The Toyota GR Supra Will Go Racing In Australia With A V8

The Toyota GR Supra is set to enter the Repco Supercars Championship in Australia and New Zealand starting from 2026, and it will pack a V8!

The Toyota GR Supra sportscar is set to see its motorsports and racing credentials grow a little come 2026. Earlier this week, the Japanese automaker’s Australian arm officially announced that it will enter and compete in the 2026 season of the Australian Supercars Championship.

For the uninitiated, the Supercars Championship – known as the Repco Supecars Championship under sponsorship – is a touring car racing category held across both Australia and New Zealand. It was previously known as the Australian V8 Supercars series.

Previously known as the Australian V8 Supercars series, the field is currently filled by entrants racing the Ford Mustang GT and Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Soon, the Toyota GR Supra will be in this mix too. (Image: Repco Supercars Championship)

Historically, the series is renowned for the fierce battles between Holden (GM) and Ford, with the majority of entrants fielding either makes. Under its current rules, just two models are fielded, those being the Ford Mustang GT and the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Well, come 2026, said Ford and Chevy will be joined by the Toyota GR Supra, and Toyota Australia’s motorsports arm confirmed that a special version of the coupe sportscar will be built to meet the series’ technical regulations. This includes priming it with a V8 engine.

Toyota Australia officially announced its 2026 entry into the series earlier this week, even showing off a clay scale model plus digital renders of its upcoming GR Supra racecar.

Apart from showing off a clay scale model and digital renders, Toyota Australia hasn’t revealed much about this GR Supra build. It did confirm that the V8 mill it will use is the all-aluminium and naturally aspirated 2UR-GSE 5.0-litre V8 – the very same mill powering the Lexus RC F and LC500.

In the LC 500, which is marketed officially in Malaysia at a princely RM1,379,000, said mill grants this luxurious coupe GT with 470 HP and 540 NM plus 0-100 KM/H dashes in 4.7 seconds. Indeed, this is a stark contrast to the regular GR Supra model’s BMW-sourced 3.0-litre straight-six turbo.

Toyota Australia will develop this new GR Supra racecar with Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU), and it will harness the all-aluminium and naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8 mill lifted from the Lexus LC 500 and RC F.

Given the series’ powertrain restrictions, expect different outputs from this mill when primed in the specially built GR Supra. Toyota plans to enter the series with four cars, all which designed and developed by Toyota Australia and partners Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU). The automaker also committed to compete in the series across a five-year period.

“We’ve been toying with the idea of competing in Supercars for more than 20 years and now with the right car, the right team, and a very strong partnership with the Repco Supercars Championship, the time is definitely right,” said Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia’s Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations.

Presently, initial design work for this specially built GR Supra racecar has begun and, based on the clay model and digital renders mentioned, things are looking very exciting. Radical looks aside, what’s also certain is a stellar soundtrack stemming from its new V8 heart.