My days of being a full-time automotive journo are long behind me, but even I couldn’t let this Toyota press-release slip past without bringing it to the attention of BTG crowd! I’ll lead with a direct copy-paste, then add what I know…
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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) announced today that it is exhibiting at the three-day Tokyo Auto Salon 2025*1 being held at Makuhari Messe (in Chiba, Japan) from January 10 (today) to 12, 2025, mainly displaying vehicles and vehicle parts under the main theme of “Car-making at Nürburgring”, which is the starting point of TGR and Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Master Driver Morizo.
Now, “Master Driver Morizo” is no stranger to the ‘Ring, and his love for our racetrack is not exactly hard to miss. He’s been driving everything here for years, and has accrued more than a few VLN (sorry, NLS) race finishes in that time too. Anecdotally, he’s a total petrol-head CEO, unafraid of driving fast, or speaking his mind on the subject of how a car feels to drive.
In fact, Mr Toyoda’s latest Yaris project has been rumoured for a while. While I cannot speak to the veracity of them, the rumours do include talk of several Yarisesses (Yarii?) being entered in both NLS, the N24 qualifier, and the N24. They also talk of an enthusiastic group of Toyota workers who have been building these cars to company flagship status since last year.
The first of these cars is now officially public, and how many are to follow is unknown (I’ve been told at least two cars will compete at the N24 this year). Yes, that’s the bosses name on the driver shopping list over the door. No pressure then lads?
From 2025, TGR and ROOKIE Racing intend to compete in the Nürburgring Langstrecken Serie (NLS) and the Super Taikyu Series as a united “TOYOTA GAZOO ROOKIE Racing (TGRR)”. The new team plans to mark Toyota’s return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race after a six-year hiatus, entering with the evolved GR Yaris, which made its world debut at Tokyo Auto Salon 2024 and is equipped with the newly developed GAZOO Racing Direct Automatic Transmission. In 2024, numerous drivers, including Morizo and professional drivers, worked to prepare their Nürburgring entry vehicle by test-driving the GR Yaris on various roads both in Japan and abroad, including those of the Nürburgring circuit. The team seeks to hone its people and cars at the Nürburgring, the starting place of Morizo and TGR.
As a reminder, Toyota might not have shouted about their achievements much in motorsports recently, but their history at the Nurburgring is a strong one. To reinforce that, check out their other N24 racecars that will be at the show in Chiba…
At the same time as that, the TGR/SuperTaikyu/BossesPetProject MR concept also dropped, and this thing looks WILD. A 2-litre midships Yaris. Of course, Super Taikyo racecars don’t always indicate production intent… but still… wow! The motor you can see in the back there is allegedly the G20E… a whole new motor from Toyota, and a clear show of intent as other manufacturers back away from petrol cars.
If the G16E three-cylinder 1600 is pushing 280-350hp (depending on tuning), I’d love to see what the G20E does!
To further explore the potential of the GR Yaris, TGRR plans to compete in the Super Taikyu Series in the GR YARIS M Concept, which features an underdevelopment, midship-mounted, 2.0-liter, inline 4-cylinder, turbocharged engine. The team aims to implement “driver-first” carmaking, in which cars are repeatedly driven to failure and then repaired in the extreme conditions of racing and in which feedback from Morizo, professional drivers, and gentleman drivers is thoroughly incorporated.
And that’s it… I for one am LOVING Toyota’s returning enthusiasm for tin-tops, GTs and all things Nürburgring. What about you?
