For Toyota, the debut with the No.1 and No.2 Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) cars leading the charge onto the 2026 Supercars grid is a fairy tale scenario.
The symbolic return to using the iconic champion’s number one is a sight unseen since WAU’s former days as Holden Racing Team and highlights this dream introduction.
“I’ve been lucky enough to represent some amazing numbers in Supercars,” admitted Chaz Mostert, this year’s champion at the Supercars End of Year Gala.
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Chaz Mostert will ring in Toyota’s debut as reigning champion. Â Getty
“But it would be pretty unfitting if we didn’t run No.1 and No.2 at Walkinshaw Andretti United, so we’ll run the No.1 next year. I’m pretty excited about that.”
Sean Hanley, Toyota Australia’s Vice President for Sales and Marketing spoke to selected media, including Wide World of Sports on the journey they have had to build the Supra and what their expectations are coming into the inaugural season.
Toyota will be joining the 2026 grid alongside Ford and Chevrolet with WAU and Brad Jones Racing. They have a quick turnaround of under three months until they hit the ground running at the season debut in Sydney on February 20-22 with five GR Supras.
The Toyota GR Supra Supercars was unveiled earlier this year. Â Supercars
“It’s a very tight schedule and it’s a big challenge, but between Walkinshaw Andretti United and Brad Jones Racing along with Toyota, Toyota Design and Supercars, we’re really on track,” explained Hanley.
From that sentence, you begin to understand the behemoth of a team behind this debut, spanning more than three continents.
“Everything’s coming together nicely. I mean, we have the aerodynamic testing, the parity testing. That may or may not set some more challenges, but we’re well and truly equipped and ready to take on those challenges.
“We’re on track to have the car ready for Sydney in February.”
Sean Hanley explains Toyota’s ‘support’ role in the build of the GR Supra. Â Supplied
Hanley is a jovial man, ever the optimist on his team’s debut for the 2026 Supercars season. He emphasises that Toyota is taking a “support role” for their debut, wanting to let their homologation team WAU take the reins.
“The thing is we don’t own this. Walkinshaw are the homologated team,” he explained.
“So the worst thing Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia can do is interfere, because that’s not good for the spirit or the momentum of the race.
“So the first thing is we’re not your typical partner, we don’t interfere.
“At this point, all of the development and all of the hard work and testing resides with Walkinshaw Andretti United and Brad Jones Racing. Our role is to support them.
“When something doesn’t go right, we’re there for them. They can call us anytime and we’re ready and we’re there to support them.
“The role changes dramatically from the honeymoon we’re in now, where we’ve been promoting our entry into motorsport, particularly the premier motorsport event in Australia, it changes now.
“It moves completely over to Walkinshaw Andretti United, and Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia plays a support role.”
Reigning champions Walkinshaw Andretti United will run the Toyota in 2026. Â Getty
Toyota Gazoo Racing is no stranger to Australian racing, they head up Toyota 86 Scholarship Series and GR Cup which are two accessible junior series that drivers get their start in motorsport in.
Their Supercars focus is clear.
“What we want to play in is how do we develop this car, how do we earn our right to win this race and we want Walkinshaw Andretti United and Brad Jones Racing to be covered in glory. That’s what we want,” Hanley states.
“We’d love nothing more than to win this so that we have the number one on the Toyota Supra next year. Be a great start.”
And Hanley got his wish. But as the curtain closes on the 2025 season, the real work has only just begun.
Hanley got his wish to have the No.1 debut on the Toyota Supra in 2026. Â Getty
‘There is a game to play’
All three Brad Jones Racing cars for Andre Heimgartner, Macauley Jones and Cameron Hill are embracing their new destiny with the Japanese giant, switching over to the GR Supra and champing at the bit to get to grips with the new car.
“It’s cool doing your own thing a little bit and developing your own car and choosing your destiny a bit,” admitted Heimgartner.
“Obviously, the Chev’s been good for us, but it’s exciting to be associated with Toyota and getting amongst their culture and one of the biggest brands in the world.
“The biggest difference is the type of engine. Obviously a little bit different how it delivers its power …[but] I’m not anticipating it being much different to the Chev. It will just be look different, feel slightly different but basically be the same.”
Toyota will debut with the No.1 and No.2 on WAU’s cars. Â Supplied
When asked about the constant discussion of parity down pit lane, both Heimgartner and Jones suggested that political manoeuvres were always involved in the paddock.
“One-hundred per cent. I think the parity thing, people are just playing that for politics,” reiterated Heimgartner.
“I don’t think it’s ever been this close before and the times reflect that.”
Jones reiterated the positive of the manufacturer’s debut, saying, “Toyota coming in [has] raised the bar for the other manufacturers and I think that’s a really important thing for the sport.”
“To be a part of that, it’s awesome. It’s iconic for us, really.
“I mean Toyota don’t do things in halves. They do it full on and we’re really proud to be a part of that.
“I think it’s always going to be a topic. I mean, if [we] come out the gate and [we’re] super fast, people will scream that ‘no, they’re too good’ and we’ll probably be screaming that they’re not good enough, whether they are or not.
“That’s playing the game of parity.
“There is a game to play and I think Ford have played that game a lot this year. I feel like the Chev guys have been very quiet about it all and the Fords not so [much].
“I think we’re always going to have that battle because that’s the rivalry of manufacturers in Supercars, and it’s always been like that.”
The GR Supra was on track in Adelaide. Â Supplied
For drivers, especially the BJR team who will be a customer team of Toyota, the limited testing days will be crucial for their understanding of the new model and feel of the car.
“That’s probably a unique thing with Supercars, you don’t get many test days,” added Jones.
“Generally, you get two or three throughout the year which when you’re changing virtually everything; you’re changing the motor, the aero package, we’ve got a few inter-team things that are changing as well for next year, there’s definitely going to be some teething issues trying to figure all that that side of things out.”
The building stage
WAU have taken on the role of building and creating the GR Supra, 3D printing and modelling the car throughout this season.
Key members even missed the celebrations of Mostert’s victory to fly to North Carolina to conduct aerodynamic testing in the wind tunnel to find any issues.
The Supra will join the Camaro and Mustang in wind tunnel testing. Â Supercars
All three Gen3 Supercars – the Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Mustang and incoming Toyota GR Supra – will complete the aerodynamic testing at the Windshear wind tunnel facility.
“The first thing is to make sure we’ve got a solid reliable Toyota on the grid,” said Walkinshaw Andretti United’s CEO, Carl Faux, of the team’s core objectives.
“That’s absolutely number one and we’re a long way down that road.”
But, the goals for 2026 and beyond are ambitious.
“We’d love to be up there battling for podiums and wins in our first year. I think if we look for anything less than that, then we’re not being honest with ourselves,” Faux added.
“That’s where we want to be. That’s what we want to do. That’ll be the target, but there’s always going to be a teething period for us to tune this thing in and get right.
In 2025, Supercars has struggled with parity discussions between the Gen3 cars. Â Getty
“Primarily, we need to make sure that we meet the Supercars targets. It’s not good for anybody or the championship if we come back with a car that’s significantly quicker, or more of a significant deficit.
“We’ve had enough of that with the Mustang.”
Toyota’s DNA
When asked about the most important thing that Hanley has learnt in the long process to their debut in Sydney for 2026, Hanley named one key learning that stood out.
“Team. It’s all about team,” Hanley said.
“We all focus on the drivers and as we should, because the drivers are very professional. But behind the drivers, there’s incredible teams. And every second or millisecond in this racing world, every millisecond counts.
“The training that goes into it, the preparation, the planning.
“It’s all about responding and how you respond. A couple of months ago, I was here at Walkinshaw in Bathurst, and they had a real challenge with their car.
Walkinshaw Andretti United struggled during this year’s Bathurst 1000 but never gave up, a key point for Hanley. Â Getty
“And what I saw was a team that just didn’t give up.”
Walkinshaw Andretti United was in with a fighting chance with both Mostert and young gun Ryan Wood, but struck early issues in the 1000km race.
“They kept working and working and working, even though the clock was ticking, the clock was ticking,” Hanley added.
“They kept working to get that car back on the track. Now, they couldn’t win it, granted, but they wanted that car back on the track. To us, that was the most important part about Bathurst.
“And for us, that solidified that we’ve got the best team at Walkinshaw, because they don’t give in and they keep going and going and going.
Walkinshaw Andretti United are bestowed as the top team for Toyota’s Supercars debut. Â Getty
“When we look at the learnings, it’s about ‘what do you learn when times don’t go as well as you want them to? How do you respond? And how do you get that vehicle or that car back on and keep going?'”
“It’s all about continuous improvement for Toyota.
“That’s our DNA and nothing will change in our motorsport DNA.”