Toyota has become the first manufacturer in the world to win a motor race with a hybrid-powered car following the victory on the weekend of a modified Toyota Supra GT in Japan's only 24-hour endurance race.

Converted from a retired 500 horsepower Super GT car, the Denso SARD Supra HV-R took a commanding victory in the Tokachi 24-Hour race, finishing 19 laps ahead of second place.

Driven by Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Akira Lida and Tatsuya Kataoka from Japan and Andre Couto from Portugal, the Supra HV-R started from pole and held a comfortable lead for much of the race, before pulling away in the closing laps.

The hybrid Supra was powered by a four-wheel energy regeneration and drive system that included in-wheel motors in the front wheels and a 150 kW rear-axle mounted electric motor.

The Supra HV-R's energy regeneration system with its three motors/generators allowed the car to more efficiently recover a greater amount of energy during rapid deceleration and braking from high speeds.

Instead of being fitted with rechargeable batteries usually found in hybrids, the former Japanese Super GT car was fitted with a quick-charging capacitor system to cope with the repeated acceleration and deceleration the Supra produced during the race.

"The hybrid Supra's victory is a very significant moment in Toyota's history and motorsport history in general," said Toyota Australia's senior executive director sales and marketing, David Buttner.

"It highlights the direct benefit that motorsport has on passenger car technology, and reaffirms hybrid systems as the way of the future both on the track, and on the road."

The Supra HV-R's win comes only a year after Toyota became the first car manufacturer in the world to enter a hybrid vehicle in a race, when a Lexus GS 450h finished 17th in the 2006 edition of the Tokachi 24-Hour.

Toyota successfully used the data gained from last year's race with the GS 450h to develop the hybrid systems used in the Supra HV-R.

By entering hybrid systems into racing events, Toyota engineers hope to discover ways to make hybrid systems, most famously fitted to the Toyota Prius production car, more efficient and lighter.

This result also reflects why motorsport's international governing body, the FIA, is looking at introducing hybrid technology into Formula 1 from 2011.