You would think the Toyota brand doesn’t need any more exposure in Australia, but the Japanese giant says it sees an opportunity in entering the Supercars Championship to help it promote its products.
The Toyota badge has never been seen on the grid in the Supercars Championship, and has been absent from its forebear since 1993.
That will change in 2026, when it brings a V8-powered version of the Supra to the grid, taking on the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro with historic outfit Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) steering the ship.
Not since 1993 have Toyotas raced in what was then known as the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), with the brand focusing its recent racing efforts on the Australian Rally Championship (with the GR Yaris) and the GR Cup, where future stars compete in identical GR86s.
It was last truly interested in joining the-then V8 Supercars series in 2000 with the new Avalon, but decided not to pit its new sedan against the VT Commodore and AU Falcon of the time.
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Fast forward to 2024, Toyota is delivering near-record numbers of vehicles and outsells its next-closest rival by more than two-to-one.
You’d be forgiven for asking why it now wants to go racing on Australia’s biggest stage, but the answer is simple: it wants to sell its Gazoo Racing (GR) branded sports cars.
“GR, there’s nothing more than that. It just presented,” said Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing.
“When we started selling the GR Yaris then the GR Corolla and the GR Sport (HiLux), GR just got traction and it reminded us at Toyota [that] despite everything going on in the world right now, there’s still a fanbase out there for performance cars.
The 2024 Toyota GR Cup field
“People still want them now. They may change in the future, and they may take different shapes. Even Supercars has evolved – it’s different than what it was with the tribalism 20 years ago.
“But we saw an opportunity to really stamp Toyota’s credentials again on motorsport in Australia. We want to show the world, we want to show Australia, we can actually do this. We can be a competitive player in this space.
“We do a great job in all the other products, but we’ve only been in the market for a small amount of time with GR, and now we want to demonstrate to the world this is a fair dinkum racing and performance brand.”
GR Yaris in the Australian Rally Championship
There is a broader appeal to Toyota’s Supercars berth though, with thousands of fans who attend each event – and in the case of the Bathurst 1000, tens of thousands – arriving there in cars and potentially on the lookout for another.
“Another reason we’re attracted to Supercars is that it appeals to Australia’s heartland. As such, it will expose Toyota’s passion and our excitement to more Australians than ever before,” Mr Hanley said.
“Supercars fans tend to go to a race track and spend a lot of time there. That makes it ideal as a touring motor show, enabling us to promote our broad range of vehicles and really engage with the crowd.
“As we know, this is a driver-orientated sport. So if some of the country’s best steerers are driving our car, then people are going to support us. That’s going to bring a lot of people into Toyota dealerships, people who don’t normally go there.
“Finally, but fundamental to our decision, Supercars is an ideal showcase for our GR (Gazoo Racing) range. These are fun-to-drive sports cars that resonate with a truly passionate fan base.
“They are packed with Toyota’s latest technologies, gained from a six-decade history in motorsport. Importantly, the knowledge learned on track is also used to improve all other Toyota vehicles you see on our roads every other day.
“We race, we learn, our customers ultimately win.”
When Toyota takes to the grid in 2026 – at least with WAU, and possibly with another team if it gets its way – it’ll do so with the Supra, featuring a 5.0-litre V8 rather than its BMW-sourced turbocharged 3.0-litre six-cylinder under the bonnet.
We’ve seen manufacturers run models in Supercars before with drivetrains not available in the road car.
The front-wheel drive Nissan Altima went rear-wheel drive with the V8 from a Patrol from 2013 to 2019, and the Volvo S60 Polestar raced with a V8 based on that in the XC90.
Even now, the Mustang and Camaro which are competing for the title feature different engine capacities to what’s been in showrooms, with the latter model off sale in Australia for years before it even went racing.
What Toyota is hoping for is to get even more brand exposure in addition to what it currently achieves through sponsoring the AFL, Adelaide Crows, North Queensland Cowboys and Cricket Australia.
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