Toyota tests their new WEC hypercar, and Toyoda-san is driving it

Toyota is sure going all out with their motorsports division. After winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend, the Japanese automaker has shifted focused on developing their new race car for the upcoming Hypercar class at the World Endurance Championship (WEC). The FIA announced that new Hypercar class is set to replace the current LMP1 class at WEC, and will be based on road-going hypercars.

For now, Toyota still hasn't named their upcoming racer for the 2020 season of WEC and has only revealed a teaser image of the car complete with matching racing livery. However, we have seen the race car before albeit as a road-going model in the form of the GR Super Sport concept. Toyota hasn't mentioned details or specifications, but one thing for sure is they are very serious with the vehicle's development.

How serious you ask? Well Toyota's current CEO and president, Akio Toyoda, is also taking part in the vehicle's development. Even at 63 years old, the big boss is still pushing the car to the limit, and we even see him reaching well over 260 km/h around the Fuji Speedway. How's that for a boss? Riding shotgun with him was Kamui Kobayashi, an ex-F1 driver and finding heaps of success in the World Endurance Championship.

In the short video above, you can see Toyoda getting strapped into a camouflaged prototype of the WEC-spec GR Super Sport and taking for a spin around the Fuji Speedway. From the video, we can also see more details of the car, including functional brake lights and headlights. The interior is also fully stripped out with only a digital gauge cluster in front of the driver and adjustment controls on the center console.

Toyota says that the name is expected to be revealed at a later date. Meanwhile, both the race car and road car are currently undergoing intensive development and testing at the company's technical centers in Toyota City, Higashi-Fuji and Cologne.

While the road-going car will be capable of around 1,000 horsepower, do expect the race version to be limited to 750 horsepower in order to comply with WEC regulations. That said, it will be exciting to see how it goes up against other hypercar class racers from other manufacturers.