WEC: Toyota prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its Le Mans debut

      This year marks the 40th anniversary of Toyota's official debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and today the Japanese company's factory team unveiled a special coloring version of its GR010 HYBRID hypercars dedicated to this event.

      The cars look different - one has a red–and-white color scheme in honor of the TS020 sports prototypes that participated in the Sarthe Ring super marathon in 1998-1999; the design of the second is dedicated to Toyota's modern achievements in endurance racing.

      The red and white car will be No. 7, which features Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nick DeVries. Toyota emphasized that at one time, the TS020 was remembered by fans not only because of Le Mans, but also because its virtual model was included in the first edition of the Gran Turismo computer game.

      Car No. 8 of the crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brandon Hartley and Rio Hirakawa will be mostly matte black, but the large white GR logos contrast with this background, because the racing division of the company is called Toyota Gazoo Racing. According to the team, this logo reflects both the spirit of speed, the desire for victory, and the persistent rejection of defeat.

      Logos will also appear on the GR010 hypercars in honor of the 40th anniversary of Toyota's Le Mans debut. For the first time, Toyota sports prototypes took off at the Sarte ring in 1985, and since then the factory team has participated in this race 26 times, including winning five times.

      And this story began four decades ago, when the Le Mans super Marathon was held for the 53rd time: Toyota prepared for that race two 85C cars built within the requirements of the then Group C category with 4-cylinder engines developed based on the turbo engine from the rally Celica, but with increased boost pressure.  

       

      Of course, in 2025, the Toyota factory team intends to fight for victory at Le Mans - this will be the fourth stage of the WEC season, the race is scheduled for June 14-15. But so far this year, Japanese cars have never even finished in the top three, and Toyota has almost twice as many points as Ferrari. But the 24 Hours of Le Mans is always a different story.…