Toyota Keeps Hydrogen Options Open Amid Rules Delays – Sportscar365
Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Kamui Kobayashi has warned there is no guarantee the Japanese marque will ultimately enter the FIA World Endurance Championship’s planned hydrogen class as delays in finalizing the regulations continue.
Following the delay at announced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, hydrogen cars are currently slated to debut in 2028, initially for a limited number of races.
But a target to have regulations ready to share with interested manufacturers by the end of last year was missed, and there have been no further official updates on the matter since, with FIA chief technical and safety officer Xavier Mestelan-Pinon admitting last year the process was taking longer than expected.
Toyota has been clear from the outset about its ambitions to take on the WEC and Le Mans with hydrogen in the future, having pioneered the use of internal combustion hydrogen technology in Japan’s Super Taikyu series and revealing the GR H2 Racing Concept at Le Mans in 2023.
Hydrogen cars were supposed to debut at Le Mans in 2026 at the time the GR H2 Racing Concept was revealed, and speaking to Sportscar365, Kobayashi suggested that the series of delays has forced Toyota to keep its options open regarding where it might race with hydrogen-powered machinery in the future.
Kobayashi rhetorically, asked:
There are still no regulations, so how can we make the car?
“The ACO wants to do it, and if the regulations are there, of course we want to take on the challenge. But unfortunately, there are still no regulations.
“Hydrogen technology is one of the opportunities for sustainable motorsport, which is why we are taking on the challenge to develop this technology.
“If other manufacturers are considering carbon-neutral sustainable motorsport in the future, it’s one of the options. Without taking on the challenge, we won’t know the down sides, so at the end of the day, I think we are going to take on the challenge.
“At the end of the day, it’s not only [whether] Toyota wants to do it. It’s also about whether other manufacturers want to take on the challenge.
“If other manufacturers see electric cars as the future, that’s fine. But Toyota’s philosophy is to consider all solutions and we think the possibility is there to use hydrogen to become carbon-neutral and do sustainable motorsport.
“But we don’t say that it has to be in the WEC. Maybe other championships will consider allowing hydrogen cars in the next few years.”
While other WEC manufacturers have expressed an interest in racing with hydrogen cars in the future, with Alpine notably having lent its support to internal combustion hydrogen power, questions remain over how many brands would be open to taking on Toyota when the category does finally come on stream.
Kobayashi however believes that competition is not essential to driving forward Toyota’s ambitions, pointing out that the GR Corolla H2 Concept it campaigns in Super Taikyu doesn’t face any rivals using the same technology in the Japanese series.
He said,
Already, we are developing hydrogen in Super Taikyu,
“If Toyota is the only manufacturer using hydrogen in the WEC, then it’s the same situation.Will WEC be the only other championship that allows hydrogen cars by 2030? Nobody knows. It’s all still a bit far away, because there are no regulations.”
The potential for further delays to the timeframe for hydrogen regulations raise the prospect of the current Toyota GR010 Hybrid, now in its fifth year of competition with only minor upgrades since its 2021 debut, having its lifespan further extended.
But Kobayashi says he has no concerns about the GR010’s competitiveness against its competitors with newer cars.
He said,
For sure we have the best car,
“It’s why we have the heaviest car and less power [according to the Balance of Performance], and we can still fight the others, and we won the [manufacturers’] championship last year.”
Asked whether his own career would extend long enough to be part of the driver lineup of a future hydrogen-powered Toyota, the 38-year-old jokingly replied:
If I am still fast enough, maybe I will drive, but if not, then maybe I won’t!
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Toyota Keeps Hydrogen Options Open Amid Rules Delays – Sportscar365, source
