The development of Toyota’s planned GR Super Sport hypercar is reported to have been put on ice following a serious accident during prototype testing.
A test mule for the 986bhp hybrid hypercar reportedly caught fire and suffered serious damage during a test at Japan's Fuji Speedway last month.
Japanese media allege the road car programme has been cancelled completely, although development of Toyota’s GR010 Le Mans hypercar should be unaffected, according to motorsport publication Racer. Autocar contacted Toyota, but the company had no official comment to offer.
The rear-wheel-drive, two-seat GR Super Sport was announced in 2018, when Le Mans regulations for the FIA World Endurance Championship required manufacturers to base racers on road-legal cars.
New rules removed the need for Toyota to produce the GR Super Sport for homologation reasons, but the firm committed to producing the car as a limited-run halo model, so the GR010's readiness for the famous endurance event should remain unaffected.
It was planned that the GR Super Sport would be driven by a road-tuned version of the current TS050 Hybrid racer’s electrified 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6.
Toyota did not detail how the road car’s hybrid system worked or how many electric motors it featured, only previously revealing a planned output of 986bhp, a figure to match the GR010 Le Mans racer on which it is based.
Other details also remained under wraps, including pricing information and production numbers, but the car was going to be sold as a coupé, potentially with an unconventional canopy-style opening roof.
Toyota had recently asked prospective owners to complete a questionnaire, enquiring about which cars they already own and plan to buy, if they owned a Toyota 2000GT or Lexus LFA, and if they regularly drive on circuits and hold a racing licence.
READ MORE
Toyota to crown GR line-up with 986bhp GR Super Sport
Le Mans 2021: how new hypercar rules are shaking up the grid
Toyota's new Le Mans challenger previews forthcoming hypercar
Join the debate
Add your comment
Porsche 918 has been around for 10 years now
I wonder if this another example of the difficulties of trying to adapt a very high tech, complex and highly strung racing car powertrain for the road and getting it to work properly too. The powertrain may work brilliantly on track, but road use is a very different prospect. Besides which, the GR010 is simply a bespoke sports-prototype simply called a hypercar but has no bearing to a proper hypercar/road car so it's just as well Toyota weren't required to produce a homologation variant. The hypercar moniker used for the current top WEC class is laughable.
Smart move. If the new LeMans regulations mean that all the cars will just be same old racing cars then what's the point in developing a 'related' road legal car.