From Le Mans to the Road: Toyota's 1,000HP Hypercar is Coming
This past week was a big one for Toyota’s motorsport division. Not only did Toyota become the second Japanese manufacturer ever to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright with the 1-2 finish of its TS050 hybrids in the LMP1 class, it also announced that it's building a Le Mans-spec Hypercar for the street.
Prior to the start of this year’s 24 hour race, Toyota's Gazoo Racing announced that it will be producing the GR Super Sport Concept that it debuted earlier this year, not just as a race entry but as a road-going Hypercar.
For 2020, the FIA is planning to add a new top dog class at Le Mans that will feature race cars based on high tech monster production cars like the McLaren Senna and Aston Martin Valkyrie—and Toyota is planning on being right there with them.
The GR Super Sport Concept is packed with technology from Toyota’s Le Mans program and features a twin turbocharged 2.4L V6 combined with a pair of electric motors for a total of just under 1,000hp.
While it’s hard to say how close the production version will be to the concept, with the announcement of the new race class the timing is right—and Gazoo Racing boss Shigeki Toyama confirms, “at some point in the near future, customers will have a chance to get behind the wheel of this incredible machine and experience its astonishing power and driving performance"
Toyota has worked hard in recent years to reignite the passion in its vehicles, and we can’t wait to see what comes of both this project and the future of Le Mans itself. Things are about to get very interesting.
