Having put the world titles of the first two years of the Hypercar era on the bulletin board, Toyota Gazoo Racing does not stop and for the 2023 season of the FIA World Endurance Championship has prepared its GR010 Hybrid during the winter by making some changes.
The saying ‘the winning team doesn’t change’ was underlined by the confirmation of the six official drivers who will make up the crews, with the #7 car entrusted to the 2021 Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, and the #8 to their successors of 2022, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa.
Kazuki Nakajima was instead designated for the reserve role, who since 2022 has also been Vice President of the European branch of TGR based in Cologne. Better solution for everyone and at no cost, given that the Japanese takes the place of Nyck De Vries, who moved to Formula 1.
Defending the Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships will not be easy this year, given that the extremely fierce Cadillac, Ferrari, Porsche, Vanwall and later Isotta Fraschini will arrive in the LMH Class, while Peugeot and Glickenhaus will try again.
So ‘the team that wins doesn’t change’, but they obviously try to improve it: for this reason, during the winter in TGR they studied what and how to modify the parts of the GR010 Hybrid, which having been homologated since 2021 can only spend five jokers for the development granted by the technical regulation over the 5 years following the ‘freeze’.
Starting from the first things that the naked eye can appreciate, the technicians have worked on the bodywork by adding two new front appendices visible on the side near the lights to improve driveability and aerodynamics, as well as the side bulkhead of the rear wing, now more rounded compared to 2022, somewhat taking up the concept seen in the model proposed in 2021.
The bonnet fin is also slightly shorter, while there are new front and rear air intakes in the wheel area to improve brake cooling. The size of the rims remains the one adopted in 2022, after a change from the size of the 2021s which had caused some problems.
A new concept also for the headlights in order to optimize visibility during the night, with a different arrangement of the lights especially in the upper part. This will be especially useful at the 24h of Le Mans rather than in Bahrain, given that the Circuit de la Sarthe has several sections surrounded by woods and therefore in almost complete darkness, while in Sakhir the desert track is lit everywhere.
Coming instead to what remains under the… dress, the main objective was focused on losing weight to reach the minimum of 1040 kg allowed by the regulation. For this reason, the hybrid system, composed of a 520 kW (707 HP) 3.5-litre engine and a 200 kW (272 HP) electric motor, now has lighter components, while maintaining the original philosophy.
“This is the season we’ve been waiting for. It’s great for the fans to see so many manufacturers competing in Hypercar, and as a team we’re thrilled with the new entrants. We want to have a great battle for the top, one that will keep the fans entertained and produce many cool memories, especially for the 100th anniversary of Le Mans,” said Kobayashi, still in his double role as driver and team principal.
“At TGR we never stand still and always try to improve our cars. So, just like last year, we have introduced some evolutions to our GR010 Hybrid for the 2023 season. These updates are the result of a strong collaboration between the members of the team in Higashi-Fuji and Cologne, as well as with our collaborators and suppliers, so I would like to thank everyone for their hard work so far.”
“The drivers’ first impressions of the modified car after practice and pre-season testing are positive, which gives us confidence that together we can fight to retain our Le Mans and WEC titles.”
Technical Director, Pascal Vasselon, added: “We have made evolutions to our car to further improve reliability, drivability and serviceability as part of our regular long-term plan of continued growth.”
“We made a big evolution for 2022 with the change in wheel size, which was necessary to solve some problems we were suffering from, and it brought the benefits we expected. The 2023 changes are the normal next step in this process and we have seen encouraging results in pre-season testing.”
“It’s exciting to compete with the new competitors in the Hypercar class this year, especially for the fans, but our approach doesn’t change. The job remains the same: we aim to win, so we need to get the most out of our package, with no mistakes. This it’s the way we’ve always approached racing.Reliability and consistency of overall pace, as well as reducing crash risks, are critical factors we’ve continued to focus on with the updated GR010 Hybrid and our approach to the season 2023”.
