Toyotas Made Heavier in Le Mans EoT

Defending 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Toyota will contest this year’s edition of the race with slightly heavier cars following confirmation of the Equivalence of Technology regulations for next weekend’s event.

A bulletin issued by the FIA Endurance Commission shows that the pair of Toyota TS050 Hybrids will be 7 kg heavier than they were last year when Sebastien Buemi, Fernando Alonso and Kazuki Nakajima won the race for the second time in a row.

The new minimum weight of 895 kg is still 37 kg lighter than what the Japanese manufacturer’s cars have been running to throughout the 2019-20 WEC season, under the success handicap regulations designed to ensure close competition in LMP1.

Success handicaps based on championship positions are not enforced at Le Mans, which is instead is governed by the EoT system which focuses on technical equivalence rather than penalization based on race results.

No changes have been made to the non-hybrid LMP1 minimum weights, but there have been increases in restrictor diameters and how much fuel can be used per stint.

The non-hybrid amounts are different depending on the engine type.

Rebellion Racing and ByKolles Racing use a naturally-aspirated Gibson V8 unit, while Team LNT uses a turbocharged AER engine for its Ginetta G60-LT-P1 package.

The non-hybrid petrol allowance per stint has gone from 50.8 kg to 55.4 kg, marking an increase of 4.4 kg since 2019.

The Ginetta, which is the only turbocharged non-hybrid LMP1 car entered this year, has been allocated 52.8 kg of fuel per stint.

The diameter of the air restrictors on the Rebellion and ByKolles cars has increased by 1.8 mm, from 22.3 mm last year to 24.1 mm this time around, while the Ginetta’s equivalent will operate at 23.5 mm.

No changes have been made to the maximum petrol flow during refueling, which is set at 115 kg/hour for the non-hybrids and 80 kg/hour for the hybrid-powered Toyotas.

The same goes for the maximum amount of petrol energy that can be expended over a lap, which is unlimited for non-hybrids and set at 124.9 MJ/lap for the Toyota entries.

A total of six LMP1 cars are on the entry list for this year’s Le Mans, split between the two Toyotas, two Rebellions and single-car efforts from Ginetta and ByKolles.