Le Mans: Toyota and Ligier will showcase hydrogen sports prototypes

      Next week, in anticipation of the "24 Hours of Le Mans," Toyota and Ligier will conduct demonstration runs with experimental sports prototypes featuring hydrogen powertrains.

      First, the Japanese team will showcase their car, the TR LH2 Racing Prototype, built on the chassis of the hypercar TR010 Hybrid – on Thursday and Saturday, Kazuki Nakajima, a three-time winner of the legendary marathon and vice president of Toyota Racing, will race around the track in this car.

      This will be the premiere of the latest vehicle with such a powertrain, but last year the public was already introduced to an earlier development, the concept car Toyota GR LH2.

      "In the past few months, we have conducted a series of tests and are now ready to show this car on the track," commented the Japanese driver. "Le Mans is the best place for this, and it is a great honor for me to have the opportunity to drive this prototype for the first lap."

      The second car using hydrogen as fuel will be the Ligier JS2 RH2 – a joint development by the French company Ligier with Bosch Engineering and Maserati.

      The ACO car club, the organizer of the marathon in Le Mans, still plans to introduce a special category for sports prototypes by 2028 or 2029, however, as its president Pierre Fillon admitted last year, it is not yet certain that such cars will be fully ready to debut in the 24-hour race by that time. Therefore, the most realistic option seems to be their participation outside of the competition in a special category, in which, for example, Jenson Button competed three years ago as part of the Garage 56 project.