From 2027 onwards, Toyota will be called Gazoo Racing in the WRC

This week, Toyota unveiled the colors and lines of two of its benchmark competition cars, namely the GR Yaris Rally1 of the WRC and the TR010 Hybrid Hypercar which will be used this season in WECBut beyond these presentations, the Japanese giant revealed more about the future it envisions for its sports entities. Starting in 2027, the team of rally The new name will be Gazoo Racing, and all references to Toyota will disappear. Conversely, the WEC program will be structured around the Toyota Racing team, a new logo that already appears on the livery of the in-house Hypercar. Finally, the Toyota Gazoo Rookie Racing entity will continue to operate under this name and will serve as a bridge between the two worlds of the group, particularly with regard to supporting its future talent. Will this have an impact on the naming of Toyota's production sports cars? It certainly will.

Toyota launches the GR brand

At the end of last year, Toyota unveiled its new GR GT, with sales slated to begin in 2027. This will apparently be the first GR, the group's new performance brand. In recent years, many manufacturers have capitalized on this trend by spinning off certain models from their existing ranges into standalone brands. Examples include Cupra with Seat and DS with Citroën. Alpine with RenaultIt is therefore not surprising that Toyota, the world's largest automaker, is doing the same and adding a new brand to a portfolio that, in addition to Toyota and Lexus, will now include GR and Century, its luxury brand. Indeed, seeing the future Toyota WRC car under the GR banner makes sense, as does seeing the Hypercar program continue to be called Toyota since, according to the company, Toyota Racing's activities "will foster long-term technological development in the field of engine design through its advanced development technologies."

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Gazoo Racing and motorsport

The genesis of Gazoo Racing's sporting history lies in the competitive ambitions of Akio Toyoda, then Executive Vice President of the group. He planned to participate in the 2007 Nürburgring 24 Hours, but at that time, no Toyota ready-made car existed in the group's catalog. To avoid criticism, he adopted the pseudonym "Morizo," entered the race under the Gazoo Racing banner, and teamed up with Hiromu Naruse, a Toyota test driver. While the performance was disappointing from a sporting perspective, it whetted the appetite of those involved, who, through the Lexus LFA, began developing a car in 2010 capable of erasing the humiliation suffered in the Green Hell a few years earlier, to use the group's own words. Gradually, the group's sporting activity resumed with renewed vigor with the return to... Endurance and in WRC, just a few years after the program ended Formula 1.