Toyota Supra to enter 24 Hours of Nurburgring race

The Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) team will compete in the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race, which takes place at the famous German circuit from June 20-23. Toyota’s factory race team has competed in the endurance race since 2007, and will continue to do so with the aim of “refining team members and refining cars” in pursuit of “making ever-better cars”.

Racing a full day on the 25 km “Green Hell” with a maximum altitude difference of 300 metres and more than 170 corners, is gruelling for sure, but it also serves as a good proving and learning ground. “The cars competing at the race will incorporate and refine parts and advanced technologies intended for future road cars,” Toyota says.

At last year’s event, TGR entered a single Lexus LC and managed to achieve its minimum target of completing the race. Still, the team was forced to carry out pit work that exceeded four hours and ended the race with very disappointing results. With this setback as a springboard, “we have reviewed from the ground up the way we make cars and carried out numerous tests,” the team says.

This year, the LC will be joined by the Toyota GR Supra, which makes is debut at the 24h race, even if it’s no stranger to the circuit. After competing in the VLN Endurance Championship Nurburgring last autumn, the race Supra has been further refined in preparation for the endurance race.

Competing in the SP8T class – which allows body modifications and is for cars featuring engines of up to 4.0 litres with forced induction – the #90 Supra will be piloted by Masahiro Sasaki, Uwe Kleen, Herwig Daenens and Hisashi Yabuki. The latter two are Toyota employees.

“We competed in Races 2 and 3 of the VLN Endurance Championship Nurburgring as well as the qualifying race for the 24 Hours of Nurburgring Endurance Race, and were able to identify various issues. At those times, I felt that it is not a simple task to complete a race at Nurburgring even if is just four or six hours, to say nothing of what might happen during a 24-hour race. Still, we will work as a united team to finish the race. I hope everyone will cheer us on with enthusiasm,” said Hideyuki Tanaka, the GR Supra’s chief mechanic.

There’s nothing like proving your sports/performance car in the ultimate test of an endurance race. There will be failures and heartbreaks (Toyota knows this oh so well), but you push on, learn and emerge stronger. More on the A90 Toyota Supra here.

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