Breaking news
WEC
Toyota targeting June 2020 track debut for hypercar
Toyota is aiming to give its new hypercar challenger for the 2020/21 FIA World Endurance Championship season a June 2020 track debut.
Filip Cleeren
Published: Jul 31, 2019, 9:14 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Japanese marque is one of two manufacturers to have signed up to produce a car for the new regulations alongside Aston Martin.
While the British brand will produce a car based on its road-going Valkyrie, Toyota is opting for an all-new bespoke hybrid-powered prototype to replace the TS050 Hybrid.
"We will have a car on track in June next year at the earliest,” Toyota team boss Rob Leupen told Motorsport.com at the WEC Prologue test in Barcelona. "Then we probably have a Prologue in August, so we have five or six weeks to go testing.”
Leupen also ruled out using a mule car until the new hypercar makes its testing debut next summer, adding: "We don’t really use a mule car that often anymore.
"A lot is done digitally, modelling the car and then developing it in the simulator. Our GR Sports Concept doesn’t have a lot to do with our race car."
Read Also:
- Toyota convinced privateer LMP1s can now win races
- Toyota not surprised by reduced WEC LMP1 field
- Toyota unveils revised LMP1 car for 2019/20 WEC season
After a lengthy process the new regulations, which will replace the current LMP1 class for a five-year period, were finally announced ahead of last June’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The repeated delays in getting a set of regulations across the line has even caused a large manufacturer like Toyota a few headaches - with Leupen himself describing the hold-up as "ridiculous" earlier this year.
"We would have liked to see it happen earlier,” the Dutchman said. "It’s very late, but I'm glad we finally got there. We’ve worked on many concepts.
"Often they had to be changed because the rules went in a different direction. With our concepts we tried to support that process, although it cost us a lot of money.”
The FIA and WEC promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest projected an annual budget of 30 million euro to compete in the new top class based on a five-year commitment.
Leupen doesn't believe that number is a realistic benchmark for Toyota with its split operations in Europe and Japan, but says the hypercar regulations will still be significantly cheaper for the Cologne-based outfit than the current LMP1 rules.
"I’m not going to compare [our budget] to the budget the ACO put on the table," he said. "That’s not possible because you’re working in different countries.
"We are not extremely cost-efficient because our powertrain comes from Japan and we’re based in Cologne. If you’re very efficient you’re doing everything in one place.
"We’re not a great reference, but the new rules are significantly cheaper. We’re talking about [savings of] over 50 percent. We used to build a new monocoque every year. If that’s 10 million euros every year, then now you can write that off over a period of five years.
"We do get some freedom to develop bits here and there, but there’s also a Balance of Performance. Those are massive savings. That’s what they wanted and we agree with that."
Toyota GR Super Sport concept
Photo by: Motor1
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Cindric unsure if WEC hypercar regs “move the needle” for Penske
Next article WEC confirms date change for 2019/20 Spa race
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
14 h
McLaren held fresh talks after Singapore GP clash as Lando Norris promises to "make better decisions"
Inside the competition building F1’s future engineering talent
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Inside the competition building F1’s future engineering talent
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
4 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 5 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
5 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 6 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe