Toyota weighs up hybrid attack

Toyota weighs up hybrid attack

Toyota has tested a hybrid-equipped LMP1 prototype built to 2011 rules as it evaluates a Le Mans 24 Hours comeback.

The car giant has been looking at a return to Le Mans for the first time since 1999 for several years and tested its hybrid technology in a Dome S101 chassis in 2008. It has now emerged that it commissioned the Japanese constructor to build an LMP1 to the latest rules and that this car tested as early as last year.

Sources suggest that one plan was for Toyota to be back at Le Mans in 2012, but the economic crisis following the tsunami in March forced a delay.