The domestic and international race entry structure for Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR)’s 2023 season has been announced.
The team has revealed that it will compete within the TGR GR86/BRZ Cup and TGR Yaris Cup, in addition to the Hypercar category of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season, which will feature several new participants. As part of the Championship, the 100th-anniversary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will take place in June 2023.
TGR will enter the WEC with the GR010 Hybrid, a thoroughbred race car that weighs just 1,040kg and is powered by a 3.5-liter V6 turbo engine. The vehicle also benefits from Racing Hybrid technology, which has been developed and improved during WEC competition.
Two TGR vehicles are set to compete in the series, with Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe in Cologne, Germany being used as the team’s base.
TGR aims to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the sixth time in a row and secure the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ double for a fifth successive year.
Within the Super GT and Japanese Super Formula Championship, the team also seeks to win both the Drivers’ and the Teams’ Championships. Plans for the team’s involvement in the Super Taikyu series will be announced at a later date.
“We achieved all our targets this year, winning Le Mans, Fuji and the World Championships, thanks to the big support from Toyota and our partners,” said Kamui Kobayashi, team principal and driver of car #7. “But we start again in 2023 with even stronger competition, so we need to improve ourselves, making our team and car even stronger. The drivers are an important part of our team, and I am happy to drive alongside Mike, José, Séb, Brendon and Ryo again in 2023.
“We have a strong team spirit throughout the whole team, particularly among the drivers, and we race together as one family. This is a big strength for our team, and we need to trust and support each other next season to be as strong as possible against the big competition in Hypercar.”
