Toyota Is Building A V8 Supra To Challenge The Best Supercars In A Race
Under the stewardship of Toyota Australia in Altona, at least four copies of the fifth-generation GR Supras will be converting V6 smoothness to V8 brawn in preparation to debut at the 2026 Repco Australian Supercars Championships. Currently, the top of the standings are made out of Ford Mustang GTs and Chevy Camaro ZL1s. It'll be interesting to see if Toyota can mix things up a bit.
Part of the race-prep plan is to replace the BMW 3.0 liter inline six (remember that the Supra and the G29 BMW Z4 were jointly developed) with V8 muscle from the gorgeous Lexus LC500 and RC-F. This motor, the naturally-aspirated, all aluminum, quad-cam 2UR-GSE was also used to power a Dakar-prepped Hilux truck to a win in 2019. Other modifications are expected to include chassis strengthening and aerodynamic improvements, although specifics will only be revealed later down the line.
The finished racecars will be carry the Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) team colors for a five-year term. The Toyota collaboration is a new shift for WAU—it raced Holdens (the arguably cooler Australian subsidiary of General Motors) for 36 years since 1987, switched to Ford in 2023, and will swap to Supras in 2026. As one of the major forces in the championship (with six drivers' titles and 191 race wins), WAU-Toyota is expected to cause a stir with its two drivers Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood.
Toyota is reportedly going to use the championship experience to “provide valuable knowledge for the further development of its GR road cars,” according to Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia Vice President for Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations.
Development of the V8 GR Supra is still in early stages, though. The clay model seen in the photo above shows plenty of smoothened aero and side-firing exhausts. Hanley says that there's no plan to release a production V8 Supra, at least with the current generation, but it can't hurt to dream now, can it?
