As part of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s presentation at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon, TGR and works team ROOKIE Racing announced their intentions to compete in the Nürburgring 24-Hour Race and the Super Taikyu Series as a unified team, Toyota Gazoo ROOKIE Racing (TGRR).
The new team plans to return to the Nürburgring 24 Hours for the first time after a six-year hiatus from the event, and will enter the race with the Toyota GR Yaris, equipped with the new Direct Automatic Transmission (DAT) system that’s been developed by Toyota on various roads in Japan and abroad, including the Nürburgring itself.
At the Nürburgring 24 Hours, Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman and ROOKIE Racing founder Akio “Morizo” Toyoda will drive the TGRR GR Yaris alongside his son Daisuke Toyoda, and Toyota Gazoo Racing works drivers Kazuya Oshima and Hiroaki Ishiura.
“Morizo” won his class at the Nürburgring in 2014, while his son Daisuke, the Senior Vice President of Woven by Toyota and a regular competitor in the Super Taikyu Series, makes his debut in the event.
Ishiura and Oshima have a combined eight N24 class wins. Ishiura has also won two Super Formula Championships, Oshima is a previous SUPER GT GT500 Champion, and both drivers won a SUPER GT GT300 title together in 2007.
But what has the automotive world at large buzzing is the reveal of a new Super Taikyu Series vehicle, the Toyota GR Yaris M Concept – as Toyota declared, “Midship takes off!”
Identical to the road-going GR Yaris on the surface, the M Concept will feature a new mid-mounted, two-litre inline-4 turbo engine codenamed the G20E – which is currently in development.
According to Toyota, TGRR intends to use Super Taikyu as an intensive test bed for the new engine, gathering feedback from professional and amateur drivers including Morizo-san himself.
Following up on Friday’s reveal of the programmes, on Sunday, further details of the TGRR N24/Super Taikyu programmes were revealed during a TGRR talk show hosted by Morizo.
The #32 GR Yaris M Concept will make its Super Taikyu debut in the fifth round of the 2025 season at Autopolis, and will also run in the penultimate round at Okayama. The Toyota GR Corolla H2 Concept hydrogen vehicle will race in both rounds at Fuji Speedway including the Fuji Super TEC 24 Hours. Morizo, Masahiro Sasaki, Yasuhiro Ogura, and driver/programme manager Hiroaki Ishiura will share driving duties in the #32 entry.
The #28 Toyota GR86 will return, driven by Daisuke Toyoda, Eisuke Sasaki, reigning ‘Double Champion’ of Japan Sho Tsuboi, and driver/manager Kazuya Oshima. Both TGRR entries will compete in the ST-Q class for manufacturer-developed concept vehicles.
Meanwhile, TGRR will also enter a Toyota GR Supra EVO2 in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, alongside the GR Yaris mentioned earlier. Masahiro Sasaki, Tatsuya Kataoka, Takamitsu Matsui, and Naoya Gamou will drive the GR Supra. Toshiyuki Sekiya, the chief mechanic of the ROOKIE Racing Super Taikyu ST-X programme, has been appointed as the General Manager of TGRR’s N24 efforts.
Images © Toyota
