WTAC 2025: Word from the CEO

What a weekend! Sydney turned on some beautiful Spring weather and it certainly set the tone for the 2025 Yokohama World Time Attack Challenge. Over 30,000 motorsport fans came out to witness the madness we had set in place for this year's event. With one of the most visited Fridays in the history of the event, it’s become a true two-day affair for our fans, proving there’s more to see at WTAC than ever before!

On track, we had three exciting new classes of time attack racing, and the teams certainly delivered on the promise of an epic showdown. Our new grassroots Yokohama Advan Neova Tuner class, running on the Advan Neova AD09 control tyre, welcomed back real street-style cars. The MoTeC Pro Open class moved the top end of Open Class cars onto a control Yokohama slick, and the insane Hypercar Class included four of the rarest (and fastest) track-only hypercars. The show was truly above all expectations. With an upscale in production values for our livestream, our viewers around the world were glued to their screens as the sun went down. The Supercheap Auto Superlap Shootout was one of the most nail-biting on record, with several classes resetting their records on the final lap. With brakes glowing and sparks flying, this brings an incredible type of edge-of-the-seat theatre to the sport we all so dearly love.

A well-deserved congratulations to all class winners, podium placers, and entrants as a whole. Time attack remains the core of the event, and it’s inspiring to see the level of cars increase and the average lap times decrease year after year. It's a testament that the sport of time attack is not only alive and well but thriving! A special mention goes to the Tanuki Racing team who, after only a couple of years redeveloping their S13, and less than a handful of laps by handy Supercars driver Todd Hazelwood netted the team an outright win with a 1:18.169, placing the result only 0.725 seconds away from RP968’s outright lap record of Sydney Motorsport Park! It’s amazing to think that anything less than a 1:19 a few years ago was pretty much inconceivable, and now we have a real contender to eclipse the outright lap record even further in 2026! Exciting stuff!

Another hot-ticket item on track began with a chance meeting with Kato-san from Liberty Walk in Japan earlier this year, which resulted in them coming along for the WTAC party. And when I say party, I mean it! Drift legend Tetsuya Hibino in the crazy 4-rotor LB Works Silhouette Silvia S15 was absolutely ripping it up in the demos, leaving many jaws on the floor with his proximity to the main straight wall. In the sky, Matt Hall and his Red Bull stunt plane had a bit of a late start to the festivities, having reported a faulty magneto prior to take-off to arrive at the track in the morning. AfterMatt had worked around his demonstration session slot and arrived to the circuit in style, doing 'donuts' on the correct side of the pit wall prior to a brilliant acrobatic show and another low pass before bidding farewell to the crowds! Both Hibino and Matt are professional showmen in their respective circles and the applause from the grandstands was proof of that!

Also joining the party for the first time was the “Yeah the Girls” drift demo crew, which proved very popular and is something we will be looking at closely to develop in the years to come. More impressive than any of the on-track action from this crew were the line-up of aspiring girls and other women in motorsport at the YTG stage sessions, inspired to come see them in action and one day even join them on track. Watch this space closely!

Into the sunset both nights, we had the extrordinary field from the Turbosmart Flying 500 Head to Head blasting eardrums and terminal speeds the other way down the main straight to the pleasure of fans! Unfortunately the Saturday F500 session was cut short due to recovery taking longer than expected, however the fans in the stands were not disappointed as the Supercheap Auto Superlap Shootout soon after provided the theatre not long after.

Into the evening, the drift hill was abuzz with action! Having Mad Mike Whiddett here in his OG ‘FURSTY’ wagon was a highlight for me, and despite making contact with Rob Whyte in Round 1, he managed to massage it back together and put on the type of show he is famous for.

Also having international names like Naoki Nakamura and Masashi Yokoi from Japan and Jaron Olivecrona from New Zealand amongst our Aussie stars made sure the Garrett International Drifting Cup lived up to expectations. Unfortunately, strict noise curfew combined with unforeseen track delays throughout the day at the venue meant that we were unable to run the final battle, but it was a unanimous decision that Matt Harvey was the victor after his incredible driving all weekend.

The Shannons StylizeD Show N Shine was also our best ever with some incredible builds curated into a melting pot of car culture. The Donut Garage boys kept everyone fed while they took it all in. The variety of cars on display was insane, from oval-windowed VW Beetles to a whole arrangement of Liberty Walk customer cars; there was truly something for everyone! This area was still hot into the night with more to do, and a big screen made sure nobody missed out on the action!

All in all, this was our BEST WTAC ever, and the sound of the incredible Pagani Huayra R at 9000rpm on Brabham straight certainly drove that home to anyone within hearing distance.

I think our US buddy Cole Powelson summed it up perfectly: “The cars are amazing, but the only thing better is the people!”, and that means YOU!

A massive thank you to everyone who walked through the gate, watched the livestream, supported us as a competitor, trader, or worked on our team. And lastly, a big thank you to our loyal sponsors who come back year after year to bring you the biggest time attack event on the planet! See you in 2026!

Ian Baker

CEO

Superlap Australia Pty Ltd