Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Pomona Post-Qualifying Report – 11.11.23

TORRENCE QUALIFIES SECOND FOR SUNDAY’S FINALE AT POMONA
Top Fuel championship rival, Doug Kalitta, qualifies fifth. Antron Brown slots in third

POMONA, Calif. (November 11, 2023) – Going for his fifth Top Fuel championship, Steve Torrence led the Toyota Dragster charge by qualifying second for tomorrow’s NHRA season finale at Pomona. Torrence ran a blistering 3.641 elapsed time, only outdone by Austin Prock’s 3.636 time in the evening session. Torrence stayed atop the points after qualifying, now leading the standings by 12 points heading into Sunday.

One of Torrence’s championship competitors, Doug Kalitta, captured the fifth qualifying position after a solid day of runs on the California strip. Antron Brown had a solid Saturday in his Toyota Dragster, qualifying third.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps qualified seventh and J.R. Todd ended the day ninth.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
RACE
In-n-Out Pomona Dragstrip
Race 21 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

How was your day today and what are you looking forward to tomorrow in racing for another championship?

“I’m really confident and calm going into this situation, probably a little more than I should be. But I’ve been in this scenario a bunch and I’m very confident in the Capco Contractors Toyota Dragster. My guys have given me a great car and I feel I’m driving well. We smoked the tires on both runs today, but I know what the guys were trying to do, and we were pushing the envelope to see what we could get away with. Two great runs yesterday as well to build off for tomorrow and the conditions are going to be awesome.  To have the opportunity to compete for a championship, going up against Doug (Kalitta) and Leah (Pruett) and having to go down to the wire, it’s going to be who lives the longest tomorrow – that’s who will be the champion. I have a lot of confidence in my boys that we’ll be there tomorrow.”

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 5th

What are your thoughts heading into tomorrow going for your first championship?

“Yeah, I think we’re in a great spot for tomorrow. Each time we’ve gone down the track, we’ve done a little bit better, with a 3.666 speed there at the end. That kind of surprised me there as a lot of guys were going faster during that last session. My guys gave me a good Mac Tools Toyota Dragster this weekend. We’ll line it up tomorrow and see what we can do with it!”

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).