TOKYO, June 28, 2019 - (JCN Newswire) - Toyota's finest race, rally and road-going cars will add to the sound and spectacle of the Goodwood Festival of Speed next week (July 4 to 7).
The annual celebration of motoring and motorsport, which attracts thousands of international fans to the historic Goodwood Estate in the south of England, will feature the all-new GR Supra(1) in race, road-going and even customized drifting specification.
The new GR Supra GT4(2) Concept will be in action on the famous hillclimb for the first time, driven by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing driver Mike Conway. Its Goodwood appearance follows on from its world debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show(3), where it was presented as a study for how the new GR Supra might be developed as an affordable proposition for grassroots motorsport and GT4 competition.
The standard GR Supra will also be taking part in the festival, returning to the scene of its world premiere public driving appearance last year when it ran with its bodywork clothed in distinctive "A90" camouflage. This time there will be no disguise as it heralds its much-anticipated arrival on European roads later this year. Taking the wheel once again will be Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada, the sportscar genius who has led the legendary Supra's renaissance and who also created the Toyota GT86 coupe.
Adding another dimension to the GR Supra experience at Goodwood, the GR Supra Drift by HKS will be debuting in the Live Action Arena. Created by custom specialists HKS, it will be piloted by Nobuteru Taniguchi, one of Japan's top drifting stars. Special features of this 700hp car include an HKS GTIII-4R turbo system, HKS HIPERMAX suspension Endless Racing brakes and YOKOHAMA ADVAN and wheels.
The leading motorsport attraction on the Toyota stand will be the No.8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid that was driven to victory at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso. The second successive win at the world-famous race formed part of an FIA World Endurance Championship season in which TOYOTA GAZOO Racing claimed both the driver and manufacturer world titles.
It will be featured alongside the specially engineered Hilux that won the 2019 Dakar rally for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa and a replica of the Yaris WRC that already has three victories to its credit in this year's FIA World Rally Championship.
Also on view will be the GR Supra that successfully completed its motorsport debut at this year's Nurburgring 24-hour race, driven by a crew that included MORIZO, president of Toyota Motor Corporation Akio Toyoda. The car used in the race will be shown complete with bodywork damage that's a testament to the gruelling demands of the race at the legendary circuit in Germany.
The direct contribution made by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing to the development of Toyota's road-going cars will also be celebrated with the GR Supra, Yaris GRMN and the GR Corolla Sport that was unveiled at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show.
In addition to Toyota's official participation in the festival, there will be a number of other historic, privately entered cars. These will include some of the greatest Celica world rally cars from the 1980s and 90s, the AE86 Corolla rallying coupe and the Toyota TF108 Formula One car from 2008.
(1) Name used for marketing and other promotional communications.
(2) A category for commercially available cars specially tuned for racing, based on GT vehicles (grand touring) regulated by FIA. It is considered a stepping-stone for GT3.
(3) Le 89e Salon international de l'automobile Geneve
About Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today, Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in 29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170 countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Source: Toyota Motor Corporation
Contact:
Public Affairs Division
Global Communications Department
Toyota Motor Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
Copyright 2019 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.