Work on the car's design began in November 2012, when the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) published its 2014 technical regulations and Toyota utilised its resources after the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It has two kinetic energy recovery system (KERS) regenerative-braking devices at the front and rear axles to charge a supercapacitor and, in accordance with the 2014 regulations, was placed in the 6 MJ (1.7 kWh) class.

The TS040 was shown to the press for the first time at the 26 March preseason test session at Circuit Paul Ricard, and was driven 25,000 km (16,000 mi) before the start of the 2014 season.

After the crash, Lapierre was dropped and Buemi and Nakajima won two more races and had another podium finish to win the 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Championship.

Consistent performances from Alexander Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima and reserve driver Mike Conway won Toyota the World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship at the season-ending 6 Hours of São Paulo.

The front of the TS040 changed, a new suspension preserved tyre life, its supercapacitor was altered for better performance, and two body kits were created to match the car to a track.

1 car (driven by Buemi, Nakajima and Davidson) at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the TS040 struggled against rivals Audi and Porsche in the seven remaining rounds before Wurz, Sarrazin and Conway's No.

The TS040's initial studies and simulations began immediately after the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) published its first revision of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship technical regulations in November 2012.

[5] Built at Toyota Motorsport headquarters in the North Rhine-Westphalia city of Cologne, the car's chassis design was supervised by engineer Pascal Vasselon.

The dual-circuit Brembo brake discs, made of lightweight carbon ceramic materials, enabled hydraulically-activated power steering.

Toyota installed two systems featuring knock control to detect vibration and real-time combustion pressure sensors to tune the spark timing among other engine components during a race for reliability purposes.

[10] New regulations were enacted for 2015, requiring an 80-per cent redesign of the TS040; this included a new front-end crash structure, a suspension optimised to preserve tyre life and additional weight reduction.

[17] Designers added a guide vane below the car's headlights for balance while braking, but felt that a second (at the rear of the vehicle) would create turbulence.

[23] Drivers Alexander Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima, Anthony Davidson, Stéphane Sarrazin and Sébastien Buemi were resigned to the team.

[27] The TS040 began private testing on the morning of 21 January at the Circuit Paul Ricard, when Wurz and Davidson completed a shakedown session and remained at the track for two days without major problems.

[28] The first long-distance pictures of the car being tested at the track were published in the automotive media eight days later,[4] and more photographs and the first video of the TS040 being driven by Davidson in wet weather were released on 3 March.

14 Porsche held the lead for the opening two hours, before Buemi took over the position (due to Toyota's double-stinting their tyres) and Lieb stalled in the pit lane which allowed Buemi to increase his advantage over Lieb and (later) Romain Dumas, who slowed with an electrical fault which disabled his hybrid system and resulting in the car losing two laps.

7 Toyota's oversteer and lack of grip cost Wurz, Nakajima and Sarrazin a battle between the lead Audi of Kristensen, Lucas di Grassi and Duval in the second half of the race.

7 car bumped Porsche from the top of the time sheets and improved in the following session to secure Toyota's first pole position at Le Mans since the 1999 race.

[38] Sarrazin took over from Wurz, and lost the lead through the pit-stop phase to Porsche drivers Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard before reclaiming it in the fourth hour.

[43] Lapierre missed the 6 Hours of Fuji due to "personal circumstances"; Toyota did not replace him with Conway, leaving Davidson and Buemi to drive the No.

[48] Buemi and Davidson gained the lead from Porsche in the first minutes of the second hour through better pit-stop strategy and did not relinquish it, setting fast lap times consistently for the rest of the race to win.

[49][50] Nakajima missed the Bahrain round due to a conflicting Super GT commitment in its season-closing race at Twin Ring Motegi, and Conway took over his role in the No.

7 to win the race; Buemi and Davidson recovered for an eleventh-place overall finish, earning them the 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Championship with a round to spare.

2 car finished fourth; Conway had to enter the pit lane for a nose-cone change after running over a thin trackside bollard while lapping the No.

A thirteen-minute pit stop for replacement front and rear bodywork and the installation of a new left-rear suspension dropped him five laps behind the leader, and the car finished eighth.

[84][85] At the 6 Hours of Shanghai, Toyota once again qualified on the third row of the grid; Buemi and Davidson started from fifth place, and Wurz and Conway secured the sixth position.

[86] After some positional changes following the safety car start due to morning rain, Davidson ran fifth until a slow puncture forced him into the pit lane.

[89][90] Competing with the TS040 Hybrid for the second consecutive year, Toyota accumulated 164 points and finished third in the World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship.

[92] A 2015-specification TS040 chassis was tested in January 2016 at the Ciudad del Motor de Aragón and the Circuit Paul Ricard with its successor, the TS050 Hybrid.