Last year, Toyota Team SARD fielded a race-prepped Lexus GS450h in the Tokachi 24-hour enduro. The Lexus went the distance, finishing 4th in its class and 17th overall. The 2007 edition of the contest is set for July 15th, and SARD will be back with another hybrid-powered machine. This year, however, it's going to be decidedly racier -- a Supra, to be exact. The newly-announced Denso SARD Supra HV-R began its life as a Supra GT racing car and will be powered by a hybridized Super GT-spec 3UZ-FE V8 displacing 4,480cc that dishes out 480 horsepower and 376 lb-ft of torque. It also utilised an improved energy-regeneration system that operated with greater efficiency thanks to two 10kW motors mounted into each front wheel plus a partnering 150kW rear-axle electric motor. The four-wheel drive Supra was then capable, via the three motors, of recovering energy under braking and heavy deceleration. The total weight is a little over 2300 pounds. The 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.
These are the articles about the event:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/18/toyota-sard-entering-supra-hv-r-hybrid-racer-in-tokachi-24-hours/

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/07/16/hybrid-toyota-supra-hv-r-wins-tokachi-24-hrs/

http://www.carenthusiast.com/news.html?mode=article&id=1983

Do you think hybrids would be the next generation street sleepers?

No, No I dont.


Electric motors are only a signifigant advantage for endurance racing where energy recovery matters.

I have to say I am impressed at the staying power though, I would not have thought that a hybrid would have performed so well during an endurance race where the is a lot of stress on the components. Although, it could be a heavily modified system so it doesn't necessarily mean much.

heard about it awhile ago, but its still amazing it won