This week’s bombshell announcement that Toyota will join the Supercars Championship from 2026 caught many by surprise, as the Japanese car giant had pushed back on joining the top-flight racing category for decades. It’s committed to racing for at least five years , with Walkinshaw Andretti United – long known as the Holden Racing Team – moving from its brief tenure with Ford to act as Toyota’s homologation team for its V8-powered Supra racer. Another team is being scouted to join the fray to give Toyota at least four cars on the grid in its inaugural season, and while it’s not yet known who is in that discussion, it’s expected to be a Chevrolet team so as to not reduce Ford’s already minority stake in the series.
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While the category is undoubtedly the biggest winner of the news – finally securing what many believed would be its white whale – Ford arguably has the biggest reason to be sour about Toyota’s involvement in poaching one of its top teams. So far this year, Walkinshaw Andretti United has won three races with its Mustang , all at the hands of Chaz Mostert who sits second in points with just three rounds remaining. Despite this, Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook welcomed Toyota to Supercars, saying he hoped the two brands could continue their rivalry which currently stretches across more than half a dozen.