A full-size clay model of the GEN3 GR Supra Supercar has provided fans with a preview of the four V8-powered cars that will take on the Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustangs.

The model is a derivative but not a copy of the two-seater coupe and has been built by the Melbourne-based Toyota Design Australia team.

Walkinshaw Andretti United, the homologation for the Toyota Supercars project that was announced last month, will race two of the cars in 2026, joined by another two Supras run by a yet-to-be-announced team.

“Taking part in the heat of Supercars, as well as other racing and rallying series around the world, provides technical learnings that can be transferred to the development of our entire range of vehicles – not just our sports cars,” said Toyota Australia’s Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley.

“We are looking forward to building on the passion among enthusiasts for our GR range and to generating interest and excitement among motorsport fans, including those who are new to our brand.

“We are also keen to involve our own people, enabling them to improve their skills and acquire new abilities in the high-pressure teamwork environment that is motorsport.

“The experience gained by our local designers, modellers and engineers with their stunning GR Supra Supercar is a perfect example of what motorsport can help us achieve.”

WAU, which switched allegiance from General Motors to Ford ahead of the 2023 season – having run for much of its life as the Holden Racing Team, will continue to run its Mustang Supercars program with Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood while developing the new Toyota during 2025.

A model of the GEN3 Toyota Supra

Photo by: Supercars

Toyota’s initial commitment to Supercars runs for five years to 2030 and development is already underway on an all-aluminium, quad-cam V8 based on the 2UR-GSE, rather than the in-line six-cylinder motor that comes fitted to the road-going Supra models.

With the Japanese manufacturer joining the grid, Supercars will expand beyond two manufacturers for the first time since 2019, when Nissan left the championship. This followed Volvo’s exit in 2017 and that of the customer Erebus Mercedes entry at the end of 2015.

Hayden Paddon clinched the 2024 European Rally Championship title after finishing third at the Rally Silesia season finale.

One-time World Rally Championship event winners Paddon and co-driver John Kennard led the Polish asphalt rally heading into the final day with a 6.8s margin over Skoda duo Andrea Mabellini and co-driver Virginia Lenzi. 

Armed with a 27-point lead over nearest title rival and fifth-placed Mathieu Franceschi, Paddon could afford to relax to some degree to secure the title. 

Paddon and Kennard’s BRC-run Hyundai i20- led the rally until stage 11 where Mabellini overhauled the New Zealanders to grab the lead. Paddon survived a late scare when he briefly went off the road in the penultimate stage, before coming home to finish the rally in third (+19.9s).

Mabellini claimed an emotional first ERC victory while M-Sport-Ford’s Jon Armstrong also fought back emotions after securing his first ERC podium in second, 18.4s adrift. 

“It feels great. The [last]11 kilometres were the longest of my life. I want to thank everybody as it has been an incredible journey. We started in Rally5 then went to Rally4 and then Rally2 last year, so I’m really happy,” said Mabellini.  

Armstrong added: “It is hard not to get emotional as it has been a hard year and I have been trying really hard and it is good to show now that we can finally do the pace.” 

Andrea Mabellini, Virginia Lenzi, Skoda Fabia RS Rally2

Photo by: atWorld

Advertisement

Paddon’s third pace marked a successful defence of the ERC title he won last year, which seemed unlikely at times after a difficult campaign that yielded only one podium from the first six events. 

However, a dominant victory in Wales at Rali Ceredigion last month put him in the box seat to clinch the championship, although budget constraints meant the Kiwi was unsure if he would compete in the Poland finale, before eventually finding the funds. 

“It is a relief, it has been a season of two halves. We haven’t shown the outright speed we wanted to but through determination and grit the whole team just did it,” said Paddon.

“The biggest thing this year was to not give up you know halfway through we were all  bit disheartened as to where we were at so it is massive credit to the team and everyone involved.”

As for the future, Paddon, who has previously stated that this year may be his last in the European Rally Championship, added: “I will take it each day at a time and if this is our last European Championship rally I would like to say a big thanks to all the fans over here that have been supporting us and making us feel at home. 

“It feels like a big family and who knows what the next step is, but we have ticked this one off, so we will enjoy it.” 

Elsewhere, M-Sport-Ford WRC driver Adrien Fourmaux claimed victory at Rallylegend.

Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria piloted an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 through the San Marino rally festival’s 12 stages to claim a victory by 1m56.1s from Luca Pedersoli, driving a Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC. 

The podium was completed by 2008 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix winner Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn shared a Citroen C3 WRC with Esapekka Lappi’s recently retired WRC co-driver Janne Ferm.

Meanwhile, Reigning world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera signed off his first circuit racing campaign in the Porsche Carrera Cup Benelux by taking his third race win at the season finale at Zolder. The factory Toyota WRC driver had scored victories at Imola and the Red Bull Ring. 

2017 Bathurst winner, David Reynolds, was fifth during the opening laps of the 40-minute qualifying session at Mount Panorama when he lost control of the Team18 Chevrolet Camaro, crunching into the concrete wall at The Esses with 23 minutes remaining.

As a result, he lost his best qualifying lap and dropped out of contention for Saturday’s Top 10 Shootout. By the end of the session, he had dropped to 21st.

Reynolds immediately let his team know he was unhurt and later explained the cause of the crash to the Supercars broadcaster.

“I was pushing really hard, the car was getting better,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t have stayed up for that second lap because the car was starting to go away and everything gets a bit more skatey.

“I should have put the next set on and gone but I was probably pushing too hard for the conditions and got bitten bad.”

Confirming his condition, Reynolds added: “I’m fine, more than fine. I’m actually just really angry that it happened. But we’re pushing the limits and every now and again that happens.

Reynolds’s crash comes 24 hours after his co-driver Warren Luff – who works as a stunt driver – pirouetted the car at the same section of track while only scratching the car.

David Reynolds, Team 18 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Photo by: Edge Photographics

Advertisement

“Obviously, I’m not as skilled as Luffy – he saved it yesterday and I crashed,” Reynolds joked.

Watching from the garage while his team-mate completed the qualifying session, Luff aid of the incident: “He got a little bit offline and when he took the kerb up the top, it just got a bit of an awkward bounce and, unfortunately, he was just a bit of a passenger.

“Not ideal, but that’s Bathurst. The boys will get stuck in tonight and I’m sure we’ll turn the car around and will have a quick car on Sunday.”

Qualifying came to an end when Shell V-Power Racing driver Will Davison became the latest driver to be bitten by The Dipper – damaging all four corners of his Ford Mustang. 

Matt Payne took provisional pole position for the Bathurst 1000 after a qualifying session of fine margins at Mount Panorama.

Payne and his Grove Racing Ford streaked around the 6.213km circuit in a time of 2m05.6452s to edge out fellow Mustang pilot Cameron Waters by a scant 0.0060s.

“It just seemed to hook up really nicely and it just seemed to turn really well at ‘The Grate’,” he explained after the lap.

“The previous practice we did not have such a good run on green tyres. I knew the car was better than that. I knew we were going to be in the top five, but P1 is pretty cool.”

Waters, who nearly had a crash at Forrest’s Elbow during the session, revealed he had also suffered a reliability scare in the early stages.

“It was a pretty intense session, I had an engine problem to start with and that cleared,” he said.

“Everyone is trying so hard, even in practice one, it was crazy how fast everyone was going. I am just lucky I am not one of the ones crashing.”

The session featured a pair of red flags, with the first coming with 23 minutes remaining on the clock as David Reynolds lost control of the rear of his Team18 Chevrolet Camaro at The Dipper, collecting the wall where team-mate Warren Luff had performed a miraculous escape earlier in the weekend.

Will Davison, Dick Johnson Racing Ford Mustang GT

Photo by: Edge Photographics

The second came due to a crash at the same corner after Shell V-Power Racing driver Will Davison destroyed all four corners of his Ford Mustang on his final push. 

This crash ruined Broc Feeney’s attempt to top the session, although he remained the highest-placed Chevrolet driver in third. Prior to the red flags being displayed, he had been 0.25s up on Payne’s benchmark.

The Triple Eight man was 0.0081s faster than 2023 polesitter Brodie Kostecki, who set the fourth fastest time and clattered the wall at Sulman Park, requiring a mid-session suspension change which cost eight minutes of track time.

Highlighting how close the session was, Kostecki’s time was 0.0194s away from Payne.

Championship leader Will Brown secured his shootout position in fifth, having spent the majority of the session out of the window, while Chaz Mostert was sixth. 

Andre Heimgartner, Jack Le Broc, Anton de Pasquale and Richie Stanaway rounded out those who will contest Saturday’s shootout.

As a result of causing the red flags, both Reynolds and Davison saw their best times struck from the record, leaving them 21st and 16th respectively.

The Supercars will be back on track at 10:05am Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time [12:05am BST], with a one-hour practice session for co-drivers only. There will be another hour’s practice at 1:10pm [3:10am BST] and the top 10 shootout is due to begin at 5:05pm [7:05am BST].

Bathurst 1000 Qualifying Result

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has insisted the federation is currently unable to support a 25-race Formula 1 calendar.

The current Concorde Agreement allows for 25 races per season. But although there is a massive demand for a slot on the F1 calendar – with Argentina being the latest to express interest in hosting a Grand Prix – F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali last year stated that he would like to stick to 24 races for the time being.

“I think 24 is the right number”, he said on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast. “I would say this is the number which we should target to be stable for a long time.”

According to Ben Sulayem ‘everything’ is on the limit at the moment for the FIA, with 24 events on this year’s schedule.

“You cross a barrier where you need two teams, we can’t have [more]”, Ben Sulayem told Motorsport.com when asked if adding one extra race would already pose a problem. Logistically, then I have to have two teams.

“Can the drivers take it? I just want to know. Let’s just be sensible and logical about it. Can the drivers take it physically and mentally? This is a question I will ask the drivers. And what about the teams?”

“As for the FIA, we cannot do it with this one team. We have to have a rotation of two teams, when it comes to the staff on the ground.”

Stefano Domenicali, CEO, Formula One Group, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President, FIA

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Advertisement

But stating that Formula One Management is “sensible”, Ben Sulayem acknowledged: “They never came back and said: ‘Oh, we need more.’ No way they did. What they are after is quality and that’s why we have this good relationship with them.”

“I mean, I will not stop [them] to go to 25, because it is their right, OK? [In the end] it’s up to them.

“But they are the ones who don’t want to add [more races at the moment]. Because they know that it becomes [a matter] of fatigue then. So they have their own reasons [for keeping the amount of races on 24].”

Ferrari chief Fred Vasseur reckons the fact Lewis Hamilton is joining from Mercedes confirms that his team is heading in the right direction.

Despite having a deal in place for next season, Hamilton broke his contract with the Silver Arrows to force through a move to Ferrari for 2025.

The switch rocked F1 as well as Mercedes, but Vasseur, who worked with Hamilton previously in GP2 and the F3 Euro Series, says he knew the seven-times world champion always had ambitions to join F1’s most-famous team.

He said: “Yes, it was not that difficult to convince Lewis. I remember that in 2004 we were together (in the European F3 championship) he at the time was tied to McLaren-Mercedes, but he already had in mind that sooner or later he would go to Ferrari.”

Speaking at the Festival dello Sport organised in Trento by the Gazzetta dello Sport, the Scuderia team principal added: “We talked about it some time ago, he always had this desire in mind, but of course, he is a driver who wants to have guarantees in terms of performance, for him this aspect is always in the first place.

“If he chose to join Ferrari, it confirms to me that we can have the right car. This is the ultimate goal, a driver like Lewis does not come to us on vacation and from my side, I think we are in the right place in terms of performance.

“We need a step forward and I can say that we are devoting a lot of resources to our next project.”

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari, with Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Advertisement

Hamilton will join up with Charles Leclerc, who himself raced for Vasseur in the junior categories before making the step up to F1.

And Leclerc says that he is unfazed by Hamilton’s arrival and will welcome the challenge of him being on the other side of the garage.

Leclerc said: “I don’t think there is jealousy. Fred is not my girlfriend! We love each other, we value each other but there is no jealousy.

“I was always aware of the negotiations between Lewis and Ferrari, I knew there was this possibility, everything was very transparent and I was the first to say that for me to have a team-mate of this depth would be motivating.

“When you have a seven-time world champion driving your own car it’s a super interesting challenge, then I have a very good relationship with Lewis and I’m sure that will be the case in the future.

“Having said that I really want to say that we also had a great partnership with Carlos [Sainz], we worked very well and our relationship has always been great.

“In a few months, we will turn the page, and I admit I am looking forward to the new challenge with Lewis, every team-mate always has very strong points and weaker ones, so you can always learn. I see this as a great opportunity.”