If the Automobile Club de l’Ouest has its way, hydrogen will play a significant role at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the near future. Toyota Gazoo Racing unveiled its GR LH2 Racing Concept on Wednesday at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France ahead of this year’s edition of the French endurance classic. Toyota’s new racing test bed is being exhibited by the ACO alongside three other hydrogen-powered sports cars. However, it will be years before any hydrogen machine takes the start at the 24-hour race.
The GR LH2 Racing Concept is an operational test car based on the GR010 Hybrid Hypercar, its current Le Mans entry. Toyota is tight-lipped about the full capabilities of the liquid hydrogen-fueled sports prototype, but it builds on the Japanese automaker’s previous endeavors in recent years using the alternative fuel in motorsport. Toyota has been developing and racing a hydrogen-powered Corolla in Japan’s Super Taikyu Series since 2021. Akio Toyoda races the hatchback under his nom de course Morizo. The experimental Corolla was brought to Le Mans in 2023 and ran a demo lap.
Le Mans’ hydrogen future is coming, eventually
While the GR LH2 Racing Concept is supposed to represent a potential future hydrogen category, it’s not clear when the delays on the class debut will end. The ACO initially targeted a 2024 debut, but plans were derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. A second delay pushed the debut to 2026 because the organization wanted more time for its in-house concept team to prove that hydrogen-powered cars could be competitive against existing gasoline-fueled machines. Seemingly, it wasn’t enough time. The 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans is now scheduled to be the debut after a third delay.
Toyota is confident that it will win Le Mans one day with hydrogen power, but this year’s edition is also a commemorative one. It’s the 40th anniversary of Toyota’s first entry at Le Mans in 1985. To celebrate, this year’s No. 7 Toyota is in a livery harking back to the TS020 that raced in the 1998 edition of the French endurance classic. The No. 8 will be running the current matte black Toyota Gazoo Racing livery, so together the three prototypes represent the past, present and future of Toyota at Le Mans.