Up to date from its debut on the Goodwood Pageant of Tempo, the Toyota GT/Lexus LFR Concept is alleged to be “undoubtedly a bit sooner” than its GT Racing Concept counterpart, in accordance with Haas System 1 driver Ollie Bearman. The F1 debutant, competing in his first full F1 season in 2025, frolicked in every fashions on the competitors’s well-known hillclimb this earlier weekend alongside teammate Esteban Ocon, the latter of whom equally praised the GT Concept as “extraordinarily fast, extraordinarily succesful.”
Speaking with Motorsport.com shortly after his second run, and invited to drive the two concepts on the behest of Haas crew companion Toyota Gazoo Racing, Bearman outlined:
“Yesterday, I purchased to aim the road-going mannequin. The GT is certainly a bit sooner, nonetheless every [are] fantastic cars of their very personal correct… [The GT] automotive is de facto additional suited to a observe like this…. You notice, in F1, we’re unlikely pushing. We have got a few too many horsepower and missing slightly little bit of rubber – as an example on the rear tires – to push. Nonetheless with the GT automotive, it really – that observe comes alive, and I really, really liked it.”
-Ollie Bearman, Haas F1 in accordance with Motorsport.com
Why The GT Concept Will Be Additional Extremely efficient Than Its GT3 Counterpart
Hitherto, Toyota has remained tight-lipped on particulars about each model. It’ll nearly completely be a Lexus, a minimum of in america, though it’d keep elsewhere as a Toyota-branded automotive. A notably rowdy soundtrack all through the Goodwood demonstration run, nonetheless, has left little doubt that the GT Racing Concept, and thus its road-going homologation, is powered by a front-mounted V8.
This, plus notable parallels like an elongated hood and aggressive styling, counsel the GT Concept will in all probability be constructed for Lexus as a spiritual successor to the 553-horsepower LFA supercar – and thus don the LFR badge – ahead of a attainable launch in 2026.
Bearman’s suggestions, within the meantime, have ignited speculation that the road-going GT Concept could have better than 600 hp. That’s because of FIA effectivity guidelines dictate vitality for GT3 cars counterpart will in all probability be capped between 500 and 600 hp, and the road-going GT Concept was going sooner than the racing mannequin. This might draw the as-yet-unconfirmed LFR in-line with the likes of Aston Martin’s 670-hp Vantage S and even Ferrari’s 631-hp Amalfi.
Hybrid Or Turbo?
Whether or not or not nearly all of this additional vitality is correct right down to turbocharging or hybrid know-how is unclear. Improve would positively be a contradiction to the naturally-aspirated V10 that powered the LFA, nonetheless going with turbochargers should not be inconceivable provided that select fashions already rely upon compelled inductions. Hybrid propulsion, within the meantime, is equally plausible, given Toyota’s continued progress of hybrid know-how for every its freeway cars and its Le Mans Hypercar motorsport program.
In any case, after seeing and listening to those cars perform at Goodwood, it’s really not a question of what’s beneath the hood, nonetheless comparatively, how loads vitality is in there. A twin-turbocharged V8 hybrid really has potential for big numbers, nonetheless at this stage, Toyota is remaining tight-lipped regarding particulars.