Aussie car wins first Motorsport title
May 3, 2010 By Toyota Australia.
Toyota's Hybrid Camry has achieved immediate success in its first motorsport event anywhere in the world.
And it took an Aussie car to do it with a victory in the hybrid category at this year's Targa Tasmania.
The locally-built car completed six gruelling days of competition covering more than 2000km.
With an emphasis on fuel economy, it used just 8.0 litres per 100km - including competitive stages where speeds reached more than 180 km/h.
The Hybrid Camry, driven by journalist Peter Whitaker and advertising agency proprietor Keith Blanket, was instantly recognisable on the roads of Tasmania.
That's because its pearlescent white paint was covered in thousands of signatures of Toyota employees involved in building and selling Hybrid Camry in Australia.
Whitaker says the Hybrid Camry handled and performed faultlessly, but the result was no surprise for anyone familiar with Hybrid Camry's potential.
Last year, a US-built version became the first hybrid used as the official pace car for an entire event in the premier NASCAR Cup series.