RACING
Toyota Officially Launches GR010 Hypercar Project
Toyota has official lifted the cover off of their Le Mans Hypercar project that is powered by a twin-turbo V6. The Toyota Le Man 24 Hour contender was launched today in their traditional red, white and black color scheme and branded GR logos for Gazoo Racing.
Toyota announced today that their driver lineup will be unchanged moving from last year championship winning World Endurance Championship team. Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lope and Mike Conway will drive the #7 with Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley piloting the #8 GR010.
Toyota GR Racing’s John Litjens says that there are similarities between the TS050 and the GR010 but the GR010 does make more power out of it V6 twin-turbo combustion engine.
Specifications have been released to the public that put the GR010 substantially bigger than the predecessor TS050. 250mm longer, 100mm wider and 100mm higher. The new WEC Hypercar regulations also have added weight to the cars from 878kg LMP1 rules to 1040kg with the new Hypercar rules. The teams also have to abide to new aerodynamic rules that only allow one aero configuration throughout the season. This means the teams are not allowed to change the body aero styling for low and high downforce tracks around the world. This is an attempt at cost saving measures.
The GR010 Hypercar will make its first appearance at the 2021 WEC at Sebring March 19.
