A Toyota Prius is not a car that you would normally associate with motorsports. But did you know that since 2012, the Toyota hybrid has been competing in Japan’s Super GT under a privateer team Apr Racing, with the standard car’s hybrid system retained?

Toyota has since announced that a Toyota Prius will be participating in a 10-hour endurance race in Thailand’s Chang International Circuit in Buriram, at this weekend’s Idemitsu Super Endurance Southeast Asia Trophy 2023.

The Prius will race under the Rookie Racing team - a private team owned by Chairman Akio Toyoda. Rookie Racing is managed separately from the official factory-backed Toyota Gazoo Racing, though the two teams do share resources and have their pit garages next to each other.

While Toyota Gazoo Racing will race for points, Rookie Racing will test and break experimental powertrain concepts in a quest to make ever-better cars. The team is named after Akio Toyoda’s pet dog.

In keeping with its experimental focus, the Rookie Racing Prius will be racing with a modified engine that has been tuned to burn carbon neutral, synthetic fuel (also referred to by some as e-fuels).

Synthetic fuel is man-made petrol, produced by mixing hydrogen with carbon captured from waste industrial gases, preferably using renewable energy. There are of course criticisms regarding its sustainability, because synthetic fuel is a lot more expensive (~RM 50 per litre) than electricity used to charge fully electric vehicles. The EV lobby group hates synthetic fuel because they say it's a pipe dream drawn up by the oil and gas industry.

Still, some companies like Porsche, Stellantis, and of course Toyota believe that cost is a function of scale. If successful, this could lead to a drop-in solution for existing cars and allow petrol stations to switch over immediately, thus solving issues like driving range and affordability of new cars, thereby decarbonizing our road transport much faster than forcing the public to buy new electric cars.

The fact that hydrogen is a basic raw material used by the chemicals industry (and it's not going away, demand will only grow), and that we already have a very well developed infrastructure gas storage and distribution is a bonus. Thus explain why Toyota is pursuing both hydrogen fuel and synthetic fuel simultaneously.

Mechanical details of the racing Prius have yet to be shared but Toyota says this is the first-time it is racing a production Prius (the Super GT Prius was heavily modified, running on a mid-engine chassis).

Starting this year, the Prius no longer competes in Japan’s Super GT. A change in regulations outlawing the mid-engine Prius means that it’s more effective for the team to race with the Lexus LC 500h, which is also a hybrid.

Thus, the mantle for racing has been passed to Rookie Racing’s synthetic fuel-burning Toyota Prius and will feature GR Sport parts similar to what’s already previewed in the 24h Le Mans Centennial GR Edition.

Among the drivers for the Prius is Kachorn Chiaravanont of CP Group. He has previously raced with Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand.

The CP Group is working with Toyota to locally produce carbon neutral hydrogen fuel, generated from manure collected from the CP Group’s chicken farms. The CP Group is one of the world's largest mega producers of meat and if biowaste from its huge farms can be turned into fuel, it’s a big step towards creating a circular economy.

The locally produced hydrogen fuel will go into a racing prototype Toyota GR Corolla driven by Chairman Akio Toyoda (racing under his pseudonym Morizo).

Together with another synthetic fuel-burning Toyota GR86 driven by Akio’s son Daisuke, the Prius and GR Corolla will complete Rookie Racing’s three-car line-up. They will be joined by more cars –  including several Corolla Altis, Yaris, GR Yaris, and GR86 – from the official Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand team, all also running on synthetic fuel.