New Toyota Vios Racecar Set for Vios Challenge Season 7 Debut

The next-gen Toyota Vios racecar will make its racing debut at Season 7 of the Toyota Vios Challenge series.

Fans of the local motorsport scene and the new Toyota Vios (AC100), rejoice! UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has announced the 7th successive season of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival and the Toyota Vios Challenge.

For this new season, the one-make racing series will consist of three rounds and a total of six individual races, all set to take place at the Petronas Sepang International Circuit starting in August this year. The opening round is slated to take place from Aug 9 to 11, which will be run concurrently with the ongoing Malaysia Championship Series (MCS).

Round 2 is scheduled to commence later, from Sept 27 to 29, 2024, where it will be held together with the independently-organised Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival. Meanwhile, the penultimate Round 3 of the Vios Challenge will take place later, from Jan 3 to 5, 2025, with the grand finale race set to be opened to the public.

More importantly, Season 7 also sees UMWT raising the bar higher, as racers are poised to take home a lucrative prize pool worth up to RM630,000. As per prior Vios Challenge series, the seventh edition will be divided into three main classes, namely the Sporting Class for amateurs and gentlemen racers, the Super Sporting Class for professionals, and the TGR Rookie Class.

Three-time series champion Tengku Djan Ley is back for the Season 7 of the Toyota Vios Challenge.

Returning to the Super Sporting Class in Season 7 includes former three-time overall champion Tengku Djan Ley Tengku Mahaleel, defending class champion Mitchell Cheah, as well as big guns in Malaysian racing alongside young drivers such as Eddie Lew, William Ho, Tom Goh Putera Adam, brothers Naquib and Nabil Azlan, and many more.

The Sporting Class, meanwhile, will see familiar names like Dato’ Dr. Ken Foo, Kenneth Koh, Dannies Ng, Shafiq Samsudin, Ricky Tan, and Lim Chun Beng returning to the grid.

A total of 24 young drivers from the Gazoo Racing Young Talent Development Program will be competing in the TGR Rookie Class of the Vios Challenge.

As for the TGR Rookie Class, the newest batch of TGR Rookies that compete in this category will be coming from the 4th intake of young drivers who have graduated from the Gazoo Racing Young Talent Development Program. A total of 24 young drivers have been selected this season, all coming from various backgrounds ranging from karting to sim racing.

The new Toyota Vios (AC100) racecar will make its racing debut at the Season 7 of the Toyota Vios Challenge series.

By far the biggest highlight of the Toyota Vios Challenge Season 7 is the debut of the latest generation Toyota Vios racecar. Based on the current DNGA-based Vios (AC100) sedan, this track-ready car uses the same 1.5-litre 4-cyl nat-asp 2NR-VE engine rated at 105 HP and 138 NM, which is now mated to a five-speed manual gearbox.

Unlike its road-legal twin, the new Vios racecar benefits from three chassis enhancements as well as some other racing makeovers to make the new car feel more planted in corners and more responsive to the drivers, thus promising faster lap times than the previous-gen car.

With the new-gen Toyota Vios racecar set to make its debut in Season 7, UMWT has pledged to use this new car at least for the next four seasons of the Toyota Vios Challenge.