Toyota playing long game with Supercar engine reliability

Darwin looms as a key acid test for the Toyota Supercars engine's reliability after a standout weekend of performance in Tasmania.

Supras swept Saturday at Symmons Plains, with reigning champion Chaz Mostert and Andre Heimgartner both winning from pole position.

The performance swept aside fears of a slump for Toyota entrants at the power-hungry Tasmanian circuit, even though the competitive order flipped on Sunday.

Speaking in New Zealand, Walkinshaw TWG Racing CEO Bruce Stewart maintained that reliability remains a focus with the 2UR-GSE V8, even though Supras already have three wins, four pole positions and eight podiums.

In the lead-up to Darwin, despite the recent success, Stewart insists there's still work to be done. It comes after Heimgartner suffered a significant failure in the second Sydney race, before Wood made a high-profile exit from the Christchurch finale.

“I wouldn’t put a summary on that until you get to through a few more rounds,” Stewart told Supercars.com.

“You go to Darwin in the heat, and it also has a super long drag strip pit straight. We can probably talk about reliability after we get through that. We need to understand what we've got under us and what areas we continually need to improve on.

"Tassie was pleasing, but you don't count your chickens. You realise that we're still developing a very new program and our successes to date can be celebrated at the end of the season when you've got a reliable engine and you've put your best foot forward in the championship.

"Until then, it's just eyes forward. Next round, what are are we facing? What are we improving? What are our expectations? There’s a long way to go.”

Stewart labelled the Toyota engine a "unicorn," given it is purpose-built for Supercars.

“It's a testament to the power, commitment and resilience of the team,” Stewart said, when asked about the early success of the Toyota program.

“We’ve had two wins, six podiums, three poles, we’re third in the teams’ championship, plus a very pleasing win for the GR Supra with Brad Jones Racing.

"But also there have been hurdles along the way and we’re working very, very hard on reliability and filling a power challenge we have in our motor. But that's to be expected.

“We're racing a brand-new engine, the 2UR-GSE, and it's a unicorn in the format. It's built for racing in the Supercars Championship, so we're learning all the time and hopefully improving all the time as well.”

The car itself has proven competitive from the outset, with Ryan Wood scoring a podium in the Supra's fifth start. Four races later, Wood made the Supra a winner.

It was the performance in Tasmania, though, which caught many by surprise. Stewart, though, remains realistic on performance given the Supra is effectively making its competitive debut each time it rolls out at a new track.

“We won the championship last year, so there's an expectation that we're going to keep growing and getting better.

“That was a really good payoff at a track I probably had a question mark on whether we would be ultimately competitive. But it was really pleasing to see that the car was very strong on at least Saturday.

“It seemed on Sunday other teams made greater gains, but we were still pushing towards the front, so that was pleasing. We're early in the program, so there's a lot of unknowns. I'd love to talk about how confident we are at every circuit, but until you get there and you get into practice, you never truly know.

“We've done a lot of work, and we're always constantly improving. But until you see practice and once everyone's bolted on greens and trying to understand where you're at, that’s when you get a clearer picture of the weekend ahead.”

Wood and Mostert are both inside the top 10, and WTWGR third in teams', heading to Darwin on June 19-21.