Toyota is entering 2026 with major strategic changes to its global motorsport identity, an updated hypercar for the FIA World Endurance Championship, and one of its most focused GR Yaris specials to date. The shift reflects a company returning to its motorsport roots while sharpening the connection between competition, product development, and enthusiast culture.
The biggest news concerns branding.
After a decade operating under the Toyota Gazoo Racing umbrella, the company is reverting to two distinct motorsport identities: Gazoo Racing for Japan-based activities and customer motorsport programmes, and Toyota Racing for its European arm and endurance entry. The change is more than cosmetic. It symbolically returns the organisation to 2007, when Akio Toyoda, then competing under the pseudonym “Morizo Kinoshita”, and his mentor Hiromu Naruse raced at the Nürburgring as part of the unofficial Team Gazoo effort. By reinstating the Gazoo Racing name, Toyota signals a renewed commitment to motorsport as a proving ground for both production cars and people, which is a philosophy that has underpinned everything from the GR Yaris to the reborn GR Supra.
Europe’s Cologne-based engineering centre, formerly Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH, will now operate as Toyota Racing GmbH. The division will specialise in advanced motorsport technology and powertrain development, and will lead the brand’s 2026 WEC campaign with an updated TR010 Hybrid hypercar under the Toyota Racing banner. The new livery on the TR010 Hybrid may serve as a tribute to branding from Morizo’s early racing era, adding a meaningful nod to the programme’s origins.
At the other end of the spectrum sits the GR Yaris Morizo RR, revealed in prototype form at Tokyo Auto Salon 2026. Developed with the direct involvement of Akio Toyoda, the RR channels lessons from the 2025 Nürburgring 24 Hours, where Toyoda piloted a GR Yaris equipped with the GR Direct Automatic Transmission. The production RR features Nürburgring-honed suspension tuning, an exclusive 4WD control mode named “Morizo”, stiffer steering calibration, and an aero package led by a motorsport-developed carbon-fibre rear wing. A new Gravel Khaki exterior colour, matte bronze wheels, yellow brake callipers and suede-trimmed cabin details mark it out as the most personalised GR Yaris to date. Only 100 examples will be offered in Japan, with a further 100 destined for select European markets.
