TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Takes on the Challenge of 24 Hours of Nürburgring Endurance Race with New Supra

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https://global.toyota/en/newsroom/lexus/28455031.html

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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will compete in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring Endurance Race, which takes place at Nürburgring in Germany from June 20 to 23, 2019.

The Nürburgring 24 Hours Endurance Race is a demanding event that takes place over the course of 24 hours on the circuit that is 25km in length, has a maximum altitude difference of 300m, and features more than 170 corners. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has competed in this event since 2007 with the aim of "refining team members, refining cars" in pursuit of "making ever-better cars", and the race has represented the roots of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing ever since.The employees who compete and grow in such a demanding environment will apply their experience to vehicle development in the future. In addition, the cars competing at the race will incorporate and refine parts and advanced technologies intended for future road cars.

Last year, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing entered the Nürburgring 24 Hours Race with 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 disappointment as a springboard, we have reviewed from the ground up the way we make cars and carried out numerous tests.This is also the first year that the GR Supra is competing in this race. After competing in the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring last autumn, the car has been further refined within this limited time in preparation for this year's 24-hour endurance race.We will compete this year with these two cars in this 24-hour endurance race with the goal of running for the full 24 hours and completing the race.

GR Supra Chief MechanicHideyuki Tanaka
Up till now, we have been working on the GR Supra in preparation for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring Endurance Race. We also competed in Races 2 and 3 of the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring as well as the qualifying race for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring 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 Nürburgring 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.

GR Supra / SP8T Class (Car Number90)
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(From left) Masahiro Sasaki, Uwe Kleen, Herwig Daenens, Hisashi Yabuki
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GR Supra with team mechanics (employees of Toyota Motor Corporation.
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Akio is going to be behind the wheel.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/toyota-akio-toyoda-supra-racing-nurburgring-24/

Toyota's president Akio Toyoda is racing a Supra at the Nürburgring 24

Here he comes, here comes Toyoda. He's a demon on wheels. He's a demon and he's gonna be chasin' after Porsches!

So, this shouldn't really come as much of a surprise, but when you're the 63-year-old president of one of the world's largest car companies, you can do pretty much whatever the hell you want. That includes entering one of the world's toughest endurance races under an assumed name.

In fact, that's precisely what Toyota boss Akio Toyoda is doing, according to a report published Friday by The Drive. Mr. Toyoda will be driving the No. 90 Toyota GR Supra race car in the Nurburgring 24 Hours race set to take place this weekend.

Toyoda is entered in the race as "Mr. Morizo," and that's it. No first name or anything. Now, I don't speak Japanese, but I am just going to blindly assume that Morizo is Japanese for some kind of color and that Akio Toyoda chose it because he's a big Reservoir Dogs fan. Don't @ me.

Still, if this seems like an unusual move for a car exec, it is but Toyoda is no stranger to the 'Ring. According to The Drive's report, he spent countless hours lapping the legendarily tricky circuit in his MkIII Supra, and Toyota has been building a mini-Ring at one of its testing facilities in Japan, so this should be just like going home.

Toyota's Gazoo Racing arm will be fielding several other cars during the race which will be driven by the likes of Takeshi Tsuchiya and Naoya Gamou from Japan's Super GT series and VLN Endurance driver Uwe Kleen (who challenges the likes of Scott Speed and Will Power for best racing driver name).
 

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#2 Mercedes hit the Supra and retired from the race.

I saw it live earlier today, I was freaking out worried about the Supra!!!! Also have you noticed they give no love to anyone else outside of Mercedes, BMW and Porsche? Shouldn’t be surprised at all...
 
 




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