Highly acclaimed New Zealand team M2 Competition will expand significantly over the upcoming summer as it enters the new Toyota GR86 Championship.
Spearheaded by Team Principal Mark Pilcher, it’s understood M2 Competition has three confirmed drivers for the 2024/25 campaign and is looking to find one more to complete a four-car lineup.
The team have acquired the services of renowned driver coach Steve ‘Robbo’ Robinson to run the coaching and driver development side of operations.
Robinson, based in Australia, has worked with Kai Allen, who joins Penrite Racing for a full-time Supercars campaign next season, Rylan Gray, Tom McClennan, and Tayler Bryant, to much success.
Pilcher has also collaborated with renowned Japanese team Birth Racing Project to get up to speed with the TGR 86 tyres.
Founded in 2010 by Pilcher and Jonathan Moury, M2 Competition has since gone on to win the Toyota Racing Series, now the Toyota Formula Regional Oceania Championship, a record nine times.
Past drivers for the outfit include current Formula 1 stars Lando Norris, Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson.
Kiwis Marcus Armstrong, Nick Cassidy, Earl Bamber, Matt Payne, Callum Hedge, and Liam Sceats are among those who have applied their trade for the team.
The new GR86 Toyota will replace the TR86 for the 2024/25 Championship. It features a bigger engine, 2.4L rather than the current TR86’s 2.0L, and will pack more power and torque.
Twenty-seven drivers competed in the 2023/24 Championship, where Tom Bewley was crowned the champion in front of a sold-out crowd in the season-finale at the ITM Taupo Super400.
