Toyota 'back in the fight' with LMP1 aero updates in WEC

The Japanese manufacturer, like rivals Porsche and Audi, will give a debut to a high-downforce version of its 2016 LMP1 contender on the German track for round four of the series.

The latest specification TS050 HYBRID replaces the medium-downforce version run at Silverstone and Spa.

Anthony Davidson, who shares the #5 Toyota with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, told Autosport: "We are expecting to be back in the fight on downforce tracks with the new aero.

"We have high hopes for our high-downforce kit and hope to be able to challenge for wins, whether that we will be at the Nurburgring we don't know.

"If the Nurburgring doesn't suit our latest package, I'm sure one of the tracks over the rest of the season will and we will be able to get back to the top step of the podium."

EARLY RACES NO INDICATION

Davidson stressed that no assumptions could be made about Toyota's form on high-downforce tracks from its uncompetitive showing in the Silverstone WEC opener in April.

Toyota ran aero designed to cover the different demands of Silverstone and Spa before introducing a configuration it described as "ultra low-downforce" for Le Mans.

Davidson said he was targeting at least one victory over the remaining six races.

"That's not being negative given that we should have won at Spa and at the Le Mans 24 Hours," he said, "just realistic that with the level of competitiion everything has to go your way to win."

Toyota, which hasn't won in the WEC since the penultimate round of the 2014 season in Bahrain, has revealed that it has yet to test its latest aero.

New rules for 2016 limit each LMP1 manufacturer to three homologated aero packages in the name of cost reduction.

Each marque has so far run two packages, which means there can be no further major aerodynamic developments this season.

Porsche ran a specification at Silverstone based on that with which it dominated the second half of last year's WEC, before introducing its Le Mans aero at Spa.

It successfully tested the latest package over a four days with the 919 Hybrid in Barcelona last week.

Audi also ran its Le Mans bodywork on the latest R18 e-tron quattro at Spa.

None of the manufacturers have so far released images of their updated contenders ahead of their respective debuts this weekend.

Porsche LMP1 team principal Andreas Seidl said the "new look of the car's front is obvious".