Toyota has been on a bit of a roll these past few years, emerging from several avenues of motorsport bruised but victorious. Most recently, they clinched the win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in their LMP1-class TS050 Hybrid.
But now, with the return of their much anticipated Supra sports car just on the horizon, the Japanese automaker sees fit have the coupe name enter NASCAR Xfinity (NXS), the second-rung in the American sport, sitting below the top tier Monster Energy Cup series in which Toyota’s TRD team’s Camry is the 2017 reigning champion. It will make its on-track debut at the Daytona Motor Speedway in February 2019.
Of course, as you may know, cars racing in NASCAR are not true representations of the production model they take their name from as the series requires all teams to field their own ‘stock car’ from standardised specifications. Thusly, this ‘silhouette car’ is built around a space frame chassis and uses a 5.8-litre naturally aspirated pushrod V8 that produces 522kW.
“When you talk Toyota and cool cars, Supra is the first thing that comes to mind for many auto enthusiasts,” said Ed Laukes, group vice president of Toyota Division Marketing. “Supra’s return in production form is huge news, but now we’re also going to see this iconic sports car return to American motorsport.”
“From a marketing perspective, it’s important to have a race car that evokes the dynamism and character of its showroom counterpart. We’re confident we’ve accomplished that with Supra, and we hope racing fans the world over will proudly cheer its success on track.”
Toyota, specifically TRD (Toyota Racing Development) USA, came together with previous collaborators Calty Design Research to develop a Supra for NASCAR competition. “We’ve had tremendous success working with Calty to develop race cars that match the look, feel and excitement of their showroom counterparts,” said David Wilson, president of TRD.
“We’re confident Calty and TRD have developed another race car, Supra, that is capable of winning races and championships. For Supra to be racing in NASCAR just speaks to how important this vehicle is to us, and that we believe Supra can be a bona fide championship winner.”
For more on Toyota cars, check out our Showroom.
