Toyota GR Supra owner says high-school teacher rented, raced his car

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An Illinois high-school girls’ automotive class teacher is metaphorically manoeuvring himself out of a tight spot after reportedly renting a Toyota GR Supra on the car-sharing app Turo, allegedly racing it in an event with his students, and then telling local news outlets he got the car from a different source. Allegedly. 

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San Antonio, Texas’ Giovanni Morales says teacher Gregory Ditch booked his 2021 Toyota GR Supra off of Turo for a three-day period, but that, unbeknownst to Morales at the time, Ditch raced it at a top-speed competition in Beeville, Texas, along with his class of teenaged girls. How does Morales know this? He says the teens posted all about it online, including images of the car with its licence plate visible; and a time slip with a speed reading 160 mph (257 km/h). 

According to a Fox News television report, the ordeal began when a pickup truck that Ditch’s students had built themselves and entered into the race event broke down just before the big day. Rather than disappoint his students, Ditch apparently decided to look for a speedy loaner. Ditch outright denies to the Fox News reporter that he raced Morales’ Supra, but commenters on Reddit, where the video has gone viral, have been having some fun at the teacher’s expense, dissecting his assertion that while he “didn’t get the car from Toyota,” he can’t quite remember which dealer did loan it to him. 

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“There was never any talk about, Hey, I’m going to this big event at this race track with my high school students and I’m planning to put this car on the track,” Morales told Fox New last month. “That would have absolutely not been okay with me.”

Morales says the car was returned to him with US$4,000 worth of damages, including spent tires and worn brakes from slowing the car down after allegedly reaching those intense speeds. 

While the case may not be officially settled yet, Turo’s third-party investigation has revealed that Morales’ Supra was indeed rented by Ditch, and the company also believes it was used at the race, violating Turo’s prohibited-uses terms.