UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has officially launched the Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia team that will contest the 2026 season of the Thailand Super Series, with a full season entry in the GT4 category with a pair of Toyota GR Supra GT4 Evo2 race cars.
The outfit is led by team principal Jason Ong, with Japan GT GT500 winner, Nürburgring 24 Hours SP8 and SP Pro class winner and Asian Le Mans GTE class winner Akira Iida as team director. Forming the driver line-up is a quartet of drivers with a wealth of experience in international racing, consisting of Shaun Thong and Weiron Tan in the #81 car, alongside Nazim Azman and Putera Adam in the #83 car.
Both will enter the GT4 class contested by the likes of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, Mercedes-AMG GT4, Aston Martin Vantage GT4, along with five other units of the GR Supra GT4 in TSS this year, including one entered by Malaysian team Wing Hin Motorsport.
Shaun Thong, aged 31 this year is the most experienced driver of the quartet, having started in Asian Formula Renault at the age of 16 and has now accrued 45 race wins, seven titles and 250 race starts. Among the series Thong has entered includes British Formula Renault, Formula Ford UK, Euro Formula Open F3 Nurburgring 24H with Audi, GT World Challenge Asia, Asian Lemans LMP3 Series, Super GT300, Super Taikyu Endurance and more.
His partner in the #81 car, Weiron Tan, also aged 31 this year is winner of the 2011 Lotus Supercup GT4 Series, and has raced in the Asian Le Mans Series in the prototype class, the China GT Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Asia Series, as well as having been works driver for Audi Sport Asia and junior development driver in the Caterham F1 team.
Nazim Azman, 24, comes to the outfit having begun in Italian Formula 4 in 2018, and then moved on to British Formula 3, Euro Formula Open Championship and then the FIA Formula 3 Championship. More recently, Nazim was in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) one-make series for the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
The youngest of the drivers is Putera Adam at 19 years of age, and stands out as a product of Toyota’s young talent development programme, having come through the Toyota Gazoo Racing Vios Challenge series in the Rookie, Sporting and Super Sporting classes, and is a race winner in the GR86 Cup Malaysia series. Most recently, Putera Adam has clinched the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Europe Pro category title for 2025, becoming the first Asian to do so.
The GR Supra GT4 Evo2 racer, as its name indicates, is built to GT4 category specifications; powertrain is comprised of a 2,996 cc inline-six cylinder engine with a single twin-scroll turbocharger, with peak power dependent on Balance off Performance (BoP) restrictions which vary over the course of a season; peak torque is 660 Nm.
Transmission is a modified seven-speed ZF automatic transmission, and the driveline is comprised of a high-torque spec driveshaft by GKN, and a limited-slip differential by Drexler. Engine management is by Marelli, and the exhaust is a catalytic converter-equipped racing setup by Akrapovic.
Suspension layout is similar to the road car with MacPherson struts in front and a multi-link setup at the rear, with KW adjustable racing dampers. Steering is by rack-and-pinion with electric power assistance, and braking is comprised of steel discs measuring 390 mm in front and 355 mm at the rear, using six-piston and four-piston calipers front and rear, respectively. Wheel and tyre sizes are a “square” setup, using Pirelli 305/660-18 tyres on 18-inch OZ wheels at all four corners.
For the coming 2026 season of the Thailand Super Series, teams commence pre-season testing on April 22-23 at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, prior to Round 1 of racing on May 21-24 at the same venue. Round 2 will be held at the Bangsaen street circuit, before the series heads to the Petronas Sepang International Circuit for Rounds 3 and 4 on August 21-23. and September 18-20 respectively. The season finale sees the series return to Buriram on October 31-November 1.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia GR Supra GT4 Evo2, official images
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