It was a gray Sunday 32 years ago when Mark Skaife and Jim Richards stood on the highest step of the rostrum. It was an emotional moment; not only was the Bathurst 1000 interrupted by a torrential downpour, the drivers had only learned hours earlier that Denny Hulme, who was racing a BMW within the event, had died of a heart attack on the wheel.
Richards and Skaife drove a Nissan Skyline GT-R to victory, but that didn’t sit well with many fans below, who believed – wrongly – that another automotive within the race had a probability of beating “Godzilla.” As they booed, Richard replied, “You’re a bunch of assholes!”
The moment has stayed with many for a very long time. It definitely has with Sean Hanley, now vice chairman of sales, marketing and franchise operations at Toyota Australia. He said last week: “We often wondered what would have really happened if we had gone out and won that race. It was probably riskier to win it than not to go at all, in the tribal days.”
The 1992 race was the start of the V8 Supercar era. Australia’s V8-powered Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons were the centrepiece of touring automotive racing, and when it became skilled and industrial in 1997, it grew and grew.
Its preferred history was familiar; Australian families grew up with a Holden or Ford within the driveway and, on the rare occasion they didn’t, continued to pursue one brand or the opposite. It was a tribal rivalry of Red versus Blue.
Except… mostly, it really wasn’t. While the idea worked for the few fans who accepted it, the rivalry ran counter to one among Supercars’ other ambitions – to draw other manufacturers to the category. It worked for some time, with Volvo for 3 years, Nissan for five and Mercedes-Benz coming in, purely as a customer, servicing the Erebus Motorsport team, for 3.
Volvo, Nissan and Mercedes emerged a decade ago to disrupt Holden's battle with Ford, but none of them survived to the top
Photo by: Daniel Kalisz / Motorsport Images
We now know that while Toyota sat on the sidelines, heavily considering entering the competition twice (in 1999 and again in 2010), the Red vs Blue history was one among the explanations it stayed away – until the Gen3 era arrived in 2023.
“I have no doubt that that tribal nature is still there,” Hanley says, “but there’s room for a new player now, and I think it’s time.”
So Toyota will enter Supercars in 2026, with Walkinshaw Andretti United because the homologation team and leader, and one other as-yet-to-be-named team, each of which is able to field two GR Supras.
For now, the news underlines that the old Supercars – the four-door Commodore and Falcon sedans – are dead
This is large, game-changing news for Supercars. Despite all of the rhetoric surrounding the Holden-Ford rivalry, the reality is that the Supercar era saw the brands’ market share shrink – and the Holden brand disappear entirely.
Toyota had been the leader of the Australian automotive marketplace for 21 consecutive years as families migrated from family sedans, which were locally manufactured, to tall SUVs and “utes”, which weren’t. Toyota dominated with none apparent desire to return and compete in Supercars, preferring lesser-known programs within the Australian Rally Championship and the single-brand Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 86 Series.
Glory be to God. If the brand new Gen3 platform falls wanting expectations in some respects – parity and price, to call two areas that remain problematic – Supercars deserves credit for creating the framework that eventually got Toyota hooked.
The timing couldn’t be higher. Not only is the category’s current broadcast deal up for renewal at the top of next 12 months, but cable and streaming service Foxtel itself is considered available in the market. The arrival of Toyota, by far Australia’s biggest automotive advertiser, should make the category a more helpful asset – a vital factor when Gen3 cars are said to cost as much as A$800,000 (£410,000), significantly greater than originally planned.
Once the dust settles from Toyota's arrival, Ford might be trying to strengthen its teams and be sure that Toyota's second-team squad comes from GM's stable
Photo: Edge Photographics
Toyota already has a big presence in Australian sport, as title sponsor of the highest football code (AFL), Rugby League, Cricket Australia and the national Olympic and Winter Olympic teams. Its 86 Series is already supported by solid TV ad spend; whichever broadcaster signs a deal to broadcast Supercars beyond 2025 could have reason to be optimistic that involvement will increase.
There might be so much at stake before the 2026 season opener. Ford will lose one among its five two-car teams and can wish to ensure that that the team that fields the second pair of Supras is a defector from GM, not one among them. In fact, Ford may simply search out a brand new partnership itself to maintain its 10-car Supercar fleet going. Potentially, two Chevrolet teams could switch brands in 2026.
WAU could have to run parallel programs for just a little over a 12 months, one to race the Fords in 2025 and one to develop the brand new Toyotas. The supercar company could have to include the Supra into its technical framework to be sure that the difficulties which have hindered the event and technical parity of the Mustangs and Camaros don’t extend to the third model.
All of that’s in store for us in the longer term. For now, this news underlines that the old Supercars – the four-door Commodore and Falcon sedans – are dead.
The latest Supercars are sporty two-door Camaros, Mustangs and shortly Supras; a form of GT3 version from Australia. “Win ​​on Sunday” continues to be the motto, however the cars that brands will now be attempting to sell on Monday are nothing like those on the track. Times are changing, and Supercars have done just that – hopefully for the higher.
Toyota's latest GR Supra supercar to debut in 2026
Photo: Toyota Australia
