Toyota takes the crown in 2019 World Endurance Championship

As some would say, the key to being successful in endurance racing is to take it as a marathon and not as a sprint. Toyota took that to heart and their efforts were paid off as they have now bagged the 2019 World Endurance Championship title.

Toyota's journey in endurance racing has been challenging to say the least. They first entered in the early 90's, but only played second fiddle to Peugeot at the time. Toyota tried again in 1998 and 1999, but their efforts were foiled yet again. It would take Toyota more than a decade to return to the sport, but year after year, Toyota would be behind Audi, and later, Porsche. The Japanese automaker did win the overall title in 2014, but the Le Mans win remained elusive.

In 2017, Toyota would come close to winning Le Mans, but heartache struck the team in the last five minutes when the leading car sputtered to a halt. Rubbing salt in their wounds is the fact that Toyota missed out on the constructor's title in the 2017 season.

This year, with Porsche and Audi out, Toyota made the most of it by winning both Le Mans and the WEC title. While it seemed like a walk in the park, there was pressure on the team to perform as they are the only ones who have manufacturer backing. But deliver, they did, and 2019 served as a culmination of almost 30 years of work in the challenging world of endurance racing.

All that's left for Toyota now is which of their drivers will be crowned champions. At the moment, it seems that the trio of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi, and Kazuki Nakajima are set to win the title. However, their teammates, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway are not that far off in points. But whoever wins it in 2018-2019 season will be bringing even more glory to Japan's largest automaker either way.