The GR010's design is inspired by the Toyota GR Super Sport Concept presented at the 2018 Tokyo Auto Salon, considered to be the GR010's road version counterpart.

Lexus North America actively considered entering a Lexus-badged GR010 in the IMSA championship, although the project was not pursued.

[9] For the GR010 Hybrid's debut season, Toyota maintained their driver lineup unchanged from the 2019–20 FIA World Endurance Championship, with Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José María López in car #7 and Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley in car #8.

Nyck de Vries remained as test driver, with Ryō Hirakawa joining him in development duties halfway through the year.

With the win in the first leg of the Bahrain double-header finale Toyota secured the Hypercar World Endurance Championship.

Furthermore, at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans, Toyota would secure their fourth straight overall win in the event and the first for the #7 crew of Conway, Kobayashi and López, who would go on to repeat as World Endurance Drivers' Champions at the end of the year.