Described by the brand as "an affordable, grassroots motorsport series based on the country's best-selling sports car", the new championship will be raced exclusively at V8 Supercars events from 2016.
According to Toyota, the racing series will be run in professional-amateur (pro-am) manner with "five professional drivers who will mentor and compete against a larger field of amateur drivers who will qualify to get onto the starting grid".
The cars themselves will be the base model 86 GT manual, with a racing package fitted that has been developed by Neal Bates Motorsport comprising revised suspension, brakes, extractors and exhaust system, updated ECU, revised oil cooler, and new rims and tyres along with mandatory safety equipment including racing seats and harnesses.
“The Toyota 86 Pro-Am series will present genuine, dynamic and entertaining racing to a broad audience, including big crowds at each round and a large audience on free-to-air and pay TV," Cramb said.“Fundamental to the concept is that it is a grassroots motorsport series that is affordable for anyone who has both the passion and the talent to compete in a national series.”
Toyota's 86 sports car has managed more than 13,000 sales in Australia since being launched mid-2012, with that number representing the third-highest uptake of the car worldwide.Toyota has also announced a return to rallying, with the brand confirming recently that it would rejoin the World Rally Championship from 2017.
“It is indeed an honour that Toyota, the long-term market leader in Australia, sees the power in the V8 Supercars Series and for us to join the ranks of motorsport superpowers globally with whom Toyota has an association," Warburton said.The chief engineer of the Toyota 86, Tetsuya Tada, said he hopes the new Australian racing series will spawn a wide-reaching world championship.“My dream is that one day we can have a World 86 Challenge with the best drivers from Japan, Europe and other markets – and the champion Toyota 86 driver from Australia,” Tada said.
