Speaking about the new car Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Technical Director, said developing a new car had been more challenging than just downgrading the TS050.
“The new Le Mans Hypercar regulations mean the GR010 HYBRID is a completely new car, designed to a different philosophy,” he said.
“A major difference is the architecture of the hybrid system; we will have one kinetic energy recovery system and brake-by-wire, on the front axle. This means we had to install a starter motor and fully hydraulic rear brakes for the first time in our WEC project. Following the regulations, our car will have one bodywork specification to handle all circuits, so we needed to provide a wider working window for this car.
“These are just examples; there have been many such differences and challenges to address during development, so it has been an interesting engineering challenge. Now we are all looking forward to continuing our testing programme and finally seeing our new car compete; I think it will be worth the wait.”