TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) World Rally Team (WRT) has started the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) with a double podium finish with its GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric vehicles at Rallye Monte-Carlo. With the second and third place finishes, Toyota currently leads the manufacturers’ championship by one point.
Sébastien Ogier placed second in the No. 17 Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle with Elfyn Evans finishing the competition third in the No. 33 Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle. Both drivers were involved in an exciting fight for victory throughout the event into the rally-ending Power Stage which saw Ogier return to his hometown to compete following first-place victory at the Rallye Monte-Carlo in 2023.
Akio Toyoda, TGR-WRT Chairman, commented: “The start of our eighth WRC season was a new step for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT. Nine years ago, on 15 January 2015, I announced Toyota’s return to the WRC and explained the following: ‘Rally is the best place to strengthen people and cars because it is a sport in which you compete using cars based on production vehicles on the roads that our customers use in their daily life.”
Toyoda added, “For TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, WRC is not just a competition to win. We compete in WRC to make ever-better cars and make more people smile. The joys and disappointments we have experienced over the 85 events so far have led even closer to the cars for our customers. This is a very big step. We were not able to clinch first-place this time, but the continuous efforts of the team will certainly lead to achieving that success in future events. I trust Jari-Matti will lead the team like past years to continue to work hard and to make the 2024 season a great year.”
Evans and co-driver Scott Martin made an excellent start to their 2024 season at the beginning of the rally during the night of Day One, securing an early lead that they held until Day Three. Ogier triumphantly claimed the lead during Day Four when he recorded the 700th stage win of his WRC career and ultimately went into the final day just 3.3 seconds away from the first-place finisher.
The oldest and most recognizable event on the WRC calendar, Rallye Monte-Carlo is also considered one of the most demanding thanks to unpredictable weather conditions, which can bring ice and snow to the asphalt roads. The new and improved GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle trumped the challenges of the championship equipped with strengthened functionality including new updates to further improve low-speed responses and torque curves.
Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established TGR, to consolidate all of its motorsport activities under one in-house brand. Representing Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people, and the people build the cars,’ TGR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience gained under the extreme conditions of various motorsports events, TGR aims to forge new technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure, and joy of driving to everyone.
The upcoming Rally Sweden on 15-18 February is the next competition of the season and the only full winter event taking place on snow and ice. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has had new studs inserted into team members’ tires to grip into the track allowing drivers and vehicles to deliver some of the highest speeds of the year.
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Formula E and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) have today revealed the next generation of race car, the new all-electric GEN3 Evo, capable of 0-60mph in 1.82s.
Leveraging a roster of innovative technical upgrades, the GEN3 Evo unveiled at H.S.H Prince Albert II’s Private Car Collection will debut in Season 11 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship where some of the world’s greatest manufacturers and drivers race wheel-to-wheel in iconic locations around the globe.
Developed by specialists from Formula E and the FIA, the latest GEN3 Evo edition marks a significant leap in electric racing technology, with acceleration 0-60mph 30% faster than a current F1 car, and 36% faster than the GEN3 car.
Capable of accelerating nearly a full second faster than its predecessor – the GEN3 – that was the world’s first race car designed for street racing, it sets an even higher standard in performance, sustainability, and efficiency. The GEN3 Evo serves as a formidable ambassador for the future of motorsport, embodying cutting-edge advancements and a commitment to environmental responsibility.
On Saturday, April 27th, Abu Dhabi will host a groundbreaking event, welcoming 10,000 spectators to witness the inaugural ASPIRE Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) at the iconic Yas Marina Circuit. This brand-new autonomous racing competition marks a significant milestone in motorsport history, billed as the largest league of its kind globally.
Eight teams will compete: Code19 Racing (one of the first independent autonomous racing entity from the USA), Constructor University (based in Germany and Switzerland), Fly Eagle (representing Beijing Institute of Technology from China and Khalifa University from the UAE), HUMDA Lab (a member of the Széchenyi István University Group from Hungary), KINETIZ (a collaboration between Singapore Nanyang Technological University and Kintsugi based in the UAE), PoliMOVE (representing Politecnico di Milano from Italy), UNIMORE (also from Italy - University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), and Technical University of Munich - TUM (from Germany), vying for a substantial prize purse of US$ 2.25 million.
Aston Martin’s new Vantage GT3 continues its hunt for glory in the world’s two most prestigious endurance racing series, as the FIA World Endurance Championship [WEC] and the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship [IMSA] resume this weekend.
The WEC begins its European leg on Sunday with the 6 Hours of Imola (ITA), and an inaugural visit to one of the continent’s best-known circuits, before heading to Spa-Francorchamps (BEL) on 11 May, and then the 24 Hours of Le Mans on 15-16 June. Meanwhile IMSA heads to the world famous Long Beach street track for its first sprint race (100 minutes) of the season. A second-place finish in the brand-new LMGT3 class for the Heart of Racing (HoR), and third for D’station Racing, made Aston Martin the only one of the nine GT manufacturers present to score a WEC double podium finish at the season-opening 1812km of Qatar in March. It means both teams arrive in Italy in strong form.
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