Toyota rules out all-new Hypercar for 2023 WEC season

The Japanese manufacturer has revealed that it will push on into the 2023 season when Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac enter the Hypercar class of the WEC with a further update of the GR010 Hybrid introduced at the start of the 2021.

The confirmation comes after speculation earlier this year that Toyota had a new LMH on the drawing board and was evaluating bringing it on stream as early as next year.

This would be permitted in the regulations: despite strict limitations on development, a manufacturer is allowed to homologate a second LMH design during the lifespan of the category.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon said: “We will keep the GR010: we are learning and we are committed to making it better.

“We will make evolutions: our job is to make evolutions to whatever needs evolving.“

Vasselon wouldn’t be drawn on whether Toyota will introduce so-called ‘evo jokers’, which are modifications allowed in the name of performance.

A total of five of these are permitted during the lifecycle of an LMH design.

Vasselon admitted that Toyota had “been using jokers” for the second-iteration of the GR010 that came on stream at the start of the current season, but declined to put a figure on how had been used up.

The major change to the GR010 for 2022 was the switch from the 14-inch tyres front and rear of the original 2021 version to 13.5-inch wide fronts and 15-inch rears.

This development did not count as a joker because it was precipitated by a rule change in the summer of 2020 to bring LMH cars into line with LMDh prototypes as part of the convergence process with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid LMP1: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The minimum weight of the Toyota had to be reduced from 1100 to 1040kg at a time when the car was already in production.

This change meant the GR010 was unable to achieve the forward weight distribution necessary to take advantage of the wider front tyre and suffered what Vasselon described earlier this year as “tyre management issues at the rear”.

The 2022 GR010 also incorporates significant aerodynamic changes, including a higher and longer dorsal fin on the engine cover.

Vasselon said that the evolutions for the GR010’s third season in the WEC in 2023 will be “more subtle” than those for this year.

He suggested that they would be focused on “reliability, serviceability and making the car easier to maintain”, which would not require the use of a joker.

Vasselon said the 2023-spec GR010 isn’t due to start testing until January.

Asked if there is an all-new car on the stocks at Toyota, he said: "We can only confirm that we have people whose job it is to prepare evolutions of the car.”

The GR010 won the Le Mans 24 Hours and the WEC drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in its maiden season in 2021.

Toyota repeated the Le Mans victory this year, with Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, who are tied on points with the Alpine crew of Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao at the top of the classification ahead of this weekend's Bahrain finale.