Toyota Gazoo Racing announced Wednesday that it will be split into three “branches” during 2026 and into 2027, with the rallying and W2RC arms being under the team’s original name of “Gazoo Racing”. Since the 2026 W2RC season has already started, the rally raid division will maintain the TGR name until 2027.

Gazoo Racing—GR for short—will be used for Toyota factory teams in the W2RC, WRC, Super GT, Super Formula, ARA, and Japanese Rally Championship. GR is also the title sponsor of Haas F1. Meanwhile, WEC and NASCAR are to be under the Toyota Racing banner whereas Super Taikyu, Kyojo Cup, and Nürburgring 24 Hours will compete as Toyota Gazoo Rookie Racing (TG-RR).

Akio Toyoda, the current chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation, founded Team Gazoo in 2007. Despite being the company’s executive vice president at the time, he was forbidden from using the Toyota name so he coined Gazoo as a loophole of sort. He even had to race under a pseudonym of “Morizo”.

The team became Gazoo Racing in 2009, then Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2015 after the manufacturer consolidated its performance and racing programs into one. The GR name is also used for Toyota’s performance cars like the GR Supra, 86, and Yaris.

Since the new name came too late for W2RC and WRC, the latter’s TGR WRT having already signed up for the 2026 championship under that name, both will operate as TGR for now.

Officially, the factory rally raid team in Europe that competes for points is called Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC. This is to differentiate from its regional subsidiaries like those in South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Baltics. Toyota’s announcement came on the same day as Stage 4 of the Dakar Rally.

Featured image credit: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool