The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing FESTIVAL 2018 (TGRF)

[Mits Yoshi]

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing FESTIVAL 2018 (TGRF) was held on November 25 at Fuji Speedway with 43,000 fans to enjoy this exciting events.

As its name implies, TGRF is and event for Lexus and Toyota to report on the year’s racing activities and express their appreciation to the fans.

The six Lexus partner teams competing in SUPER GT’s GT500 class and eleven of their drivers were on hand, including the No. 1 KeePer TOM’S LC500 (Ryo Hirakawa/Nick Cassidy), the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500 (Kazuya Oshima, while teammate Felix Rosenqvist could not attend), the No. 19 WedsSport ADVAN LC500 (Yuji Kunimoto/Kenta Yamasta), the No. 36 au TOM’S LC500 (ex-Formula one driver and 2018 Le Man winner Kazuki Nakajima/Yuhi Sekiguchi), the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500 (Yuji Tachikawa/Hiroaki Ishiura) and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500 (ex-Formula One driver Heikki Kovalainen and also ex-Formula one driver Kamui Kobayashi) were present.

From the GT300 class, the No. 30 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Hiroaki Nagai/Manabu Orido), the No. 31 TOYOTA PRIUS apr GT (Koki Saga/Kohei Hirate), the No. 35 arto RC F GT3 (N.Charoensukhawatana/N.Hortongkum), the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3 (Daiki Yoshimoto/Ritomo Miyata), the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 (Morio Nitta/Yuichi Yamanaka) and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT (Takuto Iguchi/Hideteru Yamauchi) were represented.

Welcoming Ceremony was held at the main grandstand, beginning with appears by the No. 1 KeePer TOM'S LC500 and the other machines competing in each category. Then Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda made a surprise appearance in a Toyota Century GRMN driven by Kamui Kobayashi. This drew great applause from the gallery.

At noon, Pit Walk event where the drivers took time from their busy schedules to sign autographs and interact with the fans like they do during the race season. There were also appearances by each team’s Race Queens to add to the gaiety of the event.

In the afternoon, the SUPER GT cars appear out on the track on numerous occasions. As a regular event of TGRF, the Circuit Safari saw the GT cars joined by the Super Formula machines and cars that participated in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, and as a special appearance this time, the new Supra machine was also seen out on the track. At this year’s TGRF, once again there were plenty of scenes like drivers going out of their way to delight the fans with stunts like slowing down beside the fan buses to wave.

The final TGRF event was the SUPER GT Demonstration Race. Participating in the GT500 class demo race were the No. 1 KeePer TOM'S LC500, the No. 6 WAKO'S 4CR LC500, the No. 38 ZENT CERUMO LC500, and the No. 39 DENSO KOBELCO SARD LC500. among them, Sho Tsuboi joined Oshima in car No. 6 to participate as a pair. Participating as race announcers, managers Ito and Bandoh said their cars No. 19 and No. 36 have already been shipped off to Sepang to participate in the official tests being held there.

In the GT300 class event, six machines took part, the No. 30 TOYOTA apr PRIUS GT, the No. 31 TOYOTA apr PRIUS GT, the No. 35 arto RC F GT3, the No. 60 SYNTIUM LMcorsa RC F GT3, the No. 96 K-tunes RC F GT3 and the No. 61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT.

There was a driver change during the 6-lap demonstration race and the fans could watch close battles unfold just like during the regular GT season rounds. By this time it was nearing evening but many fans remained to enjoy seeing their beloved SUPER GT machines.