TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will continue its mission to make ever-better motorsports-bred cars and put smiles on the faces of fans across the globe by competing with two GR010 HYBRID race cars in the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, starting on Friday 28 February in Qatar.

A crew of World Champion drivers will use their skill and close cooperation with engineers, mechanics and team partners to drive the team forward following TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s goal of developing people and technology through motorsports. 

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries will compete together for a second year in the #7 GR010 HYBRID, while Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa join forces for the fourth time, aiming for their third drivers’ title together. 

Eight races on four continents – including the 93rd Le Mans 24 Hours in June – feature eight manufacturers contesting the 18-strong Hypercar class, including Alpine, newcomers Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche. With the GR010 HYBRID, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will challenge for its eighth manufacturers’ World Championship as well as its seventh drivers’ crown, and sixth Le Mans victory. 

The GR010 HYBRID broke new ground in endurance racing when it was unveiled as the first-ever WEC Hypercar in 2021. Since then, it has undergone various adjustments to enhance reliability and operability, which have combined with team and driver know-how to maintain a record-breaking run of title success. 

For 2025, the proven GR010 HYBRID package has undergone no significant changes and will enter its fifth season of competition as a tried and tested competitor. The only visible change to the 2025-specification car is the addition of new mandatory LED panels on the sidepod, which indicate position and pit stop timing to enhance the experience of fans at the track and at home.

Qatar is the first destination on the 2025 calendar, for WEC’s traditional two-day Prologue pre-season test and the 10-hour Qatar 1812km race. In last year’s inaugural event, Nyck earned second on the grid, but a challenging race required a strong team effort to earn valuable points with fifth and eighth place finishes. 

Action at the 5.418km Lusail International Circuit begins with seven hours of testing each day on Friday 21 February and Saturday 22 February. Two 90-minute free practice sessions kick off the race week on Wednesday February 26, including one which ends after sunset. The starting grid will be determined in qualifying and Hyperpole on Thursday (5.40pm local, 3.40pm CET) while the race starts at 2pm (midday CET) on Friday 28 February.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7):
We have won six consecutive World Championships as a manufacturer, so the challenge is of course to go for the seventh. Last year we missed out on the drivers’ title so this year our target is to win both, but it will difficult. As well as a new manufacturer in Aston Martin, the returning manufacturers will come back stronger, and with more experience, so I expect it will be more competitive than ever. We have no advantages, and we will have to challenge ourselves to get better in every area to stay on top. We need to get more out of our car set-up at each race, show even more team spirit and fight for every position. We have great support from the rest of the Toyota family and our partners; every year I feel we are coming closer together and becoming stronger. We want to make an even stronger GR010 HYBRID this season and this will contribute to making ever-better cars through motorsports.

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7):
A new season is always exciting, and I’m always pumped up to start a new year fresh, looking forward to what we can achieve together as a team. We have clear goals this season and we are working hard in all areas to achieve them. Last season was pretty good, but we can still improve and that’s been our focus, starting in Qatar. Over the past year we have had some great racing in Hypercar, and it looks like being even more exciting now, especially with a new manufacturer joining the field. I can’t wait to get started and kick off a new season in Qatar.

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):
It’s exciting to start the new season and I’m looking forward to a new year with new opportunities. My first season as a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing race driver was very enjoyable and successful. We had highs and lows, many different emotions, and we just fell short on some of our goals. We are ambitious and would like to win everything, but we didn’t manage to win Le Mans or the drivers’ championship so as a group we are very motivated and excited about the new opportunity. At the same time the competition is strong, so we need to make sure we bring our best performance to the fight.

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8):
Starting a new season is very interesting and exciting. We won the manufacturers’ World Championship last year and clearly, we want to build on that to achieve even more. We have worked together as a team to analyse anything that went wrong and improve in many areas to come back stronger than ever. Last year Qatar was not one of our strongest races, so we definitely want to perform better. We want to show from the beginning of the season that we are fighting at the front.

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8):
It’s an exciting time and I’ve been looking forward to the start of this season for a while. There are a few unknowns going into Qatar because our competitors will have been working hard over the winter just like us, and there is a new manufacturer to contend with. We want to be competitive from the start and that means having a stronger performance in Qatar than last year, when we were not where we wanted to be. We are ready for the challenges we will face, and we respect our competition, but we are going to give it everything this season to come out on top.

Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8):
It’s going to be a very challenging season because our competitors have done a lot of work and will be stronger, but we have also worked hard together as a team. I believe we have a very good team, with a lot of experience in WEC, and I am confident we will be strong. Qatar is going to be a long race, 10 hours. For the championship it is very important because there are more points available here compared to a normal six-hour race so it will be a very intense battle. Qatar is quite different from other tracks because the surface is very flat, very smooth and tyre degradation is low, even with the high-speed corners. That means we can push hard throughout the 10 hours which is challenging for the drivers, but also fun.