Toyota will introduce the first update of its GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar for four years in time for the start of the 2026 World Endurance Championship campaign.
Kazuki Nakajima, vice-chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, confirmed that there will be an upgrade of its Hypercar class contender introduced in 2021 focused on aerodynamics.
This occurred during a press briefing for the Japanese automotive media over last weekend’s Fuji WEC round.
“We’re actively working to introduce a new package for next year,” said Nakajima, who moved into his current managerial position on his retirement from the cockpit at the end of 2021.
“We plan to start testing the evolved car with this new aerodynamic package in early October.”
He stated that the intent was for Toyota to return to the winner’s circle at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima
Photo by: Toyota Racing
The Japanese marque has not won the French enduro since 2022 and this year the GR010 lacked substantial performance, as Toyota finished no higher than fifth.
“At Le Mans, we were slower than our rivals in terms of top speed,” he explained. “This race made us keenly aware that, even within the rules, there is much more we can do in these areas.
“The entire team is united in our determination to absolutely win next year’s Le Mans, and we’re currently preparing for that.”
Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi, who is also team principal of the manufacturer’s WEC squad, offered some more insight into the plans in the wake of the Fuji race.
“We need to clear the problems we’ve been having and build a car that’s crazy fast, and then have it adjusted by the Balance of Performance,” he said.
Kobayashi added that Toyota needed to develop a car that is “so fast it is capable of winning even when given the maximum weight and minimum power by the BoP”.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Kamui Kobayashi
Photo by: Andreas Beil
Toyota’s 2025 WEC season, in which it has so far failed to register a podium, has been hamstrung by the BoP, running close to the minimum power of 480kW (643bhp) and nearest of all the Hypercar contenders to the maximum weight of 1100kg along with Ferrari.
At Fuji, the Toyota raced at 483kW and 1069kg. A first test of the latest version of the GR010 is believed to be scheduled for Paul Ricard in early October.
The improvements will be undertaken under the evo joker rules set out in both sets of regulations, LMH and LMDh, to which cars can be built for the WEC’s Hypercar class.
Evo joker performance developments have to be approved by WEC rule makers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, and Toyota conceded last year that it would be allowed no updates for 2025 after a season in which it claimed the manufacturers’ title and won three races.
The aero changes for Toyota will coincide with a new round of homologation testing in the full-size Windshear windtunnel in North Carolina.
LMHs were previously homologated in the Sauber windtunnel, which is no longer available, while LMDhs competing in the WEC had to go to both the Swiss facility and Windshear.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ry? Hirakawa
Photo by: James Moy Photography via Getty Images
Toyota’s GR010 underwent its only performance upgrades for its second and third seasons, 2022 and ’23.
The first set was focused on the switch from equal size tyres front and rear, as demanded in the original LMH regulations, to narrower fronts and wider rears.
These changes did not count towards its tally of evo jokers because Toyota successfully argued that the design of the GR010 had been compromised by the changes in the LMH regulations to bring them in line with the LMDh category that came on stream in 2023.
Toyota, along with the majority of the other manufacturers, has never revealed how many jokers it has played. It is allowed a total of seven up to the end of the homologation of current cars in Hypercar in 2029.
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