Toyota TS050 Hybrid - 2017

After its success in the World Endurance Championship, despite missing out on victory at Le Mans, Toyota embarked on a career as the eternal runner-up: the new TS050, introduced in 2016 to replace the TS040 and to reaffirm Japanese supremacy in the area of hybrid technology, scored a single victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji with Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, and finished third in both the Constructors' and Drivers' classifications.

The almost entirely revised car for 2017 retained only the carbon fibre and aluminium monocoque, while the front, flanks and rear were redesigned. The start of the season, in which Audi withdrew, leaving Toyota and Porsche to fight for victory in LMP1 (plus the private Bykolles Racing team with the Lotus-built CLM P1), was misleading. The No. 8 car driven by Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima kicked off the championship with two victories, at Silverstone and then at Spa-Francorchamps, where Conway and Kobayashi also took second place on the podium. Encouraged by this strong start, the team decided to enter a third car for the first time in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

During qualifying, cars number 7 and 8, driven by Conway-Kobayashi-Sarrazin and Buei-Nakajima-Davidson respectively, clocked the fastest and second fastest times to claim the front row. The Japanese driver Kobayashi took pole position and set a new lap record of under 3 minutes and 15 seconds. The third car, entered under number 9 with the trio of Nicolas Lapierre, José Maria López and Yuri Kunimoto at the wheel, came fifth behind two Porsches. In the race, luck seemed to favour the Japanese hybrids, who fought for the lead until a Porsche crept between them. Technical problems slowed down car no. 8 and eliminated car no. 7 during the night and morning, while car no. 9 managed to move into second place, taking advantage of a number of problems encountered by its Porsche rivals. But the car was involved in an accident and had to withdraw, allowing the Oreca 07 LMP2 from the Jacky Chan and Rebellion team (later disqualified) to climb up the rankings and fulfil the manufacturer's dream until Porsche No. 2 took the lead. In the end, the cautiously driven No. 8 TS050 was the only Toyota to finish the race, settling for eighth place overall and second in the LMP1 category.

Toyota consoled itself by winning the last three races of the season, but this proved insufficient to secure the LMP1 world title, which once again went to Porsche. The Japanese manufacturer redeemed itself the following year by securing the first of a long series of consecutive victories in the championship and at Le Mans.