Toyota has been big on pushing its “Beyond Zero” initiative on many fronts—from its vehicles, manufacturing, and various projects such as a hydrogen-powered city. But, of course, who could forget the exciting side of its vehicles, which includes motorsports?
It’s not new to racing carbon-neutral vehicles in various disciplines. Heck, it’s building a new hydrogen-powered Le Mans race car and fielding a couple of hydrogen-powered race cars in the Super Taikyu series.
Now, it plans to enter the Thailand 10-hour Endurance Race (or the Idemitsu Super Endurance Southeast Asia Trophy) at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, this coming December 22 to 23.
Three vehicles will be entered under the Rookie Racing team, with a list of notable drivers including Morizo (Akio Toyoda), Masahiro Sasaki, and Daisuke Toyoda (Akio’s son).
The first two are the ORC Rookie GR86 CNF concept and the ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept. As their names imply, the former runs on carbon-neutral fuels, while the latter runs on hydrogen fuel.
The third vehicle is the most interesting (but has no photos at the moment), which is the CP Rookie Prius CNF-HEV GR concept, which marks the first time Toyota will compete with a production Prius hybrid, as other Prii entered in other disciplines were highly modified or just shells made to resemble one.
Additionally, Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Thailand will run a Corolla, a GR86, and a Yaris on carbon-neutral fuel to show just how serious the company’s multi-pathway approach to carbon neutrality is.
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