Toyota has formally unveiled its all-new Le Mans Hypercar that may compete within the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Following 18 months of improvement on the staff’s headquarters in Cologne and powertrain facility at Higashi-Fuji, Toyota took the wraps off its GR010 HYBRID that includes a brand new twin-turbo V6 engine on Thursday, changing into the primary producer to disclose the most recent technology of prime class prototypes.
The automobile will contest the six-round WEC in 2021, with the season starting at Sebring on 19 March.
As a part of a cost-cutting initiative within the WEC rules, the brand new GR010 HYBRID is 162kg heavier and has 32% much less energy than its TS050 HYBRID predecessor, and has larger dimensions. Because of this, lap occasions at Le Mans are anticipated to be round 10 seconds slower in comparison with final yr.
“It’s a fascinating time for endurance racing, with the brand new Le Mans Hypercar class, and likewise for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, with the launch of the GR010 HYBRID,” mentioned staff president Hisatake Murata.
“This automobile represents our subsequent technology of racing hybrid. Throughout our LMP1 period, since 2012, we labored tirelessly to enhance and strengthen our hybrid expertise for racing.
“We set new requirements with the TS050 HYBRID and our first loop of racing hybrid improvement is full; this expertise will likely be obtainable to our future prospects quickly. Now the second stage will start.
“By means of our WEC participation, we’ll refine our racing hybrid powertrain within the GR010 HYBRID, improve our understanding of hypercar expertise and regularly develop our employees.
“We do that with one clear objective: to ship extra thrilling sportscars to our prospects sooner or later. The GR010 HYBRID is a preview of our road-going vehicles and what we study on the WEC race tracks will immediately profit our prospects.
“For that reason, we’re delighted to welcome new opponents to the highest class of WEC; a tricky combat on the monitor will encourage us to repeatedly enhance and push the bounds for higher.”
Toyota has confirmed an unchanged driver line-up in its bid to defend its WEC drivers’ and producers’ titles, in addition to its Le Mans crown.
Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez will as soon as once more pilot Toyato’s reigning champion #7 entry, with 2020 Le Mans victors Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley driving the sister #8 automobile.
“The brand new rules are designed to showcase road-relevant expertise in WEC while additionally delivering a top-level, enticing spectacle,” mentioned technical director Pascal Vasselon. “We’re trying ahead to welcoming new opponents and being a part of an thrilling future for endurance racing with our GR010 HYBRID.
“The brand new Le Mans Hypercar rules imply the GR010 HYBRID is a very new automobile, designed to a special philosophy. A significant distinction is the structure of the hybrid system; we could have one kinetic power restoration system and brake-by-wire, on the entrance axle. This implies we needed to set up a starter motor and absolutely hydraulic rear brakes for the primary time in our WEC venture.
“Following the rules, our automobile could have one bodywork specification to deal with all circuits, so we wanted to supply a wider working window for this automobile.
“These are simply examples; there have been many such variations and challenges to deal with throughout improvement, so it has been an fascinating engineering problem. Now we’re all trying ahead to persevering with our testing programme and at last seeing our new automobile compete; I believe will probably be well worth the wait.”