The Toyota Supra may conjure images of The Fast and the Furious or 1000kW+ drag cars, but soon it’ll be taking on Australia’s most iconic circuits in the Supercars Championship.
From 2026, the Toyota Supra will compete for the top step against American pony cars in the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro for race track supremacy, with Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) running two vehicles and another team expected to join the fight.
Toyota has been working hard to promote its Gazoo Racing (GR) brand in Australia, which offers high-performance versions of the Yaris and Corolla, as well as tougher versions of the HiLux and LandCruiser.
While Toyota races in the US NASCAR Cup Series with its Camry against the Mustang and Camaro, it’s tapped the Supra to be its racing hero in Australia.
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Speaking at the announcement, Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley said the decision to run the Supra – with a V8 engine – was a simple one.
“[Supra] has such an iconic nameplate. It’s well-known and we could develop it to reach Gen3 [regulations] status in Supercars,” Mr Hanley said.
“There was a lot of technical capability to suit the Supercars platform, we were able to drop a V8 into it, it just made sense.
“Above all, it’s a well-known brand, it’s a great-looking car. The more we saw [the Supra Supercars clay model], our designers did such a good job, it just worked.
“We never looked beyond Supra, we just believe that was the natural fit.”
While overseas reports have suggested the Toyota Supra – and the BMW Z4 it shares its underpinnings with – will be axed in 2026 just months after it turns up on the Supercars grid, Toyota is committed to staying in the premier category.
“Cars come and go, but that won’t diminish our commitment to motorsport or Supercars. Supra can go on for many, many years. It’s a great car,” said Mr Hanley.
“There’s no talk at the moment about us stopping it, but even if that day does come, then we move on to the next one.”
The Supercars Championship no longer requires competing cars to run V8 engines, as has been the formula for the series and its forebears since 1993.
However, no one is willing to stray from the proven package, which has resulted in Toyota tapping the 5.0-litre V8 from its HiLux Dakar race ute and the Lexus LC 500 to stand in place of the Supra’s BMW-sourced turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six.
The Lexus LC 500’s V8 will power the Supra Supercar
Though Toyota could’ve developed the production engine to run in the category – following in the footsteps of Holden which made a twin-turbo V6 prototype Commodore before ultimately scrapping the project – it always knew V8 was the only way.
“You’ve got to compete. Not to say you couldn’t get a six-cylinder to do that, but you want to resonate with the audience and be a part of the excitement, a part of the ethos, the Australian culture.
“V8s are still a thing, albeit getting harder and harder to become mainstream because of different policies and the environment.
“But remember, Supercars is using biofuels as well, so you’re greatly reducing emissions anyhow. There’s a lot of credentials there but you’ve got to fit into the ethos and you’ve got to win.
“It reminds us that people want performance cars.”
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