With the news Toyota Australia will join the Repco Supercars Championship in 2026, the manufacturer’s support of local motorsport has been consistent for nearly 70 years.
Not only was the 1957 Mobilgas Trial Toyota’s first foray into Australia motorsport, but in fact the Toyopet Crown Model RS Deluxe shared by Kunio Kaminomura, Kojiro Kondo and Lindsey Hedley marked the international competition debut of the marque. This achievement is recognised in Toyota’s history museum in Japan, which features a replica Crown.
Toyota continued its entry into trials until the mid-1960s, but transitioned to fast growing Armstrong 500, which had moved from Phillip Island to Bathurst for the 1963 event. Local assembly firm Australian Motor Industries had secured the Toyota franchise and went to Mount Panorama first in 1965 with the two Toyota Coronas.
Although not gaining class success during these early years, the Corona and later Crowns laid the groundwork for Toyota’s future victories.
Toyota’s rivalry with fellow Japanese manufacturer Datsun continued in Australia and it was the latter more often than not emerging victorious.
Future ATCC winner Bob Morris delivered Toyota its maiden class win in the 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500 in a Corolla alongside Brian Sampson, who contributed to Toyota’s rise in the 1970s.
The Class A battle entering the decade was fought between Toyota, Datsun and Mazda in a thrilling all-Japanese battle as the rivalry grew.
Sampson was a crowd pleaser in the mid-1970s in a factory-supported Toyota Celica Sports Sedan due to his giant killing performances.
During the late-1970s Toyota’s involvement increased at Bathurst where the Corolla and Celica through the involvement of Sydney dealer Peter Williamson.
Despite some early reliability challenges, Williamson won multiple classes at the change of the decade and in some instances lost the battles to his former cars transferred to new teams such as Graeme Bailey.
His class win in 1979 alongside Mike Quinn was historic as it featured Channel 7’s new Racecam technology featuring an in-car camera and a microphone to hear Williamson’s reactions.
Toyota’s reliability and class success led to it winning the first Australian Endurance Championship in 1981.
In fact during this time, Williamson expanded into open-wheelers driving a Toyota-powered Coleman in the Australian Drivers’ Championship.
Williamson, Bailey and Alexandra Surplice in a Corolla sponsored by Meadow Lea upheld the Toyota honours through the early-1980s.
As the Group C era ended, Williamson was one of the first adopters to Group A as he imported an ex-factory Toyota Supra from the UK. Sixth outright at Sandown was an impressive result, but being part of the start line pile up at Bathurst required significant repairs.
In a part-ATCC campaign, Williamson impressed towards the end of the season, but engine problems at the Mountain ended the season in disappointing fashion alongside Tomas Mezera.
A rebuilt Supra was left behind by the rapid development of the Group A formula and Williamson endured a horrific crash at Bathurst. Crashing just prior to Murray’s Corner, Williamson destroyed the Supra and was injured when the onboard fire extinguisher came loose, striking him in the head. This left co-driver Mark Skaife on the sidelines.
Although Williamson rebuilt the Supra to race in 1987 it was simply outclassed by the Sierras and failed to qualify at Bathurst.
However, Toyota was winning on the track in the class battle through its Corolla range and launched a factory team in 1985.
Toyota Team Australia dominated the Under 2.0-Litre Class through the entirety of Group A featuring the likes of John Faulkner, motorbike racer Michael Dowson, John Smith, Drew Price, Jason and Scott Bargwanna, Mark Poole, Rick and Neal Bates, and Paul Stokell.
It also attempted an outright entry by entering an ex-TOM’s MA70 Supra Turbo, but it proved a heavy beast against the Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500 and Nissan R32 Skyline GT-R opposition. In fact Alan Jones took the first victory for the model in Japan, but the same success failed to come in Australia.
Privateer Garry Willmington also had a crack by building up an MA70 Supra Turbo, but it followed the same narrative.
During this time, the Supra dominated production car racing and won the first Bathurst 12 Hour in 1991 for Peter Fitzgerald, Allan Grice alongside New Zealander Nigel Arkell.
Despite Toyota dropping away from circuit racing after supporting a Colin Bond-led Corolla Seca 2.0-litre team in 1993, its involvement in rallying ramped up.
Neal Bates led the way from his Canberra base through a variety of Celicas until the GT-Four in 1993 with co-driver Coral Taylor the pair secured a hat-trick of Australian Rally Championship titles.
Also taking his skill to Targa Tasmania, Bates showcased Toyota’s Camry Sportivo, TRD Aurion and various Lexus models in what was Australia’s premier tarmac rally.
Although a Subaru domination followed, Bates was part of the development team when Toyota Team Europe introduced the Corolla World Rally Car in 1997.
Bates’ team added another two titles for Simon Evans in 2006 and 2007, then added a fourth ARC crown for himself in 2008.
It didn’t stop there as Bates’ sons Harry and Lewis have dominated the ARC in recent history. Harry has three titles and Lewis one driving the locally developed Yaris AP4, but the pair have since transitioned to the recently released R5 version.
Although rallying took precedence, production car racing highlighted other models in the Toyota range with distinction including the Corolla, Camry, Celica, Yaris, MR2 and Supra through PROCAR’s various categories, then the reborn Bathurst 12 Hour.
In the early 2000s, Australians were making their mark on Toyota’s various racing programs notably Wayne Gardner in Super GT and Ryan Briscoe as test driver for its Formula 1 efforts.
Toyota in the past decade has upped its commitment in Australian motorsport through the one-make Toyota 86 Racing Series or GR Cup as its known now to the second-tier Scholarship Series to now joining the Repco Supercars Championship.
Through its GR performance stable, Toyota is increasing its stature in the performance market and by joining Australia’s top class, this cements its credentials.