Toyota will mark the fortieth anniversary of its first factory-supported assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours with a particular livery for this 12 months’s version of the race.
The #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar to be pushed by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries within the double-points spherical of the World Endurance Championship on 14/15 June will run in a color scheme that pays tribute to the marque’s GT-One of many late Nineties.
The GT-One, initially generally known as the TS020, was the primary Le Mans contender to be developed on the Cologne headquarters of what’s now Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, which has masterminded the Japanese producer’s present WEC engagement beginning in 2012.
The livery of the #7 GR010 for Le Mans is impressed by that of the three GT-Ones from the primary season of the two-year programme in 1998.
A press release from Toyota learn: “Its distinctive purple and white livery has been reimagined for the 2025-specification #7 GR010 HYBRID.
“A purple base color is given a dynamic edge by jagged white flashes which velocity over the automotive from entrance to again and make an unmistakable connection to the TS020.”
#28 Toyota Motorsport Toyota GT-One: Martin Brundle, Emmanuel Collard, Eric Hélary
Photograph by: Jean-Philippe Legrand
The GT-One adopted on from a line of Toyota or Toyota-engined equipment that had competed at Le Mans from 1985.
Toyota is counting the two-car assault with a pair of Dome 85C Group C chassis powered by a rally-based 2.1-litre turbo engine as its first official engagement on the 24-hour basic.
It started a sportscar odyssey clearly geared toward competing at Le Mans two years earlier than with restricted help of a challenge collectively run by Japanese constructor Dome and the TOM’S race staff.
Two Dome chassis with the turbo engine had been fielded domestically in Japan in 1983 and within the Fuji spherical of the WEC late within the season.
The primary full-factory marketing campaign at Le Mans got here in 1987, when the vehicles had been known as Toyotas for the primary time and the staff ran underneath the Toyota Group TOM’S banner.
A Japanese Sigma Group 6 prototype with a Toyota powerplant had raced at Le Mans in 1975, whereas a Group 5 silhouette racer developed on the Celica form by TOM’S didn’t qualify for the French enduro in 1980.
Since 1985 there have been a complete of 61 Toyota entries at Le Mans over 26 editions of the race. The marque has gained general 5 occasions, taken 18 podiums and claimed eight pole positions.
The #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa will contest Le Mans this 12 months in its common WEC livery.
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