If you’ve been waiting for another sign that the FIA’s Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) class is getting serious, please say hello to Toyota’s new GR Super Sport hypercar. Making its public debut at the 88th Le Mans 24 Hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe this weekend, the GR Super Sport is not only going to bring the heat to upcoming LMH races, but will also be available to buy in some street-going form at some point. We’re waiting for details just like you.

The GR Super Sport is based on the TS050 Hybrid race car, which won Le Mans twice in 2018 and 2019, and is meant to take racing engineering from the track to the road. Toyota has been teasing the GR Super Sport hypercar for a while now, first showing a concept in early 2018 and teasing the first video in 2019. The hook for this concept was that Toyota would engineer the car for the new LMH hypercar category, the new premier class for endurance racing, as well as on-road use. Back in 2018, Toyota Gazoo Racing president Shigeki Tomoyama said Toyota would “develop sports cars from active race cars.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing

We won’t know exactly what the powertrain in the eventual new Toyota sports car will feature, but we do know what hides inside the TS050 Hybrid and the GR Super Sport – which are “mostly the same main parts,” as Toyota said in 2018. The TS050 Hybrid uses a hybrid powertrain with a mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged 2.4-liter direct-injection V-6 and an electric motor that produce a total output of 986 horsepower. The TS050 Hybrid debuted at Le Mans in 2016 and still holds the current race lap record at La Sarthe.

At the Le Mans 24 Hours event this weekend, the customized GR Super Sport convertible – still a development model – did a demonstration lap around the track driven by former Toyota Gazoo driver Alex Wurz.

The debut isn’t all that Toyota can be happy about this weekend. The Toyota Gazoo Racing team won its third consecutive overall Le Mans 24 Hours contest with the TS050 Hybrid at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

This year’s World Endurance Championship calendar was scrambled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and next year’s schedule will be made up of six events instead of the eight that were previously on the list. The FIA says the calendar could change again, based on what happens with the health crisis, but whenever things get going, Toyota will be ready.

Toyota Gazoo Racing

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