What next for Toyota as Supercars debut approaches

There are just 42 days until Toyota make their highly anticipated debut in the Repco Supercars Championship with the GR Supra.

Five cars will be running for the Japanese make as they enter the traditional Ford vs GM battle, with Walkinshaw TWG Racing and Brad Jones Racing tasked with leading Toyota's all new assault.

There is still plenty of water to go under the bridge in the final weeks of the pre-season, here is the roadmap of what's to come before the Sydney 500 on February 20-22.

New car builds

Out of the five Toyota GR Supras set to contest the 2026 season, four will be brand new cars. Walkinshaw TWG Racing are building two new cars for defending champion Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood, whilst Brad Jones Racing are also building up a pair of new cars for Andre Heimgartner and new recruit Cameron Hill. The remaining BJR entry, piloted by Macauley Jones, will utilise Heimgartner's chassis that was built new for 2025, reskinned with Supra body panels and with Toyota's 5.2L V8 installed.

Pre-season

Once all of the Supras are built, they will be permitted to complete a shakedown run as per Supercars rules and regulations. Teams are permitted to complete 60km of running at their designated test track, which for both Walkinshaw and BJR is Winton in Victoria. From there, the only other pre-season testing that will be completed will come at the all-in pre-season test day at Sydney Motorsport Park, to be held just two days prior to the Sydney 500 on Wednesday, February 18. Teams get just two four-hour sessions to get all their ducks in a row for the new year.

Walkinshaw free of title tension

After snapping a 23-year winless drought last year, Walkinshaw TWG Racing now enter the 2026 season with a lot less to deal with. The partnership with Ford has come to a winning conclusion, meaning that now there is full focus on one manufacturer as opposed to the juggling act of 2025. That should bring some engineering firepower back to the racing operation, notably Team Principal Carl Faux, who has been heavily involved with the Toyota development program. It's also a big year for Mostert, who is in the last year of his contract, and was linked with a shock split before his Finals charge. Wood meanwhile will be out to further enhance is burgeoning reputation after a breakout year, but will be hoping that 2025's mechanical woes haven't followed him into the new year.

New year, new BJR

The second act of the Toyota story will be written in Albury this year, and it's hard to remember when there was so much hype associated around BJR in recent years. This is the first time in nearly two decades that Brad Jones' squad have changed manufacturer, and that's not the only change coming, with Cameron Hill arriving off the back of a race-winning campaign at Matt Stone Racing. What was anticipated to be a four-car attack has been whittled down to three following the departure of the SCT Motorsport license, however that could also help the team with a narrower focus. Andre Heimgartner is in a contract year, and will be eager to win the head-to-head with new teammate Hill, whilst Macauley Jones jagged several top 10 results last year. The team has regressed since finishing third in the 2023 teams' championship, but Toyota could bring a fresh energy to the team.

Engine testing

Aerodynamic parity has been achieved following a test at Windshear in Charlotte, North Carolina, and now focus turns to the engine, which has been monitored throughout early reliability running. Validation work remains ongoing for the engine, with further testing on the AVL dyno set to take place in coming weeks to benchmark the engine against the existing Chevrolet and Ford engines. In the meantime, there has been locally based testing of the engine, both on the dyno and out on track. Walkinshaw's GR Supra test mule has completed plenty of miles at Winton, whilst also doing demo runs which doubled as tests at Bathurst, the Gold Coast, and Adelaide.