Toyota Gazoo Racing

Toyota Gazoo Racing (or Toyota GR/TGR) is a motorsport/performance brand of the Japanese automaker Toyota.

"Toyota GR" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Toyota GR engine.
Not to be confused with The Great Gazoo.
Toyota Gazoo Racing
FormerlyTeam Gazoo (2007–2009)
Gazoo Racing (2009–2015)
TypeDivision
IndustryAutomotive
Founded2007
HeadquartersJapan
ProductsHigh-performance engines and cars
Automotive sports accessories
ServicesAutomobile tuning
ParentToyota Motor Corporation
DivisionsToyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH
Toyota Gazoo Racing SA
Websitewww.toyotagazooracing.com

Many divisions in various racing disciplines use the branding, including Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Toyota's World Rally Championship team; Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe GmbH, Toyota's World Endurance Championship team; Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa, Toyota's cross-country rally division; and Toyota Gazoo Racing Argentina, a national subsidiary team.

The "GR" brand is also used for some performance-oriented road cars such as the GR Supra and the GR Yaris.

History

In 2007, an in-house team consisted of student test drivers and mechanics led by Hiromu Naruse, who was a test driver of Toyota, competed in the 24 Hours Nürburgring race. Akio Toyoda, then the vice president of Toyota, who received driving instruction directly from Naruse, also participated as a driver.[1] At that time, he was not allowed to call the team "Works Toyota Racing". Therefore, the name Team Gazoo was used instead. "Gazoo" (from 画像 (Gazō, lit. "image")) is the name of a portal site that Toyota was involved in establishing. And in public relations, the drivers were also given the nicknames "Cap" for Naruse and "Morizo" for Toyoda. Also, as there were minimal budgets, they used the Altezzas and BMW E90s, which at the time had been discontinued, as the race car project. The Gazoo website posted the activity report as an amateur race project.

From 2009, the team continued to participate in the race by introducing development models such as the Lexus LF-A and the FT-86 with the goal of "training people and cars at the Nürburgring, the sacred place for new car development" under the Gazoo Racing name.[2] The drivers include professional racers such as Takayuki Kinoshita, Akira Iida, and Hiroaki Ishiura, but the mechanics and engineers are selected from the employees. In 2014, the team had to play a three-class domination to honor Naruse's accidental death in June 2010.[3]

After Toyoda taking office as the President of Toyota in 2009, the scope of Gazoo Racing has expanded, and it has organized several circuit events such as the "86/BRZ Race" and the "Toyota Gazoo Racing Festival", which is held every November. In addition, the sports conversion brands called "GRMN" (Gazoo Racing, tuned by the Meister of the Nürburgring) and "G's/G Sports" was established in 2009 and 2010 respectively.[4]

From April 2015, all motorsports activities that had been divided into "Gazoo Racing", "Toyota Racing" and "Lexus Racing" have been unified with "Gazoo Racing". Toyota and Lexus brand racing activities are under the Gazoo Racing umbrella and are called "Toyota Gazoo Racing" and "Lexus Gazoo Racing".[5] From this year onwards, Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) works machines use a common color scheme of red and black stripes on a white background. At the same time, the "Great Skills Training Department" has been set up to develop human resources who can participate in Gazoo Racing activities centered on rallies and Nürburgring.

In 2016, Juichi Wakisaka, who had retired from Super GT, became the TGR's ambassador. TGR also had acquired the naming rights for the first corner of the affiliated Fuji Speedway and renamed it to "TGR Corner".[6] In addition, actor Takeru Satoh was appointed as a television advertisement character to carry out publicity activities.

In 2017, the Toyota Gazoo Racing Factory, which had been developing motorsport vehicles, was reorganized and the "Gazoo Racing Company" was established.[7] As an in-house company, it strengthened its independence and contributed to Toyota's car making by feeding back the knowledge gained in the race to road cars, and the direction to secure profitability was decided.[8] The sports conversion brand was reorganized into the GR series ("GRMN", "GR", "GR Sport/GR-S" and "GR Parts"), and the "GR Garage", which is a regional base, was set up at dealers in each region.[9][10]

In 2019, the GR Supra, the first GR brand-exclusive car, was released. The GR Sport variant of the Daihatsu Copen also took Gazoo Racing the first step as a brand beyond the Toyota's frame.

In 2020, the GR Yaris, the second GR-branded car, was announced. It is produced at the "GR Factory" in Motomachi plant, a production line dedicated to GR-branded cars that are not using the conveyor belt type.[11]

Models

GR
Current production models
Model Calendar year introduced Market(s)

GR SUPRA		 GR Supra 2019 Global

GR YARIS		 GR Yaris 2020 Japan, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, Malaysia

GR Sport/GR-S
Current production models
Model Calendar year introduced Market(s)
VIOS GR-S Vios GR-S 2021 Malaysia

COROLLA HATCHBACK GR SPORT

COROLLA ALTIS GR SPORT		 Corolla/Corolla Altis GR Sport 2019 Europe, Thailand, Taiwan, Brazil

AQUA GR SPORT		 Aqua GR Sport 2017 Japan

PRIUS PHV GR SPORT		 Prius PHV GR Sport 2017 Japan

PRIUS α GR SPORT		 Prius α GR Sport 2017 Japan

C-HR GR SPORT		 C-HR GR Sport 2019 Japan, Europe, Australia

NOAH GR SPORT		 Noah GR Sport 2017 Japan

VOXY GR SPORT		 Voxy GR Sport 2017 Japan

COPEN GR SPORT		 Copen GR Sport 2019 Japan

HILUX GR SPORT		 Hilux GR Sport 2019 South Africa, South America
Former production models
  • Vitz GR Sport
  • Yaris GR Sport
  • Mark X GR Sport
  • 86 GR Sport
  • Harrier GR Sport

GRMN
Limited-production models
Model Year and number built Market(s)

iQ GRMN		 iQ GRMN 2009 (100 units) Japan

iQ GRMN SUPERCHARGER		 iQ GRMN Supercharger 2012 (100 units) Japan

VITZ GRMN TURBO		 Vitz GRMN Turbo 2013 (200 units) Japan

MARK X GRMN (2015)

MARK X GRMN (2019)		 Mark X GRMN 2015 (100 units), 2019 (350 units) Japan

86 GRMN		 86 GRMN 2016 (100 units) Japan

VITZ GRMN		 Vitz GRMN 2018 (150 units) Japan

YARIS GRMN		 Yaris GRMN 2018 (400 units) Europe

CENTURY GRMN		 Century GRMN 2018 (2 black and white units, not for sale) Japan

See also

References
  1. CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "ニュルブルクリンクへの挑戦 2007レース振返り | ニュルブルクリンクへの挑戦2007 | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing". toyotagazooracing.com.
  2. CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "HISTORY 人とクルマを鍛える挑戦の軌跡 | ニュルブルクリンク24時間レース". TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.
  3. "GAZOO Racing 3クラス制覇！ | ニュルブルクリンクへの挑戦2014 | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing". toyotagazooracing.com.
  4. "豊田章男社長の肝煎りで始動異例の開発プロジェクトの狙い". ダイヤモンド・オンライン.
  5. "トヨタ自動車、GAZOO Racingによるモータースポーツ活動の強化を発表 | トヨタ自動車株式会社 公式企業サイト". global.toyota.
  6. "富士スピードウェイが4社とネーミングライツ契約。1コーナー、100Rが名称変更 | スーパーGT | autosport web". AUTO SPORT web. 1 April 2016.
  7. "トヨタがカンパニー制をさらに進化させる、組織改正は「オポチュニティ」". MONOist.
  8. "トヨタ、GAZOOレーシングカンパニー を新設…市販車開発へ". レスポンス（Response.jp）.
  9. CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "TOYOTA、スポーツカーシリーズ「GR」を投入 | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website". トヨタ自動車株式会社 公式企業サイト.
  10. CORPORATION, TOYOTA MOTOR. "GR／GR SPORTの開発責任者とマスターテストドライバーに聞く ―ここからトヨタを変えていく―". GAZOO.com.
  11. "トヨタは「自社開発のスポーツカーが欲しかった」 20年ぶりの新型スポーツ「GRヤリス」の存在意義とは". くるまのニュース.
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