The GR badge first made its appearance in America with the launch of the long-awaited 2020
GR Supra. But for many, the flag logo and what it stands for is still a mystery. It's time
to set the record straight–GR stands for GAZOO Racing, and it
started within a skunkworks motorsports team led by Akio Toyoda. While competing under
motorsports events' extreme conditions all over the world, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has developed
the technologies and passion to make "ever-better" cars. It's in the DNA of our GR pure
sports
car series.
The name GAZOO is derived from the Japanese word for picture. And
under Akio Toyoda's guidance, it has come to describe the way Toyota engineers envision a garage
full of cars that are built to perform. As President of Toyota Motor Corporation, Akio lives and
breathes cars and holds true to a simple philosophy—roads build people and people build cars. As
a master driver, he continues to take the wheel to hone his special knack for building the kind
of vehicles car enthusiasts will love. Vehicles badged with the GR brand are put through the
most rigorous testing on and off the track by Akio Toyoda himself. By taking to the road and
handling vehicles personally, he truly embodies and defines that philosophy.
GR Supra
Nürburgring is a notorious 12-mile circuit of twists and turns in
northwestern Germany. Its brutal 24-hour-long annual endurance race is so challenging that
the track has been dubbed the Green Hell.
For that very reason, it was the perfect place to put GR Supra to the test
prior to its much-anticipated launch in 2020. It wasn't the first time that the Nürburgring
Endurance Series had been used to develop a Toyota vehicle though—that honor goes to the
fourth-generation Supra (A80).
The new Supra not only endured the race but secured third place in the SP8T
class and posted a lap time of 19 seconds faster than its competition.
Drivers and engineers alike acknowledge that it's at Nürburgring that Toyota
can push boundaries, forge technologies and find solutions that enable them to make
ever-better cars.
Born from the World Rally Championship, GR Yaris incorporates advanced
technologies including GR-FOUR, Toyota's first sports All-Wheel Drive system in 20 years,
and a 1.6-liter, 3-cylinder turbocharged engine.
With a curb weight of around 2800 pounds, this hot hatch is a firecracker
and gets a 0–60 time of just 5.5 seconds.
In the U.S., GR Yaris is the subject of speculation, rumor and conjecture.
Since this 257-hp beast was announced overseas, there has been growing demand for it to make
its way onto the U.S. market.
While the GR Yaris won't make it to the U.S., a rally-inspired hatchback is
certainly not out of the question. If and when that happens, American fans of street-legal
versions of pure sports race cars will have a lot to be happy about.
Clearly, Toyota believes that ever-better cars are created by testing
them on evermore challenging roads—whether that's in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the
grueling Dakar Rally or the virtual tracks of the e-Motorsports' GR Supra Cup, a global online
race currently looking for the world's fastest GR Supra driver.
Vehicles shown may be prototypes, shown using visual effects and/or shown with options. Actual models may vary.
