The Philippine market has long been waiting to have the Toyota Vios with the new DNGA platform. In fact, in other Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand, the new AC100 Vios is already turning two years old.

Likewise, Toyota Motor Philippines continues to carry on with the current NSP150 Vios for its one-make race series called the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup. For the 2024 season, the existing cup cars have gone from the white and red motif to the new matte black global racing livery of TGR.

Toyota Gazoo Racing Malaysia, on the other hand, is just about to kick off the seventh season of its own Vios Challenge. But unlike us who are still using the NSP150 Vios, they basically gave us a preview of what to expect once the new AC100 Vios goes racing in the country.

Malaysia’s one-make racer may look visually different because of the new chassis, but the running gear remains pretty similar to the older NSP150 platform. The AC100 Vios for Malaysia still uses the 2NR-VE 1.5-liter engine with Dual VVT-i, producing 106 PS and 138 Nm of torque paired to a 5-speed manual transmission.

Much like the PH-spec Vios race car, TGR Malaysia also fitted a full racing exhaust system, along with an LSD and racing clutch for improved handling with the new Vios, along with racing coilovers, and safety equipment such as a six-point roll-cage, racing bucket seats with six-point harness, a power cut-off switch, and a plumbed-in fire suppression system.

But unlike the Vios race cars that we have in the country, the Malaysia spec OMR has rear drum brakes instead of solid discs. That is because they’ve based the Vios OMR on the mid-spec E variant, which also has a mechanical parking brake instead of an EPB. Also, they get a different tire and wheel supplier in Toyo Tires and Enkei. In our local racing series, those are supplied by GT Radial and Rota.

In terms of the racing format, however, the TGR Philippine Cup and TGR Malaysia’s Vios Challenge share a lot of similarities. For one, they also have the Super Sporting and Sporting Class, and their Rookie category consists of drivers who have graduated from their Young Talent Development Program, and sim drivers – it’s basically the equivalent of TGR Philippine Cup’s Novice class where yours truly is competing in.

While TMP is still yet to announce the arrival of the AC100 Vios, at least we can still look forward to the next leg of the TGR Philippine Cup is set to happen on September 28 at Clark International Speedway.