Toyota confirms it will produce 986-hp supercar

Toyota has confirmed its new 986-horsepower Gazoo Racing (GR) Super Sport concept is already in development to enter production, and in fact is just the first of several sports cars the automaker and racing firm hope to launch in the future.

The GT1 road car-type supercar is powered by what’s essentially the same 2.4-litre twin-turbo hybrid V6 powering Toyota’s TS050 Le Mans race car, which explains why Toyota brought it to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and made the announcement there.

The company’s return to the niche market was spurred by rule changes in FIA racing that go into effect in 2020. In the 1990s, when Toyota built the road-legal GT-One, it was similarly because Le Mans GT1class homologation rules stipulated each competitor’s vehicle had to be available in street trim to the public, at least in a limited production run.

Toyota’s partnership with Gazoo Racing doesn’t end at the GR Super Sport; it may be just the first of several sports cars the companies will work on together.

Even though it is yet to be unveiled, the upcoming Toyota Supra will already see its debut followed by that of a GR-spec super-hardcore trim, Toyota engineer Tetsuya Tada told Motoring Research. Perhaps even more outrageously, he noted the company is also working on a sort of AI-rival app for customers who take their Supra out on the track.

“Spearheaded by the Supra, we’ve been working with app developers to use driving data and artificial intelligence in simulations,” he told the magazine. “You could be driving your Supra on-track, but racing against a virtual Fernando Alonso in real time.”

There’s no timeline on the release of either car, but we do know the production-spec Supra will debut for 2019, and that it would make sense for the GR Super Sport to launch not long after the FIA rule changes take effect in 2020.