KUALA LUMPUR: The Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race (S1K) recently concluded with three Toyotas finishing in the top 5 overall positions. Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia successfully grabbed the third spot after navigating through a challenging and nerve-racking nine hours at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit.

The former GAZOO Racing rookies Amer Harris and Nabil Azlan led the triumph for the Japanese marque. While representing UMW Toyota Motor dealer Wing Hin Motorsports, they steered the Yaris across the finish line. The team completed a total of 169 laps, a remarkable 5 laps ahead of its closest competitor.

On the other hand, the defending S1K champions, the Toyota GAZOO Racing Malaysia team of Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel and Naquib Azlan in the Vios, managed to get third place.

Toyota earned a spot on the podium at the S1K race for the third year in a row. The presence of three Toyota cars among the top 5 winners mirrors the brand's achievement in the 2022 edition of the S1K. Notably, a total of 13 Toyota cars (11 Vios and 2 Yaris) participated in the race and completed it without a single retirement. The total grid comprised 77 cars, with only 58 finishing the race.

“To have Toyota cars on the podium for three consecutive years of the S1K, including winning two overall victories, certainly makes it the icing on the cake. Reliability has been the hallmark of Toyota with the brand progressively transitioning into performance driven by its achievements in motorsports globally and on the local front,” said UMW Toyota Motor President Datuk Ravindran K.

“Both the Yaris and Vios have endured three years of trials and tribulations on the track and  emerged triumphant, and this is a testament of the models’ true capability and Toyota’s commitment  to build ever-better cars for our customers.”

After six years in the GR Vios Challenge, three in the GR Vios Sprint Cup, and achieving an overall victory in 2022, the previous-gen Toyota Vios concludes its racing legacy with the third position in this year's Sepang 1000KM Endurance Race. The baton is now passed to the fourth-gen Vios, debuting in Season 7 of the GR Vios Challenge in 2024. Launched in March this year, the next-gen sedan underpins a new platform, which is 100 kg lighter and boasts increased rigidity, offering competitive lap times in preliminary testing.

“The Vios is engineered to optimize power, reliability and durability to not only communicate driving enjoyment but above all, to deliver this performance safely whether on the road or even under the most challenging conditions in competition,” said Datuk Ravindran K. “The Vios remains one of the most popular B-Segment cars in the market and it has also been instrumental in propelling Toyota to the leading non-national brand in Malaysia,” he added. 

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