UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has announced another season of the Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Festival. Season three, which is slated to kick-off in September, will feature four rounds consisting of eight Toyota Vios Challenge One-Make Races organised on specially-constructed street circuits and at Sepang International Circuit.

There will be three classes of racing – a Promotional class for local celebrities, and the Sporting and Super Sporting classes for amateur and professional racing drivers respectively. The first race of the season will take place on September 6-7 in Kuala Terengganu.

The company said that racing this season will not be confined to the track, but will also move to the virtual realm with the continuation of the Gazoo Racing Velocity E-Sports series. First introduced in September last year, the competition successfully attracted more than 400 participants locked in virtual wheel to wheel racing.

The celebrity line-up for the Promotional class is largely unchanged from the previous season. Actor Shukri Yahaya, beat-boxer Shawn Lee, presenter Nabil Ahmad, singer Khai Bahar, singer Nabila Razali, singer Wany Hasrita, actress Janna Nick and defending champion actress Diana Danielle are all set to continue this season.

They will be joined by two newcomers, actress/presenter Ain Edruce and actor Syafiq Kyle. Meanwhile, UMWT deputy chairman Akio Takeyama will compete again in the series, this being his third straight season. Competitors will be racing the Vios Challenge in fully race-prepped 2019 Toyota Vios vehicles.

Season two of the TGR Festival ended in April this year with the running of four rounds and eight races, and the event attracted more than 80,000 race fans, 1.1 million online viewers.

-paultan