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GAZOO Racing, Lexus and TOYOTA RACING celebrate the soul of sportscar craftsmanship at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +0200

This year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed has the theme “The Rivals – Epic Racing Duels”, celebrating how rivalry can become a catalyst for progress, motivating competitors to learn faster, push harder and redefine what is possible. GAZOO Racing (GR) and Lexus will bring that idea to life, presenting three striking new sports cars at the festival, which takes place in the grounds of Goodwood House in the south of England from 9 – 12 July.

Born from motorsport rivalry and shaped by uncompromising feedback from the world’s most demanding circuits, the GR GT and GR GT3 embody GAZOO Racing’s philosophy of learning through competition. The Lexus LFA Concept builds on competition-honed insights and technologies, translating them into values that resonate directly with driver in an immersive, multi-sensory experience in which man and machine can feel as one.

They follow a bloodline established by past icons such as the Toyota 2000GT and Lexus LFA, reflecting the belief of Chairman Akio Toyoda, aka Master Driver Morizo, that the skills of sports car craftsmanship must be nurtured and passed on to future generations.

It’s an approach inspired by the principle of “Shikinen Sengu”, an ancient Japanese ritual in which a Shinto shrine is dismantled and rebuilt once in every generation to preserve and enhance the craftsmanship skills used in its creation.

The GR GT is a track-inspired road car with racing DNA, powered by a new 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine paired with a single-motor hybrid system. In addition to high power and torque for exceptional performance, the car’s development focused on achieving a low centre of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and aerodynamic performance.

The GR GT3 shares the GR GT’s core elements but has a different profile as a track-focused race car. It’s engineered to be highly competitive and deliver accessible performance.

Looking ahead, the Lexus LFA Concept presents Lexus’ vision for a next-generation electric sports car. It shares common technologies and aspirations with the GR GT and GR GT3, while blending advanced performance with emotional appeal and invoking the spirit of the original LFA. It aims to exceed customers’ expectations, drawing the driver into an immersive experience like no other.

The GR GT and GR GT3 will be on show and in action at the festival, appearing in the Supercar Paddock and making speed runs on the famous hill climb. Defined by steep gradients, tight corners and unforgiving barriers, the hill climb is one of motorsport’s most technical short courses for demonstrating acceleration, agility, aerodynamic stability and driver confidence. This will be the first European dynamic uncamouflaged appearance for both models. Meanwhile, visitors will be given a first close-up view of the Lexus LFA Concept in the Supercar Paddock.

GAZOO Racing’s competition stars

GAZOO Racing’s participation at the top tiers of international motorsport will be celebrated at the festival with appearances by the GR YARIS Rally1, the car which has delivered multiple World Rally Championship titles for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team, and the DKR GR Hilux, a winning contender in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

A line-up of championship-winning and internationally renowned drivers will be demonstrating the cars’ performance on the hill climb and rally stage. Subject to confirmation, it will include all TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team’s drivers: the nine-time and reigning World Rally Champion Driver Sébastien Ogier; current WRC leader Elfyn Evans; Japanese star Takamoto Katsuta; team newcomer and Rallye Monte-Carlo victor Oliver Solberg; and Sami Pajari, a past WRC Junior and WRC2 champion. Henk Lategan, a winner with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship and four-time South African champion, is set to take the wheel of the DKR GR Hilux.

TOYOTA RACING: from Le Mans podium to Goodwood

TOYOTA RACING will display the #7 TR010 HYBRID that recently achieved Toyota’s sixth victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries. The team’s hard-fought victory in one of the world’s most challenging circuit races took the team to the top of the driver and manufacturer championship standings in the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship. The car will be on static view alongside the GR YARIS Rally1 and DKR GR Hilux.

Road cars infused with GAZOO Racing performance and design

The knowledge and experience gained by GAZOO Racing in the heat of competition feeds directly into the development of ever-better cars for the road. At Goodwood, this philosophy will be demonstrated by the GR Yaris Aero Performance, the latest development of the multi-award-winning performance hatchback. Also taking part in the festival’s “First Glance” programme will be the all-new RAV4 GR Sport, a version of the plug-in hybrid SUV that benefits from both GR-themed design details and a chassis and suspension tuned for sportier handling.

*The GR GT and GR GT3 cars appearing at the festival will be prototype/development vehicles.

Home comforts for toyota racing

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 18:00:00 +0200

TOYOTA Racing made a solid start to its home event, the Six Hours of Fuji, with promising performances during practice for the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The #8 TS040 HYBRID of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi ended the day fourth quickest while the #7 of Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima was fifth following a productive day of set-up development.

TOYOTA Racing is in the middle of a tough fight for both World Championships, with the #8 crew leading the drivers' standings by 11 points while the team is just 18 points behind Audi in the Manufacturers'.

So a significant haul, including the bonus point for pole position, is the target this weekend.

This morning's first practice started in bright sunshine, a marked contrast to the last time LMP1 cars drove at Fuji 12 months ago when the race was cut short due to torrential rain.

With quite different track characteristics and temperatures at Fuji compared to the last race at Circuit of the Americas, the team faced a busy session as both cars evaluated mechanical, aerodynamic and powertrain set-ups.

Alex and Stéphane shared driving on the #7 with Kazuki, already a winner at Fuji in Super Formula this season, waiting for the second session to get his first taste of the TS040 HYBRID at this track.

Stéphane set the fastest lap for the #7 midway through his stint, earning fifth, while Anthony had that honour in the #8 as he took third.

Kazuki, who last drove the TS040 HYBRID at Le Mans, finally got on track again at the start of second practice. He and Anthony both completed a very long stint to analyse race performance and tyre behaviour.

The session finished with short stints for Alex, Stéphane and Sébastien as track conditions continued to evolve. Kazuki set the quickest lap in the #7, taking fifth, while Sébastien earned fourth for the #8.

Tomorrow sees final practice (9.30-10.30) followed by qualifying (13.55-14.20). The six-hour race starts on Sunday at 11am local time.

TS040 HYBRID #7 (Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima)

Free practice 1: 5th (1min 29.076secs), 26 laps

Free practice 2: 5th (1min 29.083secs), 48 laps

Alex Wurz: "I drove more laps this morning, which went quite well. It was the plan to give Kazuki more time in the car as he hasn't driven since Le Mans, so he did the long run this afternoon. You are never finished here with set-up because it is such a complex circuit. The track conditions change throughout the day so that makes it difficult to analyse. We still have some homework to do overnight but I like that challenge. Now it's about fine-tuning and looking forward to tomorrow."

Stéphane Sarrazin: "There was very low grip on track this morning. I spent the session finding the right feeling and discovering the limits it's a learning process. Kazuki did the long run in the afternoon and the car improved throughout the day. I just did two laps at the end, only a short run. Today was about preparing for the race and I think we are making good progress."

Kazuki Nakajima: "Our long run was pretty good it looks okay compared to the competition and we seem strong in terms of tyre degradation. Still the circuit didn't have a lot of grip so I hope we get more rubber down for qualifying and the race. We still need to find a bit more to fine-tune the balance but I think we have good potential here at Fuji. Let's see how it goes for qualifying."

TS040 HYBRID #8 (Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi)

Free practice 1: 3rd (1min 28.981secs), 38 laps

Free practice 2: 4th (1min 28.587secs), 52 laps

Anthony Davidson: "It felt like a very productive two sessions today. The weather was kind to us and we worked on the car set-up throughout the day and had a good balance. I got a chance to understand this circuit a lot more because last year the mileage was limited. As always here the third sector is the most challenging and I think I can still find some performance there. It was nice to get into a rhythm and understand where we need to improve tomorrow."

Sébastien Buemi: "It went well today. Anthony did quite a few laps this afternoon to see the evolution of the tyres. I jumped in at the end and this meant I could experience older and newer tyres which is helpful. The circuit improved a lot during the day, as normal here. We are still a bit slower than last year's times but I expect it to come to us. We seemed quite strong over a long stint but it will be close as always. The car felt good so I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

French and German translations of this press release will be available shortly on www.toyotahybridracing.com, where copyright-free photos are also available for editorial use.

About TOYOTA Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship:

TOYOTA first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 1983, marking the start of a long period of participation in endurance racing. TOYOTA cars have raced in 16 Le Mans 24 Hours races, achieving a best result of second place on four occasions (1992, 1994, 1999 & 2013). TOYOTA entered the revived WEC in 2012, as TOYOTA Racing, with its first hybrid LMP1 car, the TS030 HYBRID. That car competed for two seasons, winning five races. Like the TS040 HYBRID, it was designed and built by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG), where the race team is based. TMG is the former home of TOYOTA's World Rally and Formula 1 works teams, and was responsible for design and operation of TOYOTA's TS020 Le Mans car in 1998-99. TMG now combines motorsport participation with work as a high-performance engineering services provider to third party companies, as well as the TOYOTA family.

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