It's a concern I must say. I can't speak directly about our past Toyota deal but there was factory backing there in 2016 and available again in 2017 but sadly no crews wanted to play in r3.

The series has concentrated way way too much on the R5 class and R2 juniors, with pretty much all prize money and coverage going there. In fairness it seems from what I'm seeing in the 2018 guide feedback has been listened too and a more even spread of prize structure is coming.