Toyota Releases Images of GR010 Le Mans Hybrid Hypercar
The GR010 will be competing in the 2021 WEC season in the LMH class as Toyota hopes to extend their LeMans win streak.
New LMH Race Car
Toyota teased their newest competitor for the World Endurance Racing LMH class earlier in the week in a camouflage veil. And today they released photos of the car in its full livery. Named GR010, the 2021 race car is an evolution of its predecessor, the TS050, which dominated the competition, winning the 24 Hours of LeMans three years in a row.
Behind the Wheels of 7 and 8
The Toyota team will have two cars in the competition. Car number 7 will be driven by the trio of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez. And car number 8 will have Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley behind the wheel. Expectations are high from this year, coming off a successful season last year.
>>Join the conversation about the GR010 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
Hybrid Power
The race car is powered by a 3.6-liter twin-turbo V6 internal combustion engine powering the rear wheels, which is capable of 670 horsepower. And the engine is aided by an electric motor at the front axle with an additional 268 horses. The regulations, however, limit the total power output of these race cars to 670 horsepower, which means that both power sources cannot be at full capacity at the same time.
>>Join the conversation about the GR010 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
Slower Than Last Year
In comparison to its predecessor, the GR010 has gained quite a bit of size. Due to the change in regulations, the LMH race cars are now 10 inches long, and a whopping 357 pounds heavier. This weight gain will result in slower lap times compared to previous seasons. Toyota expects the new car to be about 10 seconds per lap lower at the LeMans track.
>>Join the conversation about the GR010 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
Road Car Coming!
And as part of the new homologation regulations set by the WEC, Toyota will also be required to manufacture and sell a minimum of 25 road cars based on the GR010. They have already started developing the road car and even showed a prototype last year at LeMans. Given the fact that the road cars won't be hampered by the WEC regulations in terms of power output, it's possible that the Toyota hypercar will have closer to 1,000 horsepower.
>>Join the conversation about the GR010 right here in the ClubLexus forum.
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