I am.

I believe that the Toyota engineers, mechanics and parts suppliers, who built our cars for this battle, all feel the same.

Therefore, bearing the burden as a representative of all such people, please let me say once again: “Sorry we weren't able to let you drive all out.”

Also, to all the people related to the Toyota team, including our nine drivers, I would like to share two things on my mind at this moment.

The first is for our fans.

To all the fans who supported us believing in victory for Toyota, I am truly sorry that we were not able to meet your expectations.

And for believing in us and giving us your passionate support for 24 hours all the way to the end, I want to express my deepest appreciation. Thank you. Thank you all so very much.

Once again, Toyota will strive for the day on which we can, together, have smiles on our faces.

The second is for the Porsche team.

After last year's battle, I happily received many comments from people at Porsche recognizing us as a rival.

To live up to having been called a “rival”, I had thought that what we needed to do this year was to again put up a brilliant fight that would captivate the fans.

That is why the team was able to take up bold challenges that resulted in new technologies and skills.

To the Porsche team, I say congratulations. And I also say thank you very much.

In the end, however, Toyota was not able to put up the kind of fight that could captivate the fans, like it did last year.

This time, both Porsche and we, Toyota, were not able to complete without incident 24 hours of driving in the hybrid cars that we put to the challenge on the roads of Le Mans.

Both even winning car No. 2 and our car No. 8, which completed the race, were forced to undergo time-consuming, trouble-caused repairs, before struggling to cross the finish line.

While the hybrid technology that has advanced through competition in the FIA World Endurance Championship puts its abilities on display in six-hour races, it might be that it is not yet ready for the long distance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The power of electricity is absolutely necessary for cars take on a more-emotional presence.

Le Mans is a precious laboratory in which we can continue to take up the challenges related to the technologies involved, putting such technologies to the test in an extreme environment.

We will hone our technologies even further and ripen them to provide our customers with technologies that will truly make them smile. And we, Toyota, will go on making effort after effort so that we can continue making ever-better cars.

We invite you to look forward to what we will be able to achieve. Thank you.

The three Toyota TS050 HYBRID cars competing in this year's Le Mans race had indeed tried to run all out for the win.

But once again, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team was not able to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

However, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team's challenge is not finished yet.
Only three rounds of the 2017 WEC series have been run so far.

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will "hone our technologies even further and ripen them" and battle through the remaining six rounds of the WEC series.