Toyota's GR GT3 to debut at Super GT finale

After years of anticipation, the new GR GT3 by Toyota will make its global motorsport debut in less than two weeks at the Autobacs Super GT Series season finale at Mobility Resort Motegi.

The twin-turbo V8-powered GR GT3 Concept will race in the Motegi GT 250km Grand Final double-header, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, November 7/8. RACER Network and RACER+ will have live English-language coverage of both races.

Rookie Racing will enter the No. 32 GR GT3 Concept as a “special vehicle” in the GT300 class, replacing the established Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO that the team had used throughout the 2026 campaign. Founded by Toyota Motor Corporation chairman and former CEO Akio Toyoda, Rookie Racing has developed new cars and technologies through competition in events such as the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the Super Taikyu Series in Japan, and also represents Toyota as a works team in Super GT’s top-level GT500 class and in the Super Formula Championship.

The GR GT3 Concept will be piloted by Toyota factory racing driver Hiroaki Ishiura, one of the lead development drivers for the road-going GR GT supercar and its GT3 variant, and 19-year-old Toyota young driver Tokiya Suzuki.

Rookie Racing has tallied four top-10 finishes in its first GT300 campaign with the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG, with a best finish of second place for Ishiura and Suzuki at the August round in Fuji Speedway. However, by switching cars for the finale, Ishiura, Suzuki, and Rookie Racing will not be eligible to score points in the doubleheader finale at Motegi.

Instead, the team will focus on gathering data in a full race scenario, as the GR GT3 prepares for its first full season of racing in four select series throughout 2027.

Rookie Racing is set to run the GR GT3 full-time in the 2027 Super GT Series, and at next year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours alongside fellow Toyota Super Formula squad KCMG. Akkodis ASP Team is tipped to run a pair of GR GT3s in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Vasser Sullivan Racing is expected to do the same in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with its North American debut still on course for the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January, RACER understands.

The new car, billed as the spiritual successor to the Toyota 2000GT and Lexus LFA, also represents a launch point for the new GR brand – with both the road and race versions badged as GRs, and not as a Toyota or a Lexus.

By competing in Super GT’s final two races of the season, the GR GT3 will follow a similar path to that of its predecessor, the Lexus RC F GT3. The RC F GT3 raced for the first time in Super GT in 2015, two years before full-scale customer racing programs began across the world.

The GR GT3 will also have a limited scope in its first full season, with no further customer cars to be released for competition until 2028 – a similar strategy to the Lamborghini Temerario GT3 in its first season of racing. FIA GT3 regulations require at least 20 cars to be built within the first two years of its formal homologation, which is still pending.