The Japanese manufacturer has revealed that it could take a leaf out of arch-rival Ferrari’s book and run a third car on a satellite basis eventually.
Nonetheless Toyota WEC race director Rob Leupen has revealed that it is already too late to put such a plan into place for next year and that an additional full-season entry within the Hypercar class could not come on stream sooner than 2026.
“We see what Ferrari is doing and we like that,” Leupen stated.
“Clearly working an additional car offers you additional potentialities, so it is one thing we’re trying. We’re reviewing it.”
The lead-time involved in setting up an additional car and establishing the infrastructure to run it would make it unattainable for a third GR010 to succeed in within the WEC in 2025, stated Leupen.
“If we have now been going to do it in a following year, we’d have wanted to have made the choice already, and in the mean time nothing is ready,” he mentioned.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“It can‘t be a short-term determination because of we all know what the lead events for all of the components could be throughout the current circumstances.”
Toyota favours going the Ferrari route: the manufacturing facility AF Corse crew runs the extra 499P LMH for this year driven by Robert Kubica and works drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman on a purchaser basis.
“We’re not at the stage of saying that’s how we have to do it, however should you ask me, the way Ferrari does it, I like that,” mentioned Leupen.
He added that the complexities of working a four-wheel-drive LMH would mitigate towards the route Porsche has taken by selling its 963 LMDh to privateer teams.
A further Toyota would not have the ability to accrue WEC producer’s points and instead would compete within the World Cup for Teams by which the additional AF Ferrari and the Jota and Proton Competition Porsches at the moment participate.
What’s unclear is that if there could be room for an additional Toyota the year after next.
Begin motion
Picture by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Picture
The WEC grid is on track to broaden to 40 cars next similtaneously producers look sure to be obliged to run two cars.
With the arrival of Aston Martin with two Valkyrie LMHs, an enlargement of the present one-car Cadillac, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini Hypercar programmes would doubtlessly imply the grid is oversubscribed.
Requested if there can be room for an additional Toyota with a continued enlargement of the Hypercars, Leupen replied: “What number of cars does Porsche run? What number of cars does Ferrari run? So why must we not run three?”
Leupen added that there may probably be an overlap between the GR010 LMH and the hydrogen combustion prototype it is planning to develop after the reveal of the GR H2 Concept at last year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The model new hydrogen class should not be set for an introduction until at least 2027.