We imagine you’re already spellbound by this Toyota GR010 Hybrid.

Of course, we are enthusiastic and very positive. It’s a car that also upholds the legacy of the GR Sport that we introduced in 2018 in a racing car. It’s a pointer to what we can expect from Toyota Gazoo Racing on this type of car in the future. This successful combination has resulted in a beautiful car that we expect to produce the goods out on the track. We’re very proud of it and look forward to seeing it in its first race – at Sebring, we hope. 

Like the LMP1s, the GR010 hypercar is the outcome of close collaboration between the engineers in Cologne and the experts at the Higashi-Fuji technical centre. Real teamwork is the key, isn’t it?

Yes, it always has been going right back to 2010-11. For this project, we brought people from Higashi-Fuji to Cologne to help our engineers and we worked together intensively. We had to because the hybrid powertrain in this car is relatively complex. We can’t compare it to what we had on the LMP1s. We’re talking top-level performance and the engineers working on the project are up to it in cooperation with our teams in Cologne under the guidance of project leader John Litjens. We are therefore well equipped, we have the requisite experience and this mix of cultures we have within our team is wonderful.

There will be new teams in the FIA WEC this season, and others over the coming years. Are you looking forward to the challenges that these new rivals will bring?

Of course! Absolutely. We have missed them over the last two years and are looking forward to the return of Audi, Porsche and Peugeot – next year in the case of Peugeot after ten years away. We’ll also have Glickenhaus this year. I feel we’re going to develop a great series. There are rumours afoot that others will join us. We should have some great races, especially at Le Mans with all these competitors on track. I believe that this new era of endurance will be fantastic for the teams and for the fans.

Audi and Porsche have rubber-stamped their return for 2023. What advantages will these one or two extra seasons on the new regulations give you?

I don’t know if it will give us an advantage. We have already seen that these manufacturers are adept at making new cars. Peugeot will test its new car as soon as possible before this season ends, which will be beneficial to them. Having said that, we do know the technology and we can rely on the experience we’ve built up over the last ten years whereas theirs was interrupted. They will have to form new teams as the people who worked on the Audi and Porsche LMP1 programmes have either left or have moved to other branches of the companies. This is perhaps where we’ll have an edge. And then on our experience of balance of performance and the success handicap if this option is selected. We shall be a few steps ahead and I hope they’ll have trouble catching us up!

We have a hunch what your answer will be but can you set out your team’s aims for this season?

Yes, my answer won't come as a surprise: a one-two at Le Mans and the world championship driver’s and manufacturer's titles.

Are further test sessions planned before the season begins?

We were due to take part in tests at Aragon but the snow stopped us. We shall have to reorganise them. The team has been working on it. We’re going to extend our next test, which will be in February also here in Aragon, and hope that it doesn’t snow. The biggest issue is we are missing mileage before the first race of the season. Every test is important to get mileage on the car, and on the team in the sense of the mechanics and the engineers understanding the car better and better. That’s why we are looking for additional time. It will get very tight to catch up everything we have missed. But this normally we should be able to do, and we are falling back on a lot of experience from the LMP1 era to prepare this car as best we can for Sebring and the season.