The brake discs have also been drilled to improve cooling, giving more consistent performance under repeated hard loads, such as on a circuit.
The fact that the car is being honed at the Nordschleife lends credence to speculation that a hot new Supra could revive Toyota’s GRMN nameplate, which stands for ‘Gazoo Racing, tuned by the Meister of the Nürburgring’.
The badge has only been used in Europe so far, for a supercharged hot version of the previous-generation Yaris. The appearance of the new Supra comes soon after Toyota CEO Koji Sato hinted that the GR performance division will continue to play a core role in the company’s strategy.
He said: “The Gazoo brand will be acknowledged for the future – and maybe we can even speed it up.” He also suggested that ex-CEO and keen racer Akio Toyoda, now chairman of the company, will contribute heavily to the development of new GR products.
Sato said: “Our ‘Master Driver’ [Toyoda] was also president of the company at the same time as he had a steering wheel in his hand for Gazoo. Now he is only chairman, maybe he will have a lot more time to develop cars for them?” The Supra GRMN could be launched in conjunction with a mid-life facelift of the regular car.