Toyota’s Carbon-Neutral Concept Trio Completes Thailand Endurance Race

Toyota has fleeted out its carbon-neutral concept trio for this year’s Idemitsu Super Endurance championship held in Thailand.

The Idemitsu Super Endurance Southeast Asia Trophy is one of the main endurance races in the region, gathering all sorts of participants from the burgeoning ASEAN motorsport scene. Aside from local and regional outfits, Toyota has also competed in the 2023 edition of this 10-hour endurance race in Thailand, with the automaker fleeting out its trio of carbon-neutral concept racecars.

Partnered with Rookie Racing, a sister team to Toyota’s Gazoo Racing (GR) flagship outfit, the automaker has fleeted out the ORC Rookie GR86 CNF concept, the ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept, and a CP Rookie Prius CNF-HEV GR concept based on the new Prius hybrid.

ORC Rookie GR86 CNF concept

Piloted by Kazuya Oshima, Kenta Yamashita, Keizo Kato, and Daisuke Toyoda, the 228-numbered GR86 CNF concept is essentially a race-spec GR86 coupe that runs on carbon-neutral (CN) fuels. Throughout its 10-hour stint around the Buriram International Circuit, the GR86 concept managed to lap 289 times while crossing the finish line to take the fourth position in both its class and overall.

The CP Rookie Prius CNF-HEV concept was piloted by a team of drivers led by Akio Toyoda himself

Similarly, the Prius CNF-HEV concept also runs on the CN fuels used on said GR86 racecar, plus the series-parallel hybrid (HEV) setup used on the new Prius model. In charge of driving this hybrid to its sixth class position were Kachorn Chiaravanont, Tatsuya Kataoka, Naoya Gamo, and Hibiki Taira, as well as Master Driver Morizo – a racing nickname used by Toyota’s chairman and renowned racing driver, Mr. Akio Toyoda.

Akio Toyoda, current Chairman and former CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation

“The message of participating in this race was to show hydrogen and hybrids as carbon-neutral options. Despite some trouble, we were able to complete the race. In addition to the hydrogen engine, which raced for the second year, I had the impression that the Prius and hybrid cars were well received by the Thai people this year,” Toyoda commented.

The ORC Rookie GR Corolla H2 concept was powered by hydrogen made from biogas

As for the GR Corolla H2 concept, this hydrogen-powered racecar previously raced in last year’s edition of the Idemitsu Super Endurance race but only managed to participate in the first few hours of the 25-hour-long stint. This time around, the GR Corolla H2 managed to complete the full 10-hour race, finishing eighth in its class, piloted by a team of drivers led by Mr. Morizo himself alongside Yasuhiro Ogura, Masahiro Sasaki, and Hiroaki Ishiura.

Interestingly, the GR Corolla H2 concept was powered by hydrogen produced from biogas generated by chicken manures from the poultry farms of Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) – one of Toyota’s main partners working to achieve a carbon-neutral society in Thailand.

“We are working together with CP to reduce CO2 emissions in Thailand by leveraging our respective areas of expertise. Mr. Kachorn, who participated as a Prius driver this time, loves driving, and the chairman, Mr. Soopakij, is also an avid driver. It was very meaningful that CP and Toyota were able to participate in the 10-hour Prius race together, and I think it allowed more people to learn about our activities,” said Toyoda.