The 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps was revived for touring cars in 1964, and gained popularity with motorsport fans as a summer tradition in Europe. Japanese manufacturers, as well as many drivers, had been challenging a variety of vehicles since the 1970s and 1980s. In 1989, the Toyota Corolla Levin, which was active in Group A touring car racing in Japan, challenged the race with three Japanese drivers, Hideshi Matsuda, Morio Nitta, and Kaori Okamoto, an actress at that time, had drew many people’s attention. In qualifying, the team cleared the qualify-session in a time of 2’54.83, and made a start to the 24-hours battle from 33rd grid. The machine No. 34 was the Toyota Corolla Levin Group A spec model, a small sports car which was active in touring car racing in Japan at that time. It was a 2WD of FF with a fuel injected naturally aspirated inline-four engine equipped on the front. The Corolla Levin was born in 1972 as a sporty model among Toyota’s family cars, with a 1.6-liter engine on a compact body. The Corolla Levin was active in road racing as well as rallying. The AE92 of Corolla Levin made its debut in 1987, and made a change from front-engine rear-drive (FR) 2WD to front-engine front-drive (FF) 2WD. The Corolla Levin AE92 for Group A spec had fierce battles with same class machine such as Honda Civic in touring car racing in Japan, and livened up the race. On July 23, 1989, the long battle of 24 hours Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium was reaching the finish. The car No.34 of Toyota Corolla Levin AE92 stayed firmly on the course and finished 12th in overall, and 3rd in class. The difference with the top is 49 laps. The Toyota Corolla Levin AE92 had a good fight with Ford Sierra Cosworth and BMW M3
