Toyota’s Road-Going Hypercar Might Have Been Axed

Toyota unveiled the GR010 Hybrid Le Mans Hypercar earlier this year and it was set to spawn a road-going variant, known as the GR Super Sport.

However, those plans might have changed as a report out of Japan has suggested the road-going model has been axed following an incident at the Fuji Speedway.

Details are limited, but a pre-production prototype reportedly caught on fire and was badly damaged. Racer looked into the situation and says the incident did indeed take place and “may well bring the road car project to a premature end.”

Also Read: Toyota GR Super Sport Hypercar Makes Spectacular Debut At Le Mans

That remains to be seen, but the publication noted even if the road-going model was axed it wouldn’t impact the race car as the company isn’t required to produce a street-legal version. This was backed up by a source who told Racer the GR010 Hybrid isn’t at risk and might eventually compete in other series.

While only time will tell if Toyota has actually abandoned the road-going model, the GR010 Hybrid features a high-tech powertrain that consists of a 671 hp (500 kW / 680 PS) twin-turbo 3.5-liter V6 engine and a 268 hp (200 kW / 272 PS) motor generator unit. This setup gives the race car all-wheel drive as well as a combined output that is capped at 671 hp (500 kW / 680 PS).

As a refresher, Toyota introduced the GR Super Sport concept at the 2018 Tokyo Auto Salon. At the time, Gazoo Racing President Shigeki Tomoyama said “This is the starting point for Toyota’s completely new challenge to develop sports cars from active race cars. Although it will be some time before you all have the opportunity to get behind the wheel, I hope that the GR Super Sport concept will give you a taste of what we aim to achieve with our next-generation sports cars.”

H/T to Autoblog