Ever since Porsche left the top class of the World Endurance Championship, the peeps at Toyota are in a constant celebration. Their TS050 Hybrid is pretty much unopposed in LMP1, which is why everyone is looking forward to the 2022 endurance racing season when Le Mans Hypercar regulations will enter the scene.
GR Super Sport is how Toyota’s next racing car is called, previewed two years ago by a concept with 1,000 PS (986 horsepower) and 18-inch lightweight wheels featuring 330/710 slicks. Fast-forward to the present, and the streamlined concept has hit the track at Le Mans in the guise of a “development model” with an open-top cockpit.
Demonstrated on the blacktop by former Gazoo Racing driver Alex Wurz, the GR Super Sport also reads “Racing Hybrid” on the sides to bring the point home. The massive air intake between and behind the driver and passenger channels air to a mid-mounted engine, but we don’t know what powerplant is hiding under the skin.
The outgoing TS050 Hybrid relies on a twin-turbo V6 with 2.4 liters of displacement and THS-R hybrid assistance for e-AWD. It’s safe to assume that the GR Super Sport will feature an evolution of this powertrain, but Toyota didn’t go into detail.
“It was an honor to drive this development version for the first time in public, and especially at a circuit like Le Mans which is so closely connected to this car,” said Alexander Wurz. The former Formula 1 driver also said this was his first time in the GR Super Sport, “so a demonstration lap doesn't allow me to push the limits but I could feel that the GR Super Sport has potential for incredible performance.”
The Le Mans Hypercar regulations are targeting a lap time of 3:30 for this category while LMP2 topped 3 minutes and 27.6 seconds at this year’s edition of the race. In other words, you can expect the FIA and ACO to make a few fine adjustments before the 2022 edition of Le Mans gets underway.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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