MOTORSPORT: Toyota 86 series extended to 2022

Toyota has announced it will continue to support grassroots motor racing in Australia for at least another two years, until the end of 2022 – the same year the second-generation Toyota 86 is due on sale.

It has also renamed the one-make Toyota 86 Series, which will now be known as the Toyota GAZOO Racing Australia 86 Series thanks to support from global motorsport brand TGR (Toyota GAZOO Racing).

Toyota Australia chief marketing officer Wayne Gabriel said in a press release today that it was important to offer hope for the future amid the current COVID-19 crisis.

“For the past four years, the 86 racing series has given talented youngsters, passionate enthusiasts and the tight-knit community that supports them the opportunity to regularly come together to do something they love while also providing motorsport fans with plenty of thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing action,” said Gabriel.

“Toyota is committed to continuing to deliver on that for another two years beyond the 2020 season, giving drivers and teams the security of knowing that their investment in pursuing their passion won’t be short-lived.”

First run in 2016 and previously confirmed only to the end of 2020, the Toyota 86 Series is run over a five-round season as a support category at selected Supercars championship events.

Often fronting with grids of more than 30 cars, each round comprises two invited professional drivers as well as a series mentor, to help aspiring drivers develop their race craft.

Getting into the category costs around $75,000, including the cost of the car and its compulsory race package developed by Neal Bates Motorsport – including stuff like AP Racing brakes, MCA coil-overs and a MoTec ECU.

The $150,000 prize pool available at the end of the season also remains, with cash prizes of $50,000, $30,000 and $15,000 for the top three podium positions in the championship, as well as a $35K Kaizen Award for ‘continuous improvement’.

Toyota says category sponsors Hino Motor Sales Australia and Dunlop Tyres, which have supported 86 racing since 2016, have also committed to supporting the TGRA series until the end of the 2022 season.