Toyota Gazoo Racing Archives

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.

(more…)

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)

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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).

(more…)

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.

(more…)

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team Wins Third World Rally Championship In Spain

With the completion of the Rally de Espana recently, and a win by Sebastien Ogier, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team won its third World Rally Championship (WRC) Manufacturers title. The Manufacturers title follows the Drivers and Co-drivers titles that were won by Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen on the previous rally in New Zealand.

This is the second year in a row that the team has managed a clean sweep of the three top titles. In total, this is the sixth occasion that Toyota has topped the WRC’s Manufacturers’ classification, the third time since it returned to the series in 2017.

(more…)

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Rovanpera Wins Rally New Zealand To Become Youngest WRC Champ

Kalle Rovanpera, 22 years old, has become the youngest ever winner of a World Rally Championship (WRC) title after winning Rally New Zealand. Driving for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team with co-driver Jonne Halttunen, Rovanpera is only in his third season of rallying at the top tier of the sport.

The Finnish driver, who father also took part in the WRC before, is more than 5 years younger than the previous record-holder, Colin McRae, when he won the championship in 1995.

(more…)

Day 2 Of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival/Vios Challenge Season 5

An intensely-contested race for the finale of Season 5 of the Vios Challenge, part of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival (TGR Festival) was expected and that was precisely what took place at the Sepang International Circuit. In the final showdown, the overall championship title in all four classes of racing would be decided in the very final 20-lap race

The fierce competition was understandable as the Vios Challenge, a series now well established in Malaysian motorsport, is the most lucrative motorsports event in the country. More than a half a million ringgit in prize money is offered and the overall champions of the Super Sporting and Sporting Classes this year would take home RM70,000 and RM50,000, respectively.

As in previous seasons, the weekend’s race (as well as activities) were streamed live and according to UMW Toyota Motor, a record-high 3.1 million online viewers and race fans tuned in to watch.

(more…)

Day 1 Of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival/Vios Challenge Season 5

Although night racing has a different atmosphere with artificial lighting providing illumination of the track instead of sunshine, the action is no less intense. And with the Vios Challenge, the highlight of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) Festival, ending its fifth season this weekend, there is even more determined racing as drivers aim to collect valuable points in the last two races of the one-make series at the Sepang International Circuit.

The Vios Challenge, a series now well established in Malaysian motorsport, is the most lucrative motorsports event in the country, with more than a half a million ringgit in prize money offered. The overall champions of the Super Sporting and Sporting Classes will take home RM70,000 and RM50,000, respectively. So there’s a lot of incentive to do well!

(more…)

Piston.my