Toyota was the first major manufacturer to produce a purpose-designed contender for the current Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) era that commenced in 2021. It won Le Mans that year and last, challenged both years in the 24 Hour race by the Glickenhaus/Pipo LMH and Alpine’s grandfathered LM P1 car - which from this year is no longer eligible.

Nevertheless, this year Toyota will be challenged at Le Mans also by the Peugeot and the new for 2023 Ferrari and (provisionally) the Vanwall (Kolles) and Isotta Fraschini LMH cars. Then there will be LMDh cars from Porsche and Cadillac. Acura, Alpine, BMW and Lamborghini are expected to further swell the ranks at Le Mans in 2024. Clearly Toyota’s LMH has a very tough fight to complete a sweep of Hypercar era victories at Le Mans this year and an even tougher fight next.

While both LMH and LMDh cars have to be homologated, effectively stymying ongoing development there are limited opportunities for improvement from time to time. As it enters its third full year of Hypercar competition Toyota has been permitted to hone some aspects of its GR010 model. This exploits a 3.5 litre V6 turbo driving the rear wheels through a seven-speed transmission with a 200 kW electrical system powering the front wheels within an overall powertrain output cap of 520 kW.

Toyota states that the (limited) improvements it has been allowed to make for 2023 focus on improving reliability and efficiency. Specifically on the powertrain front it reports that it has “reduced weight and improved reliability exploiting unique knowledge gained from more than a decade of experience of hybrid powertrains at Le Mans”.

There have also been detailed bodywork changes and other weight saving modifications to get the car right down to the minimum permitted 1040 kg. Toyota explains that overcomes the penalty of compromises made during the design phase prompted by changes to the evolving regulations during that period.

Upon the unveiling of the 2023 GR010 team principal Kamui Kobayashi remarked, “we never stand still and we are always pushing to make ever-better cars. So, just like last year, we have introduced some evolutions to our GR010… (which) are the result of strong cooperation between team members in Higashi-Fuji [Japan] and Cologne [Germany], as well as our partners and suppliers…”