EDITOR’S LETTER
Riaan Esterhuysen Manager: Product Communication, TSAM
I
t’s only been four years since Toyota racing teams across the world were amalgamated under one banner: Toyota “Gazoo Racing”. Yet the entity has already won some of the world’s most prestigious motorsport championships. The latest illustrious trophy to grace the Toyota Gazoo Racing stable is the Dakar Rally 2019, after Nasser Al Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel brought home their South African-built Toyota Hilux for a historic victory.
Toyota also won the manufacturers’ title in the 2018 World Rally Championship after Toyota Gazoo Racing’s
Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Miikka Anttila stormed to victory at Rally Australia in November. And, earlier last year, the world witnessed a historical win when Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso took the chequered fl ag after 388 tense – and often dramatic – laps at the Le Mans 2018 to extend their lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). However, the Dakar Rally championship particularly resonates with South African motorsport fans for
two main reasons. One: it’s the fi rst time that a South African-built car has won the event. Two: the Hilux is celebrating 50 years in the South African market this year. Local motorsport fans will also remember that South African-born Giniel de Villiers had, on a couple of occasions, come very close to winning the Dakar in a Hilux, achieving fi ve podium fi nishes in eight years. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s exploits on the global motorsport stage have also led to a refocus on performance and enthusiast-type vehicles, with racing-inspired technologies being transferred to production cars – such as the bespoke Yaris GRMN. Toyota has also announced a plan to expand the Gazoo Racing (GR) nomenclature to future production
vehicles, establishing “GR” as the offi cial performance division of Toyota. A four-tier GR strategy will be rolled out in the coming months, ranging from cosmetic upgrades to fully-fl edged GRMN models (such as the aforementioned and previously featured Yaris). Perhaps the biggest motoring news so far this year (other than the Dakar victory) has been the unveiling of the much-anticipated Toyota GR Supra. Press, social media and tube-sites have been awash with GR Supra content following the sportscar’s debut at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show. Motivated by the words “Ban Boring” (uttered by Toyota Motor Corporation President and CEO, Akio
Toyoda), Toyota is indeed on a crusade to inject excitement into all of its cars, while showcasing the brand’s prowess in the world’s toughest and most prestigious motorsport events.
TOYOTA SOUTH AFRICA Editor Mzolisi Witbooi Editorial Director Clynton Yon Tel: +27 11 809 2810
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