Toyota Gazoo Racing Archives

Laser Motor Dominates Round 2 Of GR Vios Sprint Cup

With the top two fastest qualifying speeds and victories in Race 1 at the Sepang International Circuit, Laser Motor Racing dominated the first day of the GR Vios Sprint Cup weekend.

Teammates Eddie Lew and Amer Harris came in second, while Putera Adam and Jwan Hii took the lead with the fastest time of 2 minutes, 52.302 seconds. Hayden Haikal and Timothy Yeo of Axle Sports completed the top three positions.

The GR Vios Sprint Cup has two 1-hour races on Saturday and Sunday, 2-driver teams, a required pit stop, and a driver switch. Toyota’s presence in motor racing has expanded thanks to this move, which has also given Toyota dealers and privateers the chance to compete in saloon car racing at lower costs and, more importantly, the chance to succeed as a racing team and actively take part in the development of young talent.

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Toyota Introduces Hydrogen-Powered Le Mans Challenger

Toyota has dominated the Le Mans competition, winning 5 straight races between 2018 and 2022. And for 2023 the manufacturer has unveiled a brand-new hydrogen-powered concept before the start of this year’s 24-hour race that was created “with future competition in its sights.”

The prototype was introduced at a press conference held by Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), the organisation behind the Le Mans 24 Hours. It was motivated by the ACO’s recent declaration that it will permit hydrogen-engine vehicles to participate in a category separate from fuel-cell electric vehicles.

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Younger Drivers Show Strong Pace in Opening Round of GR Vios Challenge Season 6

The opening round of the GR Vios Challenge, part of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival, got off to a great start for Season 6 at the Sepang International Circuit over the weekend. Besides being able to watch the races live at the track, spectators from all over the online world also got to follow the excitement with live streaming on the two days.

In total, more than 3.5 million viewers watched the races which also featured a line-up of five new celebrities, 6 new rookie drivers and a grid of 45 cars.

After 5 seasons, the GR Vios Challenge now sees a diverse mix of newcomers and veteran racers, youngsters from a new generation that grew up with simulators and karting and the older drivers who have the experience of numerous races over many years. It was apparent during the weekend that the new generation has an impressive pace, in spite of less years of racing.

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Sixth Season Of GR Vios Challenge Starts This Weekend

The GR Vios Challenge has been a very successful series which has contributed to the development of the Malaysian motorsports industry. Over the past 5 years, UMW Toyota Motor and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia pumped in a lot of money and incentives to make it a leading motorsports event. Incorporated in the TGR Racing Festival for most years (except when the pandemic prevented public gatherings), the series attracted more than 15 million spectators and viewers (both on-site and online via live streaming).

This year, the GR Vios Challenge will enter its sixth season and as in 2022, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia will also run the GR Vios Sprint Cup, GR Vios Enduro Cup and participate in the Sepang 100KM endurance race.

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Ninth Monte Carlo Win For Sebastien Ogier, With 1-2 Finish For TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

Frenchman Sebastien Ogier collected yet another victory – his ninth – at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the opening round of the 2023 World Rally Championship which ended today. Driving for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in selected events with co-driver Vincent Landais, Ogier powered the GR Yaris Hybrid on the twisty roads in the French Alps from start to finish.

His ninth victory makes him the driver with the most Monte Carlo wins. It joins 55 other WRC wins over 3 decades, during which time he has been with the Citroen Junior Team, Citroen, Volkswagen Motorsport, M-Sport Ford and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing teams. With 8 WRC titles, he has won twice as many championships as third-ranked Juha Kankkunen, and is just one short of Sebastien Loeb.

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Nasser Al-Attiyah Wins Dakar Rally For Fifth Time

Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and his French co-driver, Mathieu Baumel, successfully defended the Dakar title they won for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) in 2022 when they brought their GR DKR Hilux T1+ over the finish line of the final stage of Dakar 2023 with a winning margin of 1 hour 20 minutes 49 seconds.

Although they had lost almost 6 minutes to the final stage leaders, they had already built up a comfortable lead from stage 3 to be able to take overall victory. For Nasser, it’s a fifth win in the event, while Mathieu’s tally is now 4 victories. The pair have won 3 times for Toyota, with the latest victories coming in a back-to-back. Nasser’s two earliest wins were win Volkswagen (2011) and MINI (2015)

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ORC ROOKIE Racing Team Showcases Toyota’s Hydrogen-Fuelled Cars At Thai Endurance Event

Although the ORC ROOKIE Racing Team did not for run the entire time at the recent Idemitsu 1500 Super Endurance 2022 (Thailand 25-Hour Endurance Race), its cars drew much attention during the first and last few hours that they were running. Their participation was not to compete in the race but to showcase the feasibility of carbon neutrality using existing technology and resources to offer multiple pathways to accelerate carbon neutrality in a prompt and practical manner.

Besides the two entries of the ORC ROOKIE Racing Team (founded and owned by Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation), there was also a Carbon-neutral fuel car entered by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Team Thailand which won the finish Carbon Neutral Power Cup and completed completing 443 laps.

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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Ready To Tackle World Rally-Raid Championship Again, Starting With Dakar Rally

With three weeks remaining until the start of the 2023 Dakar Rally, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) is making preparations for its 3-vehicle team’s entry in the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) 2023 season. The team will have reigning masters, Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel, with newly crowned South African Rally-Raid Champion Giniel de Villiers and co-driver Dennis Murphy, as well as Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings.

The 2023 W2RC starts with the Dakar Rally in January, and will be followed by the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge at the end of February; the Sonora Rally in Mexico during April, and the Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina at the end of August. The season will draw to a close with the Rally of Morocco, again scheduled for mid-October. Al-Attiyah and Baumel will compete in all the rounds.

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Toyotas Dominant In 2022 Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race

After coming so close to winning in 2021, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Malaysia Team returned this year to take a historic 1-2 victory in the 9-hour race at the Sepang International Circuit. Three Toyotas finished in the top 5 overall positions, and in the Malaysian Touring Car (MTC) Class in only Toyota’s second year participating in the annual event.

A record total of 77 cars lined up on the grid for the 14th edition of the Sepang 1000KM event (S1K) this year. The race had the MTC and SP2 Classes for cars below 1600 cc and incorporated the GAZOO Racing Vios Enduro Cup (exclusively for the Toyota Vios cars competing in the Vios Challenge race series).

Crewed by GAZOO Racing Malaysia ambassador Tengku Djan Ley and reigning Vios Challenge Sporting Class champion Naquib Azlan, the team’s #37 Vios took the chequered flag after 181 laps. The car had started from pole position and crossed the finish line 6.2 seconds ahead of the nearest rival – the #39 Yaris of Hayden Haikal and Jwan Hii for Wing Hin Motorsports (a UMW Toyota Motor dealer).

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Clean Sweep Of WEC Titles In Bahrain For TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

Besides a dominant 1-2 victory in the 8 Hours of Bahrain, final round of the 2022 World Endurance Championship (WEC), as well as securing a clean sweep of titles, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing also made history by taking a historic Hypercar title double.

Outgoing World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez took a hard-earned win, their second of the season in their #7 GR010 HYBRID, to confirm the as Hypercar manufacturers’ World Champions.

Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID, had started the weekend level on points with their Alpine title rivals. but finished second to become Drivers’ World Champions, adding to their 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours win.

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