The GR GT3, Toyota’s next-generation GT3 race car, will make its world racing premiere in less than two weeks at the final rounds of the 2026 Autobacs SUPER GT Series in Mobility Resort Motegi.
ROOKIE Racing will run the #32 GR GT3 Concept in both legs of the Motegi GT 250km Race: Grand Final on Saturday and Sunday, 7–8 November, as revealed through the event’s official entry list. The GR GT3 Concept’s global debut comes in the final races of the SUPER GT campaign before the GR GT3 goes racing full-time next year.
By debuting in SUPER GT, the GR GT3 will follow the same path as its predecessor – the Lexus RC F GT3 – which raced for two seasons in Japan’s top-flight sports car racing championship before going on to compete in championships around the world.
Founded by Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Akio Toyoda, ROOKIE Racing represents the Japanese automotive giant at the highest levels of domestic motorsport as a race-winning factory team across both the SUPER GT GT500 class, and the Super Formula Championship. ROOKIE Racing also fields Toyota-supported entries in the legendary 24 Hours of Nürburgring, and has developed several future vehicles through competition in the Super Taikyu Series, including the GR Yaris, the GR Supra GT4 (and its evolutions), and liquid hydrogen propulsion technology pioneered in the GR Corolla H2 Concept.
Long-time Toyota factory racing driver Hiroaki Ishiura, who was one of the lead development drivers for both the road-going GR GT and its GT3 racing counterpart, will drive in the GR GT3’s first races – alongside 19-year-old Tokiya Suzuki, one of the top prospects of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Driver Challenge (TGR-DC) young driver development system.
Team ENEOS ROOKIE has enjoyed a successful first season thus far in the GT300 class. Ishiura, a two-time Super Formula Champion and past GT300 Drivers’ champion, has taken four top-10 finishes with the team’s previous Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
He currently sits seventh in the GT300 Drivers’ standings heading into Motegi, where the championship will be decided with two 250-kilometre sprint races.
But by switching cars with two races to go, Ishiura, Suzuki, and ROOKIE Racing will be prioritising the future, running the GR GT3 Concept in full race conditions for the very first time, in front of an anticipated crowd of over 30,000 people at Mobility Resort Motegi. Indeed, the car change also means that the team will not be eligible for championship points in the final two races.
One of the most heavily anticipated and controversial new models to enter GT3 since the creation of the category, the twin-turbo V8-powered GR GT3 is expected to race full-time in select series starting in 2027: The FIA World Endurance Championship, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, SUPER GT, and the Nürburgring 24H/Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie.
Images © ROOKIE Racing, Toyota Motor Corporation
