Toyota building a hybrid to win Le Mans

[dascrow]

While it may be too late for Toyota to enter this years running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it may have a hybrid surprise up its sleeve for 2009. Perhaps buoyed by a win in Tohachi last year with their capacitor-equipped Supra HV-R, the company is out to gain some hybrid fame by building a vehicle to snatch the crown from the reigning Audi oil-burners.

Toyota hasn't yet formally committed and according to their head of R&D, Kazuo Okamoto, "We want to enter when we are confident of victory," And indeed, victory would be a sweet way to mark their return to the "greatest race in the world" (with apologies to the Daytona 500, the Gran Prix at Monaco and, of course, the Tour de France) after a 10 year absence. Of course, Toyota might get a shock from Peugeots combining of the two competing technologies but that's why they call it racing.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]
http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03...o-win-le-mans/