Tara Hurlin, Hemmings Motor News | June 19, 2023
Toyota unveiled its hydrogen-powered GR H2 race car concept ahead of the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe in western France. Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s chairman, revealed the endurance-prepped prototype, which resembles what the automaker will race at the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“Le Mans is a place we can push boundaries and realize the future. My goal is to reach carbon neutrality without compromising the speed or excitement of racing. I wouldn’t invest in this technology if I didn’t think we could win with it,” Akio Toyota said during the debut, adding, “Hydrogen is not just about zero emissions but a truly exciting technology: it delivers sound, torque, and dynamics. It is all of these things.”
Source: Toyota
Hydrogen power isn’t a brand-new concept to Toyota. Research and development for the first Toyota hydrogen car date back to 1992. That said, technical specifications have not yet been released for the GR H2 concept car. All we know is it will be powered by a combination of hydrogen and hybrid systems, and it’s just slightly longer and wider than Toyota’s LMP1-H Le Mans Prototype, which is 15.26 ft long and 6.23 ft wide.
Toyota’s commitment to develop and race a hydrogen car at the 2026 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was fueled by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) race organizers decision to allow both hydrogen-combustion and hydrogen-fuel-cell cars to race. The ACO predicts that all competition cars will use hydrogen powertrain technologies by the end of the decade.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on Hemmings Motor News.
