Toyota Supras will line up against Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship, as Australia’s biggest brand finally enters our premier touring car championship.
Toyota promises it’s in Supercars for the long haul, and “I’m not coming in to come second,” said Sean Hanley, vice president of sales and marketing at Toyota Australia, while acknowledging that nothing comes easy in motorsport.
A preview of what to expect from Toyota’s Supra Supercar
The Japanese giant has appointed Walkinshaw Andretti United as its homologation and racing partner. It’s an obvious move as Melbourne-based Walkinshaw Automotive Group has performed right-hand drive conversions on Toyota’s Tundra full-size pickups.
The racing Supra will use Toyota’s 5.0L naturally-aspirated V8 2UR-GSE engine, which has already found motorsport success in the Dakar Rally-winning HiLux in 2019.
Road-going Supras in Australia use a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbo six-cylinder, but little six-pots don’t cut the mustard in Australia’s big-banger touring cars.
A clay-model of the Supra Supercar shown at the media launch
Two Supras will line up for the 2026 Supercars season, and Toyota’s employed top guns Ryan Wood and Chaz Mostert to pilot them. The ultimate plan is to field an additional two Supras, with another team to boost Toyota’s representation in due course.
Brand building and Bathurst glory
The brand makes no secret its ultimate target is standing on the top step of Bathurst’s podium.
“We’ve had multiple class victories at Bathurst,” said Hanley. “We’ve set records in the Australian Touring Car Championships, and we’ve seen Supra win the Australian Production Car Championship in 1989, and at the inaugural Bathurst 12 Hour in 1991.”
Toyota says it has its eyes firmly on the podium
But competing in the dominant category – Supercars – hasn’t come to fruition until now.
Hanley suggested the decision was made not to enter in the past as it was “just a little bit too tribal,” referencing the historical, impassioned and sometimes ugly rivalry between Ford and Holden supporters.
“In that era, because of the huge brand loyalty to Ford and Holden, we often wondered if we ever went out and won this race (Bathurst), what would really happen?” he said. “It was probably riskier to win than not to play at all.”
Toyota says Supercars was “just a little bit too tribal” in the past
While it’s a long-held belief that motorsport improves the breed, Toyota Australia also sees this Supercars move as the ideal way to showcase its Gazoo Racing (GR) range – the GR Yaris, GR Corolla, GR86 and GR Supra.
“These are fun-to-drive sports cars that resonate with a truly passionate fan base,” said Hanley. “People are going to support us, and that’ll bring a lot of people into Toyota dealerships, people who don’t normally go there.”
Win on Sunday, sell on Monday, eh?
Entering Supercars will provide a further platform for Toyota to promote other performance cars like the GR Yaris
Other positives mentioned were the importance of motorsport to many of Toyota’s 260 dealers, and how it could attract short-in-supply technicians, keen to align with a brand selling performance sports cars and running a highly visible domestic motorsport program.
“It will give Gazoo Racing far more credibility in this country,” Hanley continued. “We know we’re going to have a hard old time to get there, but I promise you we don’t give up. We don’t stop. And we will win this race eventually.”
The current production version of the Toyota Supra
As mentioned, it’s clear Toyota Australia’s not entering to just make up the numbers.
At the press announcement, a quarter-scale clay model of the racing Supra was shown (it looked good), while a full-size clay model will be shown at the Bathurst 1000 next month.
The response it receives from the Holden and Ford faithful will be fascinating to watch.
