The Toyota GR LH2 Is A Vision For A Hydrogen-Fuelled Le Mans Racer

There’s a lot of chatter about hydrogen combustion powered cars at the moment, as one of the many options being worked on as an alternative for traditional fossil fuels. One company that’s more invested in it than most is Toyota, which has just shown off this concept for a liquid hydrogen fuelled Le Mans racer ahead of the famed 24-hour endurance race this weekend.

Called the GR LH2, it builds on 2023’s similar GR H2 concept. We don’t know a whole lot about it, but it utilises hydrogen as a liquid fuel to run a combustion engine rather than powering batteries. We don’t know what that engine is, but Toyota says the concept is based on its existing GR010 Le Mans Hypercar, which features a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6. Like that car, the GR LH2 is a hybrid.

It’s a technology Toyota’s familiar with, having spent a few years running a hydrogen combustion-powered GR Corolla in Japan’s Super Taikyu race series, as well as demoing a similarly powered GR Yaris rally car at a WRC round in 2022.

Something like this actually running at Le Mans may not be as far away as it seems. The racer’s organiser, the ACO, is known to be working on plans to allow both hydrogen combustion cars like this and hydrogen fuel cell machinery to compete in the top class, rules that could come into effect as soon as 2027.

Various prototypes, including the ACO’s own H24 fuel cell car, have been running demo laps around the Circuit de la Sarthe as far back as 2019.

Away from its powertrain, the GR LH2 shows off a new look for Toyota’s endurance racing machinery, with a front end bearing the manufacturer’s new corporate front end, seen on road cars like the latest Prius and new C-HR+.

It’s a look we could eventually see on the eventual successor to the GR010, which will be hoping to add to its tally of two Le Mans wins this weekend, after losing out to Ferrari for the last two years. Perhaps the excellent retro livery one of the cars is running will help.