Toyota Gazoo Racing will begin a new era with its GR010 Hybrid Hypercar when the road to the Le Mans 24 Hours opens at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. This opening round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) on 1 May is a successor to the Group C period of the 1980s and 1990s, and the subsequent the LMP1 era that has now reached its conclusion. The new top category of endurance racing is the Le Mans Hypercar generation.
Reigning World Champion and three-time Le Mans winner Toyota Gazoo Racing today became the first manufacturer on the Hypercar grid in 2021, alongside Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, with Audi, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche among those joining the battle in the coming years.
Following an intense pre-season testing program, the all-new GR010 Hybrid Hypercar is ready for its race debut as the team aims to defend its world titles and win a fourth consecutive the Le Mans 24 Hours with an unchanged driver line-up. For the fourth season, World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López share the #7 GR010 Hybrid, while last year’s Le Mans winners Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley are at the wheel of the #8 GR010 Hybrid.
Notwithstanding thousands of testing kilometers already completed at three different circuits since the GR010 Hybrid first turned a wheel in October last year, the final step of preparation for Spa is still to come, with a two-day official Prologue test taking place at the legendary Belgian circuit on 26-27 April. This is the first time the GR010 Hybrid will be on track with rival cars, giving the team and drivers an opportunity to evaluate the new car in traffic and against its main competitors Alpine, which races a grandfathered LMP1 car.
The GR010 Hybrid features a front motor generator unit, delivering 272PS (~268hp) of Hybrid power and four-wheel-drive traction at speeds over 120km/h. Combined with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, the driver has 680PS at his or her – where are the women Toyota? – disposal, with no restrictions on fuel usage. In contrast, the TS050 Hybrid weighed 162kg less and boasted 1000PS, although strict per-lap fuel restrictions effectively limited top speeds. With such fundamental differences compared to its all-conquering predecessor, drivers will need to adapt their approach, while engineers fine-tune the new Hypercar for maximum performance, particularly when passing the slower LMP2 and GT cars.
“The Spa event marks the end of our pre-season testing activities with the GR010 HYBRID, and the start of a new phase in the short life of our Hypercar. Since the roll-out in October 2020 at Paul Ricard, we have completed an intense program of testing, learning progressively more about the car’s characteristics and the new Michelin tires. With such different weight and performance parameters compared to the TS050 HYBRID, and totally new mandatory systems, it has been a steep learning curve for engineers and drivers. As often with testing, it has not gone entirely smoothly; we lost a complete three-day test at Aragon due to heavy snow and the weather was unkind to us elsewhere as well. Luckily the later start to the season allowed us to fit in additional tests before Spa so we have eventually hit our mileage target and ticked all the boxes before the first race,” said Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director.
Aside from on-track performance, the whole team also has to adapt to new regulations which limit the size of the operational crew at the circuit to 43. This alleged cost-saving measure requires significant reorganization and flexibility from the mechanic and engineering crews to maintain their on-track support, with Spa being the first time the slimmed-down team will operate in a competitive environment.
“A challenging start to the week is therefore expected, with a combined 12 hours of testing on Monday and Tuesday for the Prologue before the race event begins with a single practice session on Thursday. A busy Friday sees two practice sessions before the starting grid for Saturday’s race is decided in a new qualifying format, when one driver per car will set a single flying lap,” Toyota said.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has a good record at Spa-Francorchamps, with five victories since its first WEC race there in 2013. Look for strong challenges from its competitors. The goal of course is to start the season with maximum points.
Reigning Champ Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar Set for 2021
Reigning World Champion and three-time Le Mans winner Toyota Gazoo Racing today became the first manufacturer on the Hypercar grid in 2021, alongside Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, with Audi, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche among those joining the battle in the coming years.
Following an intense pre-season testing program, the all-new GR010 Hybrid Hypercar is ready for its race debut as the team aims to defend its world titles and win a fourth consecutive the Le Mans 24 Hours with an unchanged driver line-up. For the fourth season, World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López share the #7 GR010 Hybrid, while last year’s Le Mans winners Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley are at the wheel of the #8 GR010 Hybrid.
Notwithstanding thousands of testing kilometers already completed at three different circuits since the GR010 Hybrid first turned a wheel in October last year, the final step of preparation for Spa is still to come, with a two-day official Prologue test taking place at the legendary Belgian circuit on 26-27 April. This is the first time the GR010 Hybrid will be on track with rival cars, giving the team and drivers an opportunity to evaluate the new car in traffic and against its main competitors Alpine, which races a grandfathered LMP1 car.
The GR010 Hybrid features a front motor generator unit, delivering 272PS (~268hp) of Hybrid power and four-wheel-drive traction at speeds over 120km/h. Combined with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, the driver has 680PS at his or her – where are the women Toyota? – disposal, with no restrictions on fuel usage. In contrast, the TS050 Hybrid weighed 162kg less and boasted 1000PS, although strict per-lap fuel restrictions effectively limited top speeds. With such fundamental differences compared to its all-conquering predecessor, drivers will need to adapt their approach, while engineers fine-tune the new Hypercar for maximum performance, particularly when passing the slower LMP2 and GT cars.
“The Spa event marks the end of our pre-season testing activities with the GR010 HYBRID, and the start of a new phase in the short life of our Hypercar. Since the roll-out in October 2020 at Paul Ricard, we have completed an intense program of testing, learning progressively more about the car’s characteristics and the new Michelin tires. With such different weight and performance parameters compared to the TS050 HYBRID, and totally new mandatory systems, it has been a steep learning curve for engineers and drivers. As often with testing, it has not gone entirely smoothly; we lost a complete three-day test at Aragon due to heavy snow and the weather was unkind to us elsewhere as well. Luckily the later start to the season allowed us to fit in additional tests before Spa so we have eventually hit our mileage target and ticked all the boxes before the first race,” said Pascal Vasselon, Technical Director.
Aside from on-track performance, the whole team also has to adapt to new regulations which limit the size of the operational crew at the circuit to 43. This alleged cost-saving measure requires significant reorganization and flexibility from the mechanic and engineering crews to maintain their on-track support, with Spa being the first time the slimmed-down team will operate in a competitive environment.
“A challenging start to the week is therefore expected, with a combined 12 hours of testing on Monday and Tuesday for the Prologue before the race event begins with a single practice session on Thursday. A busy Friday sees two practice sessions before the starting grid for Saturday’s race is decided in a new qualifying format, when one driver per car will set a single flying lap,” Toyota said.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has a good record at Spa-Francorchamps, with five victories since its first WEC race there in 2013. Look for strong challenges from its competitors. The goal of course is to start the season with maximum points.