At the 2024 finale in Bahrain, Toyota secured the World Manufacturers’ Championship in the World Sports Car Championship (FIA WEC). But the Japanese were successful in the WEC ten years ago. At the time, Porsche and Audi were rivals.
The model game was on the international scene for a long time. But from the mid-2000s things started to look up. Le Mans organizer ACO launched the Le Mans Endurance Series in 2004, which became the FIA WEC for the 2012 season through the Le Mans series and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup. For the first time since 1992 there was a World Cup of sports prototypes and WEC. But there were setbacks: Peugeot pulled out at short notice shortly before the start of the season – and so newcomer Toyota had to compete alone against top dog Audi.
The Japanese even brought the first appearance of their TS030 Hybrid a little and thus immediately made the service of the WEC. But success was already achieved in 2012 and 2013. But the title went to Audi in each case. For the 2014 season, the WEC began to increase. A new hybrid control (with different megajoule classes) has been introduced. Porsche then joined Audi and Toyota with the 919 Hybrid. In addition, Rebellion (through Oreca) and R-One and Lotus (Kolles) and CLM P1/01 brought private cars, which, however, did not have hybrid power and therefore did not have a place.
Toyota produced the TS040 Hybrid for 2014. The car had over 1000 horsepower and stored the hybrid power in a supercapacitor. In fact, the focus before the season was mainly on the competition from Audi and Porsche. But in the end Toyota won. The TS040 Hybrid won five out of eight races (Silverstone, Spa-Francorchamps, home races at Fuji, Shanghai and Bahrain). The Japanese won the manufacturers’ championship with 289 points. Audi was second with 244 points. Porsche was third with 193 points.
The World Drivers’ Championship also went to the Toyota duo: Sébastien Buemi/Anthony Davidson won the title with a lead of 39 points. Almost ten years ago, the season finale took place at Interlagos on November 30, 2014. The Porsche 919 Hybrid won for the first time in Brazil. “It was a very difficult battle with Porsche at Interlagos. There were many incidents and the race ended under the safety car,” Buemi reflects. “We didn’t win in the end, but we were close. It was a great achievement to win the title against Porsche and Audi.”
Buemi was not the only driver to compete in the 2014 season and currently still drives for Toyota in the WEC. Mike Conway was also part of the Toyota factory team in 2014. The Brit shared the TS040 hybrid with Alex Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin in some races. “The TS040 hybrid was fantastic in 2014 and it was very special to be part of the first Toyota Manufacturers’ World Championship in the WEC,” recalls Conway. “I was a test and reserve driver in 2014, but I was also allowed to drive a few races so I could help improve the points tally.”
