Amman, October 2019: Toyota GAZOO Racing (GR) recently commenced the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, with a one-two victory during an eventful ‘4 Hours of Silverstone’ in the United Kingdom. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López took victory in the No. 7 TS050 Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) to register the sixth consecutive win for reigning world champions, GR.

The impressive opening result was achieved despite recent changes to the FIA’s Equivalence of Technology (EoT) rules, which are designed to ensure a level playing field in the LMP1 class. This season, GR’s TS050 HEVs will carry 99kg more weight than their nearest rivals. In addition, refueling time for the HEVs has been increased to one second longer than non-HEVs in order to compensate for the speed advantage of restarting in electric mode. The vehicles’ fuel tank capacities have also been reduced to ensure an equal number of laps per race for both HEVs and non-HEVs.

Yugo Miyamoto, Chief Representative, Middle East and Central Asia Representative ‎Office, Toyota Motor Corporation, commented, “We are thrilled to have achieved this perfect start to the new season. The entire team can be proud of their performance in this exciting race, which further extends GR’s winning streak from last season. Participating and excelling in competitive racing lays the foundations in our journey towards building ‘ever-better’ cars that bring our customers greater satisfaction. I’d like to thank Toyota’s loyal fans for their constant support - as we look forward to giving them even more reasons to cheer as the season continues.”

This win indicates that the GR team carries an early World Championship lead going into the second round of the season, which will take place at their home circuit of Fuji Speedway on 6 October, where the race length reverts to the more traditional six-hour format.