Toyota Goes Road-Legal With Race Car-Derived Hybrid

Toyota will build a road-going super sports car that uses the same hybrid drivetrain technology as that used in its Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid race car.

The announcement follows Toyota’s first win in the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans World Endurance Championship race in France earlier this month. It was the team’s first victory in 20 attempts.

“We are developing a road car from a race car competing in the Le Mans,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda says in a statement.

Toyota Gazoo Racing President Shigeki Tomoyama says competing in the World Endurance Championship and racing at Le Mans has helped Toyota advance the development of its hybrid technology.

“At some point in the near future, customers will have a chance to get behind the wheel of this incredible machine and experience its astonishing power and driving performance,” Tomoyama says.

The GR Super Sport Concept was unveiled in January at the Tokyo Auto Salon and features the same 1,000-hp twin-turbo V-6 Toyota Hybrid System-Racing (THS-R) drivetrain as the TS050 race car.

Beneath the bodywork, the GR Super Sport Concept shares many of its components with the TS050, reflecting Toyota Gazoo Racing’s aim to have technology and know-how acquired in motorsport fed back into new production vehicles.