Toyota’s performance arm has taken a step back to move forward, announcing a return to the original GAZOO Racing name as it renews its focus on building better cars through motorsports and developing the people behind them. The decision marks a symbolic reset for the brand, reconnecting it with the values that shaped its journey
GAZOO Racing’s story began in 2007, long before it carried Toyota’s corporate badge. Back then, Akio Toyoda, then an executive vice president, entered the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race alongside Toyota master driver Hiromu Naruse and a small group of colleagues. Because the effort was not recognised internally as an official Toyota activity, the team raced under the name Team GAZOO, with Toyoda himself competing under the nickname “Morizo”.
The team finished the gruelling race, but the experience left a lasting impression for all the wrong reasons. While rival manufacturers were using the Nürburgring as a development ground for future sports cars, Toyota had no such machines, and no true sports car in its showroom. Being overtaken by rivals’ prototypes highlighted how close Toyota was to losing the skills and culture needed to build enthusiast-focused cars.
That sense of frustration became the catalyst for change. Drawing inspiration from Japan’s Shikinen Sengu tradition, where the Ise Shrine is rebuilt every 20 years to preserve craftsmanship, Toyoda believed car-making skills also needed constant renewal. This thinking led to the development of the Lexus LFA, with the Nürburgring chosen as its primary testing ground.
Launched in 2010, the LFA became Toyota’s first fully in-house sports car in around two decades, despite internal resistance and strict limitations that capped production at 500 units.
Tragedy struck shortly before the LFA reached the market when Naruse was killed in an accident near the Nürburgring. His passing left a profound void, but also reinforced the belief that cars and people are forged through competition. Toyota pressed on, reviving the 86 in 2012 and later launching the GR Supra in 2019, although both projects relied on external partners, Subaru and BMW respectively, and stopped short of a completely in-house effort.
A turning point came in April 2015, when Toyota consolidated all of its racing activities under the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing banner. For the first time, motorsports projects could officially carry the Toyota name. Yet, as the organisation grew, there was a risk that the raw hunger born from those early Nürburgring days might fade.
To reignite that spirit, Toyota returned to the World Rally Championship, where race cars are closely tied to production models. This shifted the company’s approach to performance development. Instead of racing modified road cars, Toyota began building competition machines first and then turning them into production vehicles.
The result was the GR Yaris, unveiled in 2020, a fully in-house performance car that quickly proved itself with a class win in a Super Taikyu 24-hour race. Its success laid the groundwork for the GR Corolla and marked Toyota’s return to building sports cars capable of winning on track.
In 2025, Toyota returned to the Nürburgring 24 Hours after a six-year absence, fielding a GR Yaris. Toyoda, now Toyota’s master driver, once again took the wheel at the circuit where it all began. That same year, the GR GT, GR GT3 and a new LFA Concept were revealed, signalling the brand’s ambition to create the ultimate expression of its sports car philosophy.
As it approaches nearly two decades since the first Team GAZOO entry in 2007, Toyota’s decision to revert to the GAZOO Racing name reflects a desire to stay grounded in its origins. The humiliation that once questioned whether Toyota could build cars worthy of the world’s toughest circuits has become the driving force behind a continuous pursuit of improvement.
With gratitude extended to partners, competitors and fans across the global motorsports community, GAZOO Racing is setting out to continue its journey under the name that started it all, focused on building ever-better motorsports-bred cars and nurturing the drivers, engineers and mechanics who make them possible.