Japanese auto makers Toyota have confirmed that they are going to be making a road-going version of their Le Mans winning TS050 racecar.
Toyota had unveiled the GR Super Sport Concept, which would be based on their TS050 Hybrid LMP1 World Endurance Championship (WEC) competitor, at the 2018 Tokyo Auto Salon. Since its unveil and the WEC season starting the Toyota TS050 pair have claimed victory at the 12 Hours of Spa, and more recently the 24 Hour of Le Mans. With both victories going to the number 8 racecar driven by Sébastien Buemi, Fernando Alonso, and Kazuki Nakajima. The trio collected the first win for the manufacturer at the brutal 24 Hours of Le Mans race after 19 previous attempts.
Upon Toyota’s victory, they announced that the development of the new hypercar has already started. The GR Super Sport will be powered by a 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6 and the Toyota Hybrid System-Racing (THS-R) to deliver a combined 1,000 PS. Toyota Gazoo Racing state that their continuous participation in the WEC has been highly beneficial towards their mass-production efforts, and the knowledge gleaned will be transfer into their production cars.
Toyota Gazoo Racing will have stiff competition in place, by the time GR Super Sport Concept makes its way into production, with the new 1,130 PS Aston Martin Valkyrie, and the 1,030 PS Mercedes-AMG Project One much further along into production. The Valkyrie is powered by a 6.5-litre naturally-aspirated V12 and a hybrid KERS system developed by Rimac. The Project One is boosted by the 1.6-litre turbo-hybrid V6 Formula 1 motor which powered Nico Rosberg to the World Drivers’ Title in 2016.
Story: Sahej Patheja
