V8 engine for new Toyota Supercar

Key to Toyota’s arrival in Supercars will be V8 power, confirmed alongside the Japanese brand’s historic move into Australia's premier motorsport championship.

Revealed Wednesday, Toyota has linked up with Walkinshaw Andretti United, which will act as the homologation team for the project.

A second team is being sought as part of a five-year, four-car Supercars commitment from Toyota, which will run GR Supras from 2026.

Critically, the GR Supra Supercars are set to compete with Toyota's 5.0-litre naturally-aspirated 2UR-GSE V8, which has been used Lexus F performance models as well as the current LC500.

It ensures the V8 blueprint made famous by the premier Australian motorsport championship remains strong, with Ford and Chevrolet both debuting new engines as the Gen3 era kicked off last year.

Current Supercars rules permit other engine configurations, but no manufacturer has raced anything but a V8 since 1993.

Under Gen3, Ford's Coyote engine is a 5.4L dual overhead cam V8, while Chevrolet teams use a naturally aspirated fuel injected 5.7 litre LTR V8.

Toyota has a rich motorsport heritage — including rallying, NASCAR, sportscar racing and even Formula One — and even took part in the Australian Touring Car Championship in the 1980s and 1990s with a Corolla.

Come 2026, over 30 years since the V8 era began, Toyota will use a V8 too, a race-ready 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 also taken to victory by a HiLux in the 2019 Dakar Rally.

V8 power was always part of Toyota’s plans; when asked if a six-cylinder was an option, Toyota Australia Vice President Sales, Marketing and Franchise Operations Sean Hanley quipped it was discussed for "about three minutes" before adding "actually it was probably about one [minute].”

Supercars will join a large roster of global motorsport categories in which Toyota competes, from the local Australian Rally Championship and GR Cup, to the world stage.

From 2026, the Bathurst 1000 will be one of Toyota’s targets, alongside Le Mans in the World Endurance Championship, the World Rally Championship, and NASCAR in the United States.

"We’re not coming in to come second,” Hanley said.

“I promise you this: We don’t give up, we don’t stop, we keep going and we will win this race eventually, make no mistake about it.”

On finally joining Supercars, Hanley added: "Supercars fans tend to go to a race track and spend a lot of time there.

"That makes it ideal as a touring motor show, enabling us to promote our broad range of vehicles and really engage with the crowd, because we know this is a driver-orientated sport.

"If some of the country's best steerers like Chaz and Ryan are driving our car, then people are going to support us. That's going to bring a lot of people into Toyota dealerships, people who don't normally go there.”