The all-new Toyota Supra has yet to premiere in street-legal (production) form, but the sports car made its racing debut over the weekend, competing at the Nurburgring in the VLN championship’s SP8T class.
According to our man behind the camera, the Japanese marque took one of its Supra prototypes and rebuilt it into the race car you see pictured. Toyota boss Akio Toyoda even had the opportunity to drive the car at Germany’s most famous racetrack. Toyota was also happy for photographers to take a close look at the vehicle’s interior which shares numerous components with the production vehicle.
As pictures from earlier this month of the same race car revealed, the A90 Supra has been equipped with a fully-digital instrument cluster. Elsewhere, we can see a large infotainment screen protruding out of the dashboard, a selection of carbon fiber trimmings throughout the center console and sleek-looking air vents.
The shifter that looks very similar to what BMW uses on some of its auto-equipped models. Changes made over the road car include a full roll cage and a racing bucket seat.
All in all, the interior looks as premium as you would expect from a sporty Toyota and is certainly much plusher than the cheaper 86.
Beyond the interior, Toyota made modifications to the vehicle’s brakes to prepare it for the rigors of the Nurburgring. Our photographers were also able to take a close look at the BMW-sourced inline-six cylinder engine powering the sports car.
The race car made do without all the plastic covers and shrouds which the road car will adopt but it does look like quite a tight fit for the engine. Fortunately for Toyota enthusiasts, the company has already confirmed the engine bay is large enough to fit its iconic 2JZ engine, should any owners be up for the engine swap.
Toyota’s racing plans for the new Supra remain unclear but sources suggest that if the car does see regular racing duty, it will likely do so in GT4 specification.
As for the road car, it will premiere at January’s Detroit Auto Show.