RET127 Temp Digital

54 REPORT : 24-HOUR PROTOTYPE ENGINES 2020 both cars running around 100-200 km. The team took five engines to Le Mans for the two cars and a comparable stock of ERS hardware. The same ERS components were run throughout race week, whereas fresh engines were fitted after Thursday running. The #7 Toyota took pole, and on race day, as the Rebellion challenge quickly faded, it looked to have the edge over its sister car. Approaching half-distance it had a one-lap lead over it when a damaged exhaust caused a change of manifold and associated turbocharger, at the cost of half-an-hour stationary. Floor damage later hampered its attempt to recover second position, and only a late-race off-track excursion for the third-placed Rebellion let it onto the podium in its place. The #7 wound up six laps adrift of the winning #8 Toyota, which was only hampered by an early puncture and later a brake duct change caused by debris ingress. It was the third year in a row that the #8 had won Le Mans, and this hat- trick allows Toyota to retain the winners’ trophy in perpetuity. Aside from that, there had been no powertrain issues since the start of the season (at Silverstone last year). The engine continues to have a 10,000 km mileage, with Toyota confined by regulation to seven engines for the season (unlike rival LM P1 runners, which are unlimited in terms of engine deployment). As usual, precisely the same powertrain specification was used at Le Mans, as at all other WEC events. Preparation for Le Mans 2020 included dyno simulation running of the entire powertrain using a transient facility in Japan and also a 24- hour track test at Paul Ricard in July. That saw the team running one car through the night (rather than parking it overnight – there is no noise restriction at the French track) and no problems were encountered. After the Spa WEC event there was a shakedown again at Spa (handy for the team’s Cologne base) to check the race components, SOME SUPPLIERS TO THE 2020 24-HOUR PROTOTYPE ENGINES ARP Arrow ATI BMRS Bosch Bryant Racing Capricorn Castrol CTE Advanced Technology Cloyes Comp Cams Cosworth CP-Carrillo Daido Metal Dailey Del West Denso DynoCams Ed Pink Exxon Mobil Fuji OOZX Garrett Motion Grainger & Worrall Goodridge Hitachi Howerton Racing Products IHI ITG Jesel K&N Keihin Kinsler Kulite Life Racing Mahle Mahle Clevite Marelli McLaren Applied Technologies Mezzo Mitsubishi MoTeC Motul NGK NHK NOK Pennzoil Precision Racing Components PSI PWR Riken Shell Schenk Schleicher Fahrzeugteile Smith Bros SS Tube Technology T&D Machine Tamachi Tenex Total Seal Usui Kokusai VP Racing Xceldyne XRP n TOYOTA AT LE MANS Toyota TS050 Hybrid LM P1 Circa-2.4 litre, 24-valve, DOHC V6 turbo 8 MJ hybrid – front-axle MGU, rear- axle MGU, battery storage Team president: Hisatake Murata General manager, GR powertrain development: Kenji Sumi HV powertrain manager: Shinnosuke Sato Hybrid engineer: Hiroyuki Kono ECB engineer: Shu Kobayashi Engine engineer #7: Masakatsu Nagai Engine engineer #8: Tomohiro Urabe 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid (Xtrac/Michelin) 1st – 387 L 1st LM P1 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid (Xtrac/Michelin) 3rd – 381 L 3rd LM P1 Toyota Gazoo Racing again ran a pair of TS050 LM P1 cars – this #7 car finished third (Courtesy of the ACO)