Toyota Advances Major GR010 Overhaul Ahead of 2026 WEC Season

Toyota’s throwing the kitchen sink at a full revamp of its GR010 Le Mans Hypercar, scrambling to bounce back from a brutal 2025 season before next year’s World Endurance Championship kicks off. Early shakedowns have the team cautiously optimistic—though let’s be real, after last year’s disaster, there’s no room for overconfidence.

Introduced back in 2021 under the LMH rules, the GR010’s now the grandpa of the Hypercar grid. Sure, tweaks in ’22 and ’23 kept it in the fight, but that aging metal got bulldozed by fresher rivals. Ferrari? Absolute monsters last year, sweeping the first four races and locking down a third straight Le Mans win. Toyota? Stuck battling a crippling Balance of Performance handicap, barely scraping a podium until Bahrain’s season finale. Brutal stuff.

No more half-measures this time. Toyota’s dumping its last evo jokers into a full-on transformation, with aerodynamics taking center stage. They could’ve pushed updates mid-season, but timing was sketchy—so they waited, and now the result’s way more radical.

First spy shots from Paul Ricard? Wild. The front end’s practically unrecognizable, borrowing cues from Toyota’s street cars. The team’s laser-focused now on aerodynamic tweaks, leveraging a brand-new wind tunnel. Previous patches prioritized reliability, but this? Total overhaul, inside and out.

Testing started this October, with more runs planned through winter before shipping the beast stateside for homologation. Early reports? Surprisingly decent. Those pain points from last season? Finally showing signs of improvement.

Rivals better watch out—while some teams are still scrambling, Toyota’s been tweaking this thing for months. Operational smoothness, pit stops, strategy? All under the microscope. No more excuses.

Same six drivers return for ’26—consistency’s king when you’re rolling out a new beast. Official reveal’s set for early next year ahead of Qatar’s opener. Game on.Source

Image via Toyota Gazoo Racing