Toyota can now lay claim to having fielded the first hybrid vehicle to win an endurance race. The Denso SARD Supra HV-R won the Tokachi 24-hour race in convincing fashion, finishing 19 laps up on the second place car for a total of 616. The hybridized Super GT-spec Supra took the pole, lead all day, and opened up a significant gap in the final hours of the competition. It also had the fastest lap of the event. Powered by a 4,4480cc 3UZ-FE V8 augmented with a regenerative braking system, in-wheel electric motors in front, and a larger single electric motor for the rear wheels, the Supra HV-R was the sole GT-class entrant in this year's race. With reports saying that a production version of the FT-HS concept is on the way, we should be able to get a taste of what a streetable hybrid sports car is like in due time. In the meantime, Toyota has gone out and shown what a motorsports-prepared hybrid is capable of.

[Source: SARD]

Al Gore III's 100 mph police-interrupted ride in his Prius? Pfft. Boooo-ring. While media outlets all over the place got breathless over a Prius' ability to hit the century mark, there's been some serious hybrid performance stuff going on in Japan. No, not with Lexus. The Denso SARD Supra HV-R, strangely ignored in most English-language outlets save for Autoblog and AutoblogGreen, has done quite well for itself in the runup to today's Tokachi 24-hour endurance race (which will be well underway by the time you read this).

The Supra HV-R, a converted Super GT racer that's powered by a 480-horsepower V8 augmented by a regenerative braking system, a pair of in-wheel electric motors in front and a single motor in back, took the pole for the race. Barring any mechanical or on-track mishaps, we would not be surprised to see the HV-R in the mix for the overall win when the checkered flag comes waves late tonight/tomorrow morning.

UPDATE: After 12 hours of racing, the Supra is in first place overall. As of hour 12, the track is wet and it's raining at Tokachi.

UPDATE 2: After 20 hours of racing, the hybrid Supra remains in the lead, having completed 507 laps. The second place car has completed 492.

UPDATE 3: With 2 hours to go, the Supra HV-R has expanded its lead. it is now 17 laps up on the second- and third-place cars.

[Source: SARD]

Click image to enlarge

Last year, Toyota Team SARD contested and completed Japan's Tokachi 24-hour endurance race with a specially-prepared Lexus GS450h. The car finished 4th in class and 17th overall. And now, Toyota Team SARD's heading back with some upgraded firepower. The team announced that it will enter the Denso SARD Supra HV-R in this year's race, scheduled to go down July 15. The Supra HV-R is a hybrid whose Super GT-spec 4,480cc V8 is augmented with regenerative braking, a pair of 10kW in-wheel motors up front and a 150kW motor in the rear. The engine's output is rated at 480 horsepower and 376 lb-ft of torque, and the car's weight will come in at a little over 2,300 pounds.

The provisional racing livery is shown in the artwork above, and we'll report back when SARD unveils the finished car. Until then, we'll sum it up with one word:

Cool.

[Source: SARD]

The Mainichi Daily News has a story in yesterday's edition that the hybrid Lexus GS450h sedan will be put through a bit of a test in Japan's only 24-hour race later this month. The race, the Tokachi 24-hour race on the northern island of Hokkaido, takes place from July 15-17 at the Tokachi International Speedway and this year marks the first time a major automaker is entering a gasoline-electric hybrid in the race. Toyota engineers will use race data to "make hybrid systems smaller, lighter and more efficient" according to the article, and are looking at the potential for using hybrid systems in motorsports. The Super Ultra Low Emission GS450h is the first mass-production rear-wheel drive luxury hybrid car.

[Source: Mainichi Daily News via Mixed Power]