How Toyota is revamping its GR010 Le Mans Hypercar for WEC 2026

The development of Toyota’s revamped Le Mans Hypercar contender is on track, with early testing leaving the squad cautiously optimistic for the 2026 World Endurance Championship.

Debuting in 2021 under the new LMH regulations, the GR010 Hybrid is now easily the oldest car on the Hypercar grid. Early updates during the life cycle of the car in 2022 and ‘23 allowed Toyota to hold its own against an onslaught of manufacturers in the WEC’s top class, but the V6-powered prototype has now begun to show definite signs of age.

The 2025 season was marked by sheer dominance from rival Ferrari, which won the opening four races, including its third consecutive triumph at the Le Mans 24 Hours, and secured the manufacturers’ title by a commanding 74 points.

While the WEC’s controversial Balance of Performance (BoP) system was cited as a major factor holding Toyota back — it went seven of eight races without scoring a podium until the dominant final round in Bahrain — it is undeniable that the Ferrari 499P is now the new benchmark for raw pace.

Rival manufacturers have also caught up in other areas, including operational strength, and Toyota knew it had to update the hardware to reclaim its throne in the WEC.

A third major revision to the GR010 Hybrid has been in the works for some time, but was officially announced by the team only in September. Toyota could have introduced some of these updates as early as the start of the 2025 WEC, but it was unsure whether the rulemakers would have allowed it to use evo jokers after winning the manufacturers’ title the previous season. 

An extra year to develop the ideas, especially after a bruising campaign like 2025 turned out to be, allowed Toyota to push the envelope further and introduce more dramatic changes to the car.

As with other manufacturers updating cars for 2026, Toyota’s primary focus is on aerodynamics. Images from a maiden test at Paul Ricard showed a reworked front section, including a new headlight design that borrows cues from the company’s road car range.

“The styling is very different, which I personally feel really happy and also proud of,” Toyota Gazoo Racing vice chairman Kazuki Nakajima told Motorsport.com.

“After many, many years, it’s almost the first time we’ve somehow managed to have a good design language, which is common to the Toyota brand or the road car designs. This is quite a big step.

“Of course, it’s not only about styling, but a styling change means aero flow will also be different. 

“As everyone knows, we will have a different wind tunnel [Windshear] for the homologation. So there has been a lot of fine-tuning about aero design to optimise what we can have.”

First update since 2023

Toyota’s first GR010 overhaul in 2022 centred on the switch to narrower front and wider rear tyres, and it managed to avoid invoking any of the five evo jokers permitted under the initial five-year rule cycle of the car.

The second revision in 2023 focused on areas such as driveability, serviceability and reliability, rather than pure performance, making the GR010 Hybrid an even more rounded contender.

The next overhaul brings the first major visual change to the car and aims to maximise performance under the BoP system.

“It’s little details. The idea is to improve aero and drivability,” Brendon Hartley told Motorsport.com.

“In the end, there’s still a Balance of Performance in this championship, so it’s not that you can just add aero and take away drag, it’s all balanced out in a fair way. 

“It’s more [about] trying to improve characteristics and driver feedback.”

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries

Photo by: Toyota

Positive start to testing

Toyota began testing the next version of the GR010 Hybrid — which could race under a different name — even before the current season ended, organising two days of private running at Paul Ricard on 8-9 October.

Further testing is planned in the winter before the car is flown to North Carolina in the US for homologation.

Asked if Toyota is satisfied with the initial testing of its 2026 challenger, Nakajima said: “I would think so, yeah.

“Of course, it’s never perfect and there’s sometimes a bit of a challenge when you actually run on the track. 

“But in the end we achieved reasonable testing and it’s reasonably under control. 

“Obviously, the car is still before the homologation [stage] and when we go to the wind tunnel, this would be the real test to be in the [right] window.

“It’s just a start, but as a start, it was a good kick-off.”

Toyota wouldn’t go into details about the car’s performance in early testing, but the Japanese manufacturer takes confidence from the fact that things are headed in the right direction.

Having started testing earlier than some of its rivals, it still has time on its hands to make some late improvements and become a more potent force in 2026.

“We had a clear point to improve, and this was more or less confirmed by our drivers that we managed to not fix everything but managed to have a good step forward on what we have been working for,” said Nakajima. “I think it’s a good step.”

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Maximising performance under BoP limitations

For years, Toyota ran the best race team in the WEC, giving it a crucial edge in areas like operations and strategy. But rival teams caught up in these key metrics during 2025, and Toyota also dropped the ball far too many times as it tried to overcome what it deemed as an unfavourable BoP.

These challenges, combined with the lack of general performance, meant the team that dominated the WEC for years couldn’t finish higher than fourth in a race until its dominant 1-2 result in the Bahrain 8 Hours.

The fact that Toyota could still finish runner-up to Ferrari in the manufacturers’ standings after its victory in the Bahrain finale showed why it remains one of the strongest teams on the grid. 

But it’s not leaving anything on the table for 2026, with all decisions regarding the development of its 2026 racer made on the assumption that it would have to deal with the least power and the maximum weight under BoP.

“It is the difficulty everyone is facing,” Nakajima said when asked how Toyota plans to overcome these limitations.

“But at the end of the day, what counts is the performance of the track and also the execution from the team. 

“The current rules more or less aim to equalise or to put everybody in a closer window of performance, so what counts is partially the team’s execution like strategy, pitstop, driver’s performance, not making mistakes and things like that. 

“This actually takes a lot of part of the performance factor in the race. We just need to focus on this part.”

There will be some stability within the Toyota camp next year, with all six drivers staying on for another season. Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa will continue to pilot the #8 Toyota, while Bahrain winners Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries will remain onboard the #7 GR010 Hybrid.

Toyota is expected to officially launch its updated car in the coming months ahead of the first round of the 2026 season in Qatar on 28 March.

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— The Motorsport.com Team