On the hallowed grounds of the Nürburgring, Toyota takes overall victory in the Manufacturer Series

'World Tour 2019 – Nürburgring' was held in conjunction with the 24-Hour endurance race at the Nürburgring, Germany. On 21 June local time, 12 teams faced off in the Manufacturer Series with team Toyota (Rick Kevelham from the Netherlands, Simon Bishop from New Zealand, and Tomoaki Yamanaka from Japan) taking overall victory.

36 drivers competed in teams of 3 representing the top 12 manufacturers of the Online Series. However, of the 36 competitors at this event’s Manufacturer Series, only 3 drivers continued their team affiliations from the last World Tour event: previous World Final winning team member Kanata Kawakami (Lexus), Edward Williams (Mercedes-Benz) and Tomoaki Yamanaka (Toyota). These races would prove to be a test of teamwork for the new line-ups.

The Manufacturer Series Final would be decided by the number of points earned across 4 races. In the first of these races, Lexus protected its pole position from start to finish. 2nd place starters Toyota found themselves in a 3-way battle for 2nd, finishing in 4th place. Mercedes-Benz finished in 8th place after running off course on the final lap.

In Race 2, the drivers took to the new ‘Sardegna – Road Track – B’ course, which will be added in the next Gran Turismo Sport Update. In there, Mercedes-Benz took on both Porsche and Jaguar in a fierce battle, coming out in 2nd place. Lexus were able to keep their pole position once again, while Toyota, despite having started off well, finished this race in 6th.

Race 3 took the action to the 'Autodromo Nazionale Monza' to compete with Gr.3 machines. On the very first chicane of the race, however, chaos broke out. Points leader Lexus fell to 12th place where they finished Race 3, meaning that they would start the Final Race from the very back of the pack.

The Final Race was a 5-lap Gr.3 battle on the 24h layout of the World Tour location, the Nürburgring. Points were worth double for this event, a team race in which all members would take turns driving. In the points ranking at the end of Race 3, Lexus sat in 1st with 24 points, while Mercedes-Benz had climbed to 2nd with 21 points. In 5th place sat Toyota with 18 points, but with only 6 points between them and 1st place, they started the race poised to challenge the top ranks.

Mercedes-Benz’s final driver for the race, Cody Nikola Latkovski, pushed forward like a man possessed, catching up within half a second of front runner Toyota’s Simon Bishop just before the Doetinger Hoehe straight. Trading blows, the pair entered the final chicane side by side, but Toyota’s Simon Bishop ultimately managed to defend his position, winning the race.

Overall victory in the Manufacturer Series at 'World Tour 2019 – Nurburgring' went to Toyota, who had proved that their continued teamwork from the last Series and their desire for victory had outmatched the other teams.

World Tour 2019 - Nürburgring
Manufacturer Series Result

Rank	Manufacturer / Drivers	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Total Points
1	Toyota Simon Bishop / Rick Kevelham / Tomoaki Yamanaka	7	6	5	24	42
2	Mercedes-Benz Cody Nikola Latkovski / Bernal Valverde / Edward Williams	3	10	8	20	41
3	BMW Randall Haywood / Raul Ignacio Aguilar / Ádám Tápai	4	2	12	16	34
4	Porsche Patrik Blazsán / Joseph De Jesus / Adriano Carrazza	10	8	2	10	30
5	Lexus Andrew Brooks / Leonardo Bruzzi / Kanata Kawakami	12	12	0	6	30
6	Jaguar Vinicius Neto / Kenny Conomos / Parker Leach	8	3	3	12	26
7	Ford Adam Wilk / Kosuke Nishimura / Daniel Solis	5	5	0	14	24
8	Chevrolet Thalvaner Kuntze / Yo Kurohata / Kin Long Li	0	7	7	8	22
9	Hyundai Kevan Pounder / Connor Healy / Stéphane Jeandenans	6	0	4	4	14
10	Audi Kenta Morimoto / Hayden Hunter / Martin Grady	1	1	10	0	12
11	Aston Martin Marco Mendoza / Nicholas Voon / Angelo Schut	2	0	6	2	10
12	Volkswagen Kade Young / Cleber Martins / Julio Cortina	0	4	1	0	5

The unmissable action continues online

The Manufacturer Series continues with the Online Series. You can watch all the competitors who appeared at this event and many more in the 'Top 16 Superstars' races broadcast on Gran Turismo LIVE. (The next race will be broadcast on 27 July.)
After climbing to 2nd position at the end of Round 3, will Toyota take 1st place online as well? Don’t miss it!

- FIA GT Championships 2019 | Top 16 Superstars
- Latest Global Manufacturer Ranking

GR Supra GT Cup Exhibition Match

On the same day an exhibition match was held for the ‘GR Supra GT Cup’, a One-Make championships now open worldwide. This race was won by Salvatore Maraglino (Italy). This race was preceded by a talk session with Kazunori Yamauchi and Tetsuya Tada, Chief Engineer on the Toyota 86 and GR Supra. Both of these events are also available to watch on Gran Turismo LIVE.

- GR Supra GT Cup Exhibition Match - Gran Turismo LIVE
・TOYOTA & Gran Turismo Trackside Talk 2

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