Toyota celebrates 40th year in Le Mans 24H with livery inspired by past, present

MANILA: A Toyota race car that will compete at the upcoming 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours shall don a recognizable livery.

In a statement, Toyota Gazoo Racing shared that the GR010 Hybrid car that Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries will drive shall carry a red and white livery inspired by the TS020 that participated in 1998 and 1999.

Expected to excite fans more, the one-off livery is eyed at “connecting them with endurance racing’s rich history, strengthening their passion for motorsports.

In the upcoming race scheduled on June 14-15, the 2025-specification #7 GR010 Hybrid will wear a “reimagined” look — with the red base color given a dynamic edge by jagged white flashes speeding over the car from front to back.

Notably, the TS020 — more known as the GT-One — was seen in the first edition of the Gran Turismo video game.

While the aforementioned car reflects the past, the other #8 GR010 Hybrid — driven by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa — will embody the present.

The design is built around a GR logo that captures the team’s spirit of “Speed” and “Hate to lose”, as well as the “Prototype” concept that reflects the making ever-better motorsports-bred cars and continuous evolution.

Per TGR, the two cars will carry a new logo that highlights Toyota’s 40th anniversary since its debuted in Le Mans.

History of Toyota at Le Mans 24H

At the aforementioned motorsport event, Toyota scored five wins, 18 podiums and eight pole positions. Prior to the event for this year, a total of 61 Toyota cars have already participated at La Sarthe.

To recall, Toyota officially entered Le Mans in 1985 with the 85C, powered by a road car-derived engine and had its first touch of the competition’s podium finish in 1992.

In 1995-1996, the team competed using the legendary Toyota Supra and 1998-1999, the TS020 (which earned the brand’s first pole position on the latter year).

Toyota exited Le Mans in 2000 but went back in 2012 to take hybrid development to a new, high-performance level. It achieved three straight victories in 2018, 2021, and 2022 using the following vehicles:

• TS050 Hybrid
• GR010 Hybrid

Other initiatives

Relatedly, Toyota said that among its other initiatives at the upcoming Le Mans races is its target to highlight ongoing hydrogen projects in endurance racing to showcase how motorsports contribute to the development of technologies with the potential to achieve a carbon neutral, sustainable future.

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