Toyota's first-ever hypercar will arrive next year with 735kW

Wednesday, 12 May 2021

Toyota debuted its all-new GR Super Sport hypercar at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Toyota’s sporty GR family is steadily growing, most recently with the addition of the C-HR GR Sport. At the moment, the seat at the head of the table belongs to the GR Supra but that’s set to change next year with the GR Super Sport, a 735kW monster with Le Mans heritage.

That genealogy is no coincidence either, as Toyota is set to replace its TS050 Hybrid endurance racer with a race version of the GR Super Sport to compete in the forthcoming Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) category of the World Endurance Championship, which replaces the current Prototype category.

Or rather, the GR Super Sport is a road-going version of that racer, as LMH entrants must be based on road-legal machinery.

Toyota will spearhead its GR family with the mighty GR Super Sport.

The project was approved and announced back in 2018, and while the regulations for LMH have changed since then to remove the road-legal-basis requirement, Toyota has stuck to its promise of producing the GR Super Sport.

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Funnily enough, the GR Super Sport won’t share the powertrain powering the GR010 racer set to compete in the Le Mans Hypercar category.

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Interestingly, according to Autocar UK, the hypercar will be presented as a “sister model” to the new GR010 Hybrid racer, but it will use a retuned version of the TS050’s 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6, supplemented by a “Toyota Racing System” hybrid.

There aren’t any details on how this will work yet but some sources say it will involve three electric motors. Toyota has previously said the entire powertrain will produce around 735kW.

This is interesting because the LMH entrants have now been limited to a maximum output of 500kW, prompting Toyota to switch up its plans to incorporate a new 3.0-litre V6 hybrid.

Other LMH rules include controlled and fixed aerodynamics and bodywork, with some areas allowed more freedom in the design. Apparently, Toyota’s motorsport bosses confirmed the styling of the GR010 racer was specified by Gazoo Racing’s road car arm.

The Super Sport will come as a two-door coupe, unsurprisingly, and feature a unique opening where the doors and windscreen flip up to allow access.

Don’t expect it to be a value offering either. The original LMH specifications required at least 20 road-legal cars to be produced and, considering the complexities of the GR Super Sport, the final production number won’t be much higher than that.

We should get more details in the lead-up to Le Mans 2021, or at least before the year is out. Autocar UK says Toyota is targeting a 2022 launch for the GR Super Sport.