SCT looks to be on the move. Image: InSyde Media
That’s the message from Toyota’s VP of marketing, Sean Hanley, whose visit to the Bathurst 1000 coincided with news that BJR customer SCT Motorsport appears to be on the move.
The Smith-family owned SCT is expected to shift its Teams Racing Charter from BJR to Triple Eight next season, adding a third Mustang to the Banyo stable.
While yet to confirm plans, members of the Smith family – dressed in SCT gear – were notable guests in the Triple Eight garage across the weekend.
BJR had trumpeted a four-car Supra program upon an April announcement that it will join Walkinshaw Andretti United in the Toyota fold.
Asked about the SCT uncertainty by Speedcafe at Bathurst, Hanley said “nothing will change” about Toyota’s BJR commitment regardless of the outcome.
“Well of course we’ve heard the same innuendo that everyone else has heard, but our relationship is with Brad Jones, who has four cars, of which one team is SCT,” he said.
“Our preference, of course, is that that SCT will see that Toyota is a confident brand with a great future, and that they would weigh that up in any decisions they make about the future.
Neil Crompton gives Toyota Supra first Bathurst laps
“Our expectation today is we’ll have four cars from Brad Jones Racing on the grid next year and we hope that’s the way it falls out. But if it changes, it changes.
“We are committed to Brad Jones Racing, nothing’s changed, nothing will change, and we hope that SCT sees the value in our brand and what our brand is bringing to the table.
“And we’d love nothing more than them to be part of it.”
Toyota made a splash at Mount Panorama last weekend as its first WAU-built GR Supra Supercar cut its maiden public laps, with Neil Crompton and Warren Luff sharing driving duties.
A second Supra has already been completed by WAU and is currently being sea-freighted to the United States for post-season wind tunnel testing
BJR, which will field Andre Heimgartner, Macauley Jones and Cam Hill in 2026, is not expected to have its first Supra complete until the end of this year.