Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) is delighted to confirm that it will take part in several races of the 2012 FIAWorld Endurance Championship, including the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The entry will be based upon an LMP1 prototype chassis from TMG, and a petrol hybrid powertrain produced by Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan.

The exact scope of this participation and its official name will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

TMG’s high-performance technical centre in Cologne, Germany, where the LMP1 chassis has been designed, developed and produced, will be the base for the team.

Tadashi Yamashina, Toyota Motor Corporation Senior Managing Officer and TMG Chairman, said: “Toyota Motor Corporation has entered Le Mans before but by using our hybrid technology this time will be a completely new challenge. We want to write a new page in the history of the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as in the FIA World Endurance Championship, through our use of hybrid technology. In addition, we aim to learn from the experience of competing in such a challenging motorsport environment to enhance our production car technology. Le Mans is a legendary race and I would like to thank the ACO and the FIA for their constructive and positive cooperation over the last few months.”

TMG’s award-winning engineering services, including all current motorsport projects, will continue unaffected by this announcement, which it is hoped will provide further impetus to its successful business development activities.

Testing has begun at Paul Ricard – I am still hunting for official pictures of the car, but shown here is the EV that ran at the Nurburgring (setting fastest time for an electric vehicle at 7:47