Toyota hits the ton — charting 100 world championship sportscar starts

The Japanese manufacturer is celebrating its 100th world championship prototype start in this weekend's Portimao 8 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship. Here are the major milestones on the road to three figures since the earliest low-key days of its entry into the Group C arena nearly 40 years ago

Gary Watkins Jun 12, 2021, 1:17 PM

Upd: Aug 8, 2021, 4:27 PM

Toyota is celebrating its 100th world championship prototype start in this weekend's Portimao 8 Hours round of the World Endurance Championship with its new Le Mans Hypercar. The story stretches back nearly 40 years to a low-key entry into the Group C arena and straddles multiple eras of sportscar history and different rulesets.

There have been cars run out of Japan, Britain and Germany and any number of engine configurations, from a four-cylinder 2.1-litre turbo four through a 1000bhp V8, and a screaming 3.5-litre V10 and onto the hybrid powerplants with which Toyota has competed in the current iteration of the world series since 2012.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.