Toyota remains committed to the Le Mans Hypercar category set to debut in the 2020/21 FIA World Endurance Championship, technical director Pascal Vasselon has said.
Following the recent news that Aston Martin will not be competing with its Valkyrie hypercar, Toyota has been left at the only major manufacturer committed to the new category when the new season kicks off at Silverstone in September.
With the future of the new category placed in further doubt, Vasselon ensured that Toyota’s plans has not changed and that it is still on track to take to the grid at Silverstone with its new Hypercar.
“First, there is little we can do about Aston Martin, so we have to accept the news,” Vasselon told invited media at Circuit of the Americas ahead of this weekend’s WEC race. “For us, it doesn’t change anything except that the picture of next season has changed. Now, we are looking at who will be present on the grid and there is little more that we can say. It’s sad, obviously.”
Vasselon explained that, at this stage, it would not be possible for the Japanese manufacturer to abandon its Hypercar plans and instead focus on the newly announced LMDh category as part of the ACO/IMSA convergence. When asked if Toyota had considered such plans, the Frenchman responded:
“Not really possible. Not considered because not possible. Because the car, most of the parts are in production, so there is no way back.”
Vasselon also explained that Toyota is not interested in the LMDh formula because it does not meet with the company’s motivations for endurance racing.
“It is not interesting. It doesn’t correspond to what we are looking for,” he elaborated. “We are racing to develop technology and to prove technology in racing. So it’s true that for us, it’s not interesting to purchase a chassis, an LMP2 chassis, and to purchase an off-the-shelf hybrid system. This is not what we are looking for, this is not what we are asked to do.
We fully understand that this approach is the right one for other manufacturers. But for us, definitely no, because our mandate is to develop technology in racing and to prove technology in racing.”
With Aston Martin postponing plans for its Valkyrie hypercar, Toyota remains the only major OEM committed to the Hypercar formula, joined by boutique supercar maker Glickenhaus and potentially LMP1 outfit ByKolles. Vasselon has said that the prospect of another season with a small grid is not detrimental to Toyota’s commitment to the WEC.
“It’s not what we are dreaming about. But it is what what we got,” he quipped.
“I think from Toyota, we probably have consistency which is maybe lacking from other places. We have a strategy, we want to be present in motorsport, especially in endurance racing.
And at some point, yes, we hope for better times but at the moment we can say that Toyota wants to be present in endurance racing.”
