Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Las Vegas Post-Qualifying Report – 10.28.23

TORRENCE QUALIFIES SECOND IN TOP FUEL AT LAS VEGAS; CAPPS FOURTH IN FUNNY CAR
Toyota Top Fuel drivers make up five of top eight positions

LAS VEGAS (October 28, 2023) – Steve Torrence led a fierce Toyota Top Fuel charge in qualifying for the Nevada Fall Nationals, claiming the second position heading into Sunday. Torrence came into the penultimate race of the season only 13 points out of the lead and is in prime position to shakeup the standings on Sunday. Doug Kalitta (4th), Justin Ashley (6th), Antron Brown (7th) and Shawn Langdon (8th) followed Torrence as Toyota Top Fuel dragsters were five of the top eight qualifiers.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps qualified fourth as he continues his push for a second consecutive category title. His Team Toyota teammates, Alexis DeJoria and J.R. Todd, qualified eighth and tenth respectively for Sunday’s event.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Nevada Nationals
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 20 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

TOYOTA QUOTES

STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

Take us through your day and what you’re looking forward to tomorrow.

“Great day overall and weekend so far being able to get the second overall position heading into tomorrow. I think we’re a little bit behind the power curve and have been since we shut off early in Q1 yesterday. We’re slowly creeping up on it, but I’m really confident in the Capco Contractors Toyota Dragster. I feel like we have a good car for tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot cooler and better conditions out there. We have a tough first round against Clay Millican ahead, but I feel confident in my guys. We need to go out there and capitalize on the points, go as many rounds as possible to set ourselves up for a better position going into Pomona.”

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 4th

How was your day today?

“We came to this race and Guido (Dean Antonelli crew chief) and the NAPA Auto Parts crew made huge changes to make our car better. We know what we can run, we have the No. 1 on the car from last season, but we knew had to find a little bit extra. To roam in here with as many changes as we had on this Toyota Supra and to go down the track every run, run a 3.87 time and 331 mph speed bode well for tomorrow. I can’t thank Toyota enough. Having Paul Doleshal (Group Manager, Motorsports, Toyota Motor North America) here certainly motivates you. But the cool thing is, the data we get at the start line to read the track before our runs makes the difference for us. Our Toyota engineers up there are difference makers. We’re able to go up to the line and make changes knowing it’s the right one. It’s a team effort and we’re proud to be a part of Team Toyota.”

About Toyota 

Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands, and directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America (more than 49,000 in the U.S.).

Over the past 65 years, Toyota has assembled nearly 45 million cars and trucks in North America at the company’s 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, the company’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.

Through our more than 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.), Toyota sold more than 2.4 million cars and trucks (more than 2.1 million in the U.S.) in 2022, of which, nearly one quarter were electrified vehicles (full battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell).