Toyota Supra gets a V8… but only on Australian race tracks

Even if it’s not the very last word in driver engagement and finesse, the Toyota Supra is a car of many talents and many motorsport disciplines. From drifting, to NASCAR, to GT4 racing, the Supra has appeared all over. Now it’s going down under, for the 2026 Australian Supercars championship.

The trouble with that is, Supercars is a V8 series and the Supra is not sold with a V8. That’s where the Toyota 2UR-GSE 5-litre quad-cam mill that used to power the Lexus LC500, RC F and GS F, plus the IS F before those, comes in. Or at least, a fettled race spec derivation.

The Supercars-spec Supra is getting a 5.2-litre version of the V8 in place of the four- and six-cylinder units the road cars ordinarily run. Other derivatives of the Toyota/Lexus V8 power the Lexus RC F GT3 and powered the Toyota Hilux to victory at the Dakar in 2019. Interestingly, the Supercars rulebook allows for engines between 5.2 and 5.7 litres in size, presumably to catch the traditionally larger small block Chevrolet V8s used in the Camaros that the Supra will be racing against.

As for the rest of the car? It’s certainly a generously massaged version of the Supra sports car the UK market no longer receives. The nose with its large portioned-up mouth almost puts us in mind of the original Toyota FT-One concept that previewed the Supra over a decade ago. There’s enormous negative camber as is typical of the Supercars rule set, large side exhausts exiting the sills directly below the driver’s position in the car and a sizable diffuser.

Toyota Australia has designed and will be developing the car, with six cars set to be fielded, with Walkinshaw Andretti United running two when the 2026 season gets underway. Until then, the team will continue to use the Mustang it currently races up until the end of the 2025 season. Brad Jones Racing will field the remaining four cars.

The testing program will shortly get underway, while the car will be heard for the first time at the 2025 Barhurst 1000 in October, where the GR Supra Supercar will turn some demonstration laps and be available for public viewing. Toyota has committed to the Supercars Championship for at least the next five years. Presumably that means the A90 Supra as we see it here will still be racing, as the next-generation car is introduced. That’s if its predicted arrival within the next three years comes to fruition.