Yamaha to continue partnership with Toyota Racing

Yamaha Motor Europe will continue as an ‘Official Supplier to TOYOTA Racing’ for the 2013 FIA World Endurance Championship.

John Newman

• Racing
• Yamaha
• hybrid
• electric

First run in 1923, the 24 Heures du Mans is the oldest active endurance car race in motorsports and sits alongside the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Formula One race as one of the icons of motorsports.

Famous racers such as Derek Bell and Graham Hill, and legendary movie stars including Paul Newman and Steve McQueen have fought for racing glory in the race over the years. Over the 24hr period the drivers cover over 5000km, a distance over six times longer than the Indy 500 and over eighteen times longer than an average Formula One race. The race is run on the Circuit de la Sarthe, part closed racetrack and part public road with a length of 13.629km. The course includes the famous Mulsanne straight, historically six kilometres long, however now including two chicanes to reduce the time cars spend at maximum speed.

Andrew Smith - Vice-President, Sales and Marketing, Yamaha Motor Europe says:
“We are very pleased to be able to continue to work together with TOYOTA Racing through 2013,”  “Whilst their TS030 HYBRID racing car is bringing tomorrow’s hybrid technology to the race track, we continue to pioneer electric vehicles for the street, contributing to a cleaner, low carbon society. It makes our EC03 electric vehicle on 2 wheels a natural choice for TOYOTA Racing. As two of Japan’s most respected automotive manufacturers with amazing histories and current exploits at the highest levels of international racing it’s also a pleasure to be connected with an eye on the future! We would also like to congratulate TOYOTA on reaching an incredible milestone this year, having now produced over five million hybrid cars!”

Yoshiaki Kinoshita - TOYOTA Racing Team President commented:
“Our TS030 HYBRID has been developed using advanced motorsport engineering. It is the result of extensive research and development at both at TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH in Cologne and TOYOTA’s Motor Sport Division in Japan. TOYOTA, like Yamaha, has a long history in motorsport; we both continue to write new pages as we develop and move forward with the next generation of machines.”

Wemoto