The ominous sign for Toyota’s Supercars rivals

Ryan Wood took his Supra to victory at Taupo last Saturday, giving Toyota a win in just its ninth Supercars Championship race start.

Curiously, the result was followed by news that both the Chevrolet and Toyota triggered the new parity review system, lagging behind the Ford on the lap-time-based equation.

While Chevrolet has received an aerodynamic tweak for Ruapuna, there’s no change to the Toyota for now while development continues between Walkinshaw and Supercars on the engine.

“There is work to be done on the engine and it’s very tightly controlled with Supercars,” Bruce Stewart told media at Ruapuna.

“Reliability is the first thing we’ve got to build, it’s a cornerstone of Toyota and their brand and what they stand for, and we’re not perfect there yet.

“Then secondly, power, there is still a little bit of a hole in there that we need to develop.”

Supercars has made minor engine mapping tweaks to the Toyota since its debut, while an emergency cylinder head revision took place following a failure in the Sydney season opener.

The early success of Toyota has been hailed by Supercars bosses, with Barclay Nettlefold declaring it opens the door for a fourth manufacturer to enter.

Rival teams, however, have given mixed reactions to the early Supra success.

“I think it’s incredibly impressive,” said Dick Johnson Racing team manager Tom Moore, sitting alongside Stewart in the Friday press conference.

“They’re a very strong race team with two very strong drivers, so I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise.

“Probably expected… not that early, but expected eventually [for them to win].”

Erebus boss Barry Ryan also praised Walkinshaw for its efforts, albeit with a key caveat about the future.

“When I saw the aero figures when they first got approved, I thought, this is going to be a tough situation,” he said.

“They did a really good job of it and they’ve done a good job of getting to where they are with a new engine and everything.

“It’s good for the sport, Toyota winning, you’ve got to tick that box, and hopefully they don’t dominate, especially when it comes to the October race.”