Hanley, Toyota Australia’s vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations, pondered the potential for Toyota and the GR brand in Australia.
On asphalt, the brand’s commitment was to the GR Cup – a tin top racing series designed as a stepping stone.
Beyond the GR Cup, Toyota had no opportunities locally.
It was at a prizegiving at the Bathurst 1000 where Hanley spoke of his dream to one day have a GR Cup graduate in a Toyota on the Supercars grid.
Soon, that dream will become a reality when Walkinshaw Andretti United debuts the GR Supra in 2026.
Speaking with Speedcafe, Hanley said he posed the idea of joining Supercars almost a decade ago when Lexus had its RC F as the safety car.
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That ultimately never eventuated but the growth of the GR brand and the company’s fledgling presence in Australia set the wheels in motion to formalise a commitment.
“It goes back to when I was the head of Lexus, the pace car was an RC-F. We were interested then but at the time we decided we couldn’t quite make it all work,” Hanley told Speedcafe.
“About 18 months ago in a very casual conversation I sat down with our chief of marketing Vin (Naidoo) and I said to him, ‘Why don’t we have another go at Supercars but under Toyota? But this time let’s put it in the race’.
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“We wanted to get that pathway [from GR Cup]. We’re in the Australian Rally Championship with the Bates team, and that will continue, that’s not going to stop. This doesn’t diminish that race.
“Then we had the GR Cup and I often said we’re going to have all these good drivers of the future that are going to go to other teams, we need to have a team that they can potentially go to if they’re good enough. Why don’t we have another go at Supercars?
“It started that way and here we are a year later.”
Walkinshaw Andretti United will begin racing the Toyota GR Supra in 2026.
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