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Gazoo Racing Toyota Prius teased for 24h Le Mans reveal

Details are scarce but all will be revealed in the coming weeks at Le Mans 2023

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Toyota's Gazoo Racing division has hinted at a forthcoming reveal, set to take place at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Taking place from June 6 to June 11, all signs point to Prius as the next recipient of Toyota's in-house motorsports treatment.

And why shouldn't it be a Prius? After all, it shares its TNGA-C platform with the lauded GR Corolla (and the front half of a GR Yaris).

The new Prius, in factory form, also seems quite sprightly, available overseas in flagship plug-in hybrid (PHEV) trim with a 2.0-litre petrol engine, 13.6kWh battery and electric motors producing a combined 164kW, with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 6.7-seconds.

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Toyota says the forthcoming reveal at this year's Le Mans will feature "technologies that have been developed through numerous challenges in motorsports participation", in the name of Toyota's "efforts to realize a Carbon Neutral society in Japan."

Further details remain scarce, aside from a sly teaser image illustrating the stylised lower valance of the extra sporty Prius.

Is it a production model? A concept? Or just a dress-up 'GR Sport' variant?

Toyota has been researching and developing its combustion-hydrogen systems with a number of functioning driving proof-of-concepts under their belt, and even fields factory-backed hydrogen-powered Corolla and GR86 race cars in Japan. These, however, are pure-combustion cars which have yet to be seen with any hybrid augmentation.

If we at Wheels could have our way, though, we'd be begging for a hybridised development of the GR Yaris's bombastic little 1.6-litre turbo-triple powerhouse. Now that you mention it, there were rumours that such a powertrain was being developed for the next-gen GR86. Hmmm...

What do you think we'll see from Toyota's GR-branded Prius? Just one more reason to tune into Le Mans, we guess!

Alex Affat
Contributor

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