GR Cup “Exactly” Where Toyota Wants to be in Third Season

Photo: Fred Hardy/SRO

Toyota GR Cup North America is exactly where the manufacturer wants it to be, according to Toyota Racing Development general manager Jack Irving, as it starts its third season of competition this weekend at Sonoma Raceway.

The single-make series has seen steady growth over the last two campaigns, culminating with a packed 31-car grid for the season-opening rounds in Northern California.

“When we started it, if you said it was 30 cars, we’d be high-fiving and jumping up and down,” Irving told Sportscar365.

“So it’s exactly where you want it to be. Obviously, if we could make it a little bigger, we would. We have 31 cars now, we want to maintain it and stay around 30, 32, or 33.”

“We’ve got a really healthy grid,” added Mike Norem, TRD customer racing manager. “We’re going to be near there for the rest of the season. The one thing we’ve noticed is that the series is really settled.

“The racers know what to expect when getting into GR Cup. It’s a competitive field. I think we found a model that’s working and and I can’t think of any major changes that we would want to do.

The only notable change coming this season is the introduction of the Legends Cup, a six-race calendar in which drivers at least 45 years of age or older can compete in a separate class for their own prize winnings during the rounds at Circuit of The Americas, Road America, and at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Both Irving and Norem touted the reliability of Toyota’s GR86 production-based race cars in helping the overall stability GR Cup has enjoyed since its inception, given that the cars themselves have seen no major changes since their introduction according to Norem.

“In our first year, there were some minor lessons learned,” he said. “Minor stuff, like grill screen inserts, just to help with debris, but the cars have been very reliable. We haven’t had any major issues or major concerns.

“When we were developing these cars, we made them so that they were not only simple to work on, but limited in terms of options of what you can do.

“In the GR Cup cars, you’re limited to just a few TC, ABS settings, a couple of spring options. You get limited options of what you can play with, leaving it not so much on what the team can do, but what you can do behind the wheel.”

Irving added:  “The team has made a very good car that’s capable of going through the whole race here with very minimal work.

“So it’s allowed for sustainable racing, and the cars are so close that you got to be good.

“What we have found is that the car is pretty is very robust and what you deal with is bumper covers and driving, and how aggressive they happen to be is probably more the issue than anything else.

“Nelson Cosgrove was our technical designer on the car, and the intent was to make cars that were so equal that you would have to hit your marks perfectly to have an advantage.

“I think you see that in the kids who have moved on to other series have had very good success in other series and some of those kids may not have finished very high here.

“This series teaches you how to drive, and that’s all over the place.

“Everybody around you is very, very good, and if you’re lucky enough to run for first, second, or third, it’s the same type of thing. So it fits into the toolkit of what we wanted for development race car drivers.”