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The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars

Sanjay Β· Jun 7, 2023 10:57 AM

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 01

Super long name, but this the closest thing the world has to a Toyota GR Prius. Technicalities be damned, all we know is we want one.

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 02

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 03

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In full, it's called the 2023 Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition, a concept built to honour the 100th year of the annual 24-hour endurance race.

Also read: Used hybrids are really cheap, so should you buy a used Toyota Prius, Camry Hybrid or Honda Insight?

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 01

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 02

One would think a Prius would be the furthest thing from cars whizzing down the Mulsanne straight but this isn't the '90s anymore. Toyota has been competing in the endurance series with hybrid-electric race cars since 2012, making this Prius a fitting tribute.

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 03

The Toyota GR010. Note the colourway, quad headlights, and canards distilling their way onto the Prius

For this year, Toyota aims to extend its five-year winning streak, fielding two GR010 Hybrid racers in the LMH (hypercar) category that's also participated in by Cadillac, Porsche, Peugeot, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, and Vanwall.

Breaking another track record too should also be part of the goal; team Toyota Gazoo Racing's fastest lap of 3:27.607 set in 2021 is still the 13.7 km track's quickest made by any LMH racer.

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 04

Taking inspiration from its trophy-collecting sibling, this Prius concept car is 90mm longer, 50mm wider and sits 30mm lower than a standard car with front and rear tracks widened by 40mm.

2023 Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition dimensions
Length 4,690 mm
Width 1,830 mm
Height 1,400 mm
Wheelbase 2,750 mm
Ground clearance 120 mm
Front track 1,600 mm
Rear track 1,610 mm

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 05

Standard wheels ain't cutting it, so wide 235/50 profile Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres wrapping the 18-inch wheels (which takes after the LMH car's wheel design) are in order.

Also read: Back from the dead, this Toyota GR Corolla made history as world's first liquid hydrogen racer to complete an endurance race

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 06

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 07

So is a full aero treatment, and this centennial-celebrating Prius is bestowed a new front bumper, a carbon fibre hood, canards, side skirts, diffuser, and a large wing. Being a concept, there's no performance figures just yet, like there isn't pricing.

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 08

The Prius everyone wants: Toyota Prius 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition unveiled, inspired by race cars 09

Come on Toyota, it's not like the Prius isn't selling well anyway. If you build it, they will come, as they say...

Also read: Sold out in 1 day, 2023 Toyota Prius has a 1 year waiting period in Japan and USA

Catch the 24H of LeMans

Some of you may be lucky enough to be there; for the rest of us, the official YouTube channel and Facebook pages of the ACO and FIA WEC will stream the race live and in full. Keep your tabs open too for seperate streams by several teams and sponsors which sometimes have unique, raw views and angles.

The weekend's schedule is as below, all times Malaysian.

2023 24 Hours of Le Mans schedule
Session Time
Free practice 2 pm, 7-June 2023
Qualifying 8 pm, 8-June 2023
Race start 10 pm, 10-June 2023

Sanjay

Senior Writer

With humble beginnings collecting diecast models and spending hours virtually tuning dream cars on the computer, his love of cars has delightfully transformed into a career. Sanjay enjoys how the same passion for cars transcends boundaries and brings people together.

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