The heart-in-mouth moment that proved Toyota B-spec

Walkinshaw TWG Racing’s 1-3 finish was an emphatic way to shake-off lingering doubts over the reliability of the 2UR-GSE V8 engine.

The Bend marked the second event following the rollout of a ‘B-spec’ aimed at ridding the engine of its valvetrain weakness.

A long-awaited camshaft upgrade was introduced at Ipswich following extensive work between Walkinshaw and its UK-based engine partner Swindon Powertrains.

Walkinshaw TWG team principal and Toyota project architect Carl Faux revealed to Speedcafe post-race that the Ryan Wood/Jaxon Evans entry would not have finished had it still had an A-spec aboard.

“It’s great for Toyota, great for the team here,” he said of the result.

“All the hard work that’s been put in over the last, I’m not going to say over the last year, it’s more than that culminating here.

“The increased reliability of the valvetrain showed [on Sunday].