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Motorsport

Why Kazuki Nakajima sees the 2016 Le Mans defeat as Toyota’s WEC highlight

Kazuki Nakajima Toyota WEC Le Mans (Facility) Porsche Audi Imola (Geopolitical Entity)

Toyota has been part of the World Endurance Championship since its inception in 2012. From LMP1 to the Hypercar era, the Japanese manufacturer has experienced many highs and lows as it approaches its 100th race in the series.

During that time, Toyota has claimed 49 wins and started from pole position 42 times. In total, it has secured 13 world titles, split between seven manufacturers’ and six drivers’ championships. There are plenty of highlights to choose from, yet former driver and current vice chairman Kazuki Nakajima has instead selected one of Le Mans' most dramatic events as the team's standout moment.

“There were many good moments, tough moments,” Nakajima told Motorsport.com. “You can already imagine my answer. If I had to pick one, I would still raise the 2016 Le Mans. Maybe it's too easy and everyone can imagine.”

“Of course, it was the toughest moment you can ever imagine,” Nakajima added, the race in which the #8 Toyota looked set for victory until it stopped on the final lap. “At the same time, this was the kind of race that we performed at our best. Especially for the car #8 crew in this race, it was probably the best race from a team performance perspective.

“This was a good achievement and something I want to highlight. Even though we didn't grab the trophy in the end, up until five minutes or three minutes before the chequered flag, the race was, let's say, ours. This gave us a certain kind of confidence as a team that we can definitely do it and that we deserve to win Le Mans. I think until 2015, it was something we were missing. This was kind of a game changer as a team and a very good step from at that time looking for the future.”

#5 Toyota Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid: Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima (Photo by: Simon Winson)

While Nakajima points to 2016 as a high point, he considers the 2017 Le Mans to be Toyota’s low point in the WEC. “Probably even worse than [the Le Mans loss in] 2016,” the Japanese driver says. “Because after having this sort of confidence and for 2017, we were really there to grab the victory.

“This was kind of mentality and having three cars and everything, so we tried almost everything possible to win Le Mans, especially against Porsche, [which was] still there at that time. And somehow we didn't achieve this with many different reasons. But this was probably the biggest disappointment as a team and kind of a wake-up call that we still need to work harder to achieve our goal.”

In the final years of the LMP1 regulations, Toyota faced less competition following the departure of Audi and Porsche, yet Nakajima still believes the team can be “proud” of its performances during that dominant period.

“After having those two years, in 2018, we managed to improve our car further, especially for the reliability point of view,” he explains. “What we have achieved in 2018, even though you can argue that there was maybe no real competitor like Porsche or Audi, what we have done as a team, together with a very tough internal competition, we did a very good race and this first win was still a cool kind of a result for the team.”

A few years later, the situation is very different. Toyota now faces much stronger competition from new manufacturers thanks to the Hypercar regulations. Last year, it lost both titles to Ferrari, but ultimately Nakajima is pleased that the championship is now in a much healthier state than in the final LMP1 years.

“Since 2018, we were always clear that we always welcome the competition and this was something we were looking for,” Nakajima said. “We are very happy with how the WEC is right now, in terms of having competitors and especially so many competitors together. As one of the team members, but also as a part of WEC, it's such a great moment.

“It's something we are enjoying, but at the same time, it gives quite a lot of difficulty and challenges. But in the end, this is always something we are looking for, so no complaints about it. We just have to nail it and beat everyone else.”

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TR010: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Getty Images)

According to Nakajima, Toyota hasn’t had to change “that much” in the way it operates despite the increased competition. “I think we still had the experience and kind of the strength as a team to stick together, especially like 2023, 2024,” he says. “Although we didn't manage to achieve our biggest target, which is [winning] Le Mans, still we were strong enough as a team. But in 2025, I think it was a little bit different.

“You can always argue about external factors and things like that, but still, we have to admit that we missed something as a team to achieve our target. This was kind of, again, a good... It's not like we were sleeping through 2023, 2024, but I think it's a good aspect of the competition.

"As long as you are competing with each other, there will be a moment that you are in a bad mood because of the improvement of competitors or whatever. And we simply have to learn from it. I want to take 2025 as a proper learning year. After those learnings, now with a new car, we are again ready to hit our target. This is our motivation for the new season.”

After this weekend in Imola, Toyota will officially reach the milestone of 100 races. Does the team’s vice chairman expect the countdown to 200 to begin? “Of course, this is always the hope as a driver or hope as a team member and manufacturer. But to be honest, when we started this programme, especially as a driver, I could never imagine to achieve 100 races together with the team. And some of the team members [will] have done 100 races.

“This is, to be honest, something incredible. I think it's too early to imagine about 200 races, but we just have to race hard for every race every year and see how we can develop for the future."