Toyota Is Making a Naturally Aspirated V-8 Supra Race Car

It will use the same 5.0-liter engine found in the Lexus RC F.

Photo by: Toyota

By: Adrian Padeanu

Sep 18, 2024 at 2:29am ET

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Toyota currently sells the street-legal Supra with four- and six-cylinder engines supplied by BMW. The track-only GT4 variant also uses an inline-six of Bavarian origins. Come 2026 though, the company's Australian branch will shoehorn in a big ol' V-8 developed in-house. A naturally aspirated 5.0-liter engine will power a race car for the Repco Supercars Championship.

If you know your Toyota engines by their internal codenames, the V-8 Supra is getting the 2UR-GSE, an aluminum powerplant found in a multitude of products. The IS F and GS F had it, while the RC F, LC 500, and the IS 500 F Sport models are still rocking the 5.0. It was also found in the Hilux pickup truck that triumphed at the Dakar Rally in 2019.

Toyota aims to compete in the Supercars Championship for at least five years, under the Gen3 ruleset that was introduced in 2023. The hardcore Supra will go up against the Ford Mustang and its Coyote 5.4-liter engine. Currently, Chevrolet teams run a Camaro equipped with a 5.7-liter V-8 but a mysterious replacement is on the way since the muscle car died at the end of 2023.

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Toyota will enter at least four GR Supra race cars, and two of them will be driven by Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood for the Walkinshaw Andretti United team. The other team has not been announced yet. From 2026, WAU is going to switch from racing Ford Mustangs to Toyota Supras. It's worth mentioning the Walkinshaw Automotive Group is already collaborating with Toyota by converting Tundra trucks to right-hand drive in Melbourne, Australia.

With Toyota joining, 2026 will be the first season since 2019 when the Repco Supercars Championship will have three manufacturers. In the past decade, Volvo, Nissan, and Mercedes also took part before abandoning the championship.