Toyota resumes testing of new Le Mans hybrid after last month's crash
Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre completed 81 laps of testing with Toyota's new TS030 chassis at Magny-Cours on Friday as the Japanese manufacturer resumed its hybrid development programme ahead of the Le Mans 24 Hours
Toyota lost weeks of preparation after Lapierre's testing accident at Paul Ricard last month and was also forced to miss its planned World Endurance Championship race debut at Spa this weekend, after the team's only available monocoque was destroyed in the crash.
But after giving a static demonstration of the TS030 - complete with its new aerodynamic package - at Spa on Wednesday (pictured), Toyota took the revised car to Magny-Cours for a comprehensive shakedown.
"It is an ordinary package," Toyota's technical director Pascal Vasselon said of the changes to the car. "We went away from the classical LMP splitter towards a more F1 like splitter with the splitter acting like a wing, and then all the features of the car have improved.
"We have reduced drag and increased downforce. It is a car that is quite simply more developed."
Toyota now expects to be able to recover the ground it lost during the past weeks prior to its race debut at Le Mans in June.
"Before the accident we were making good progress," said Vasselon. "For sure this has stopped for a while. We knew that we had this risk, we knew that from the beginning of this test programme, we had only one monocoque. The accident happened a little bit too early because we had a second car constructed but not ready to go immediately so we've lost two test sessions.
"So I would say we are now behind in our preparation, that's a fact. But the time of regret is over and we have to make our best with what is left. We will recover the two test sessions before Le Mans that we lost."
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