Is the Toyota GR 86 set to race in the TGR Philippine Cup?

The Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup has been, quite literally pushing the limits for better, as the tagline of Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) Philippines says.

In its past few iterations, we’ve seen them make big progress in developing the likes of the Tamaraw one-make (OMR) race car for a new class in its series, reintroducing the Legacy Class Vios OMRs alongside the current Vios cars, and now utilizing biofuels for racing.

It seems like we could potentially be seeing a brand new series introduced in the future of the TGR Philippine Cup, as TGR Philippines appears to have cheekily teased a new car in one of its recent key visuals for the upcoming Race Weekend 4, happening this coming September 12 at the Clark International Speedway.

Behind the obvious Tamaraw and Vios OMRs is the GR 86, one of Toyota’s proper GR models that’s being offered in the country. Now, take all of this with a grain of salt, but here are a few reasons why we think that we could be looking at the next entry in TGR Philippines’ racing series.

First, the GR 86, since its launch, has been utilized in previous race weekends as a drift exhibition car, with a few stints as the safety car. It has rarely, if ever, appeared in any key visuals until this one. We even got to see it in modified form last year multiple times.

Second, Toyota already has a one-make competition for the GR 86 in several other countries like Japan, Australia, the United States, and most recently, Malaysia. Personalities like Keanu Reeves have even participated in them, too.

The spec series utilizes pre-built race cars with a handful of modifications for the US, while in other countries, a bare-bones, stripped-down version called the GR 86 Cup Car Basic, complete with the required parts and safety bits for racing, can be purchased. Something like this isn’t out of the question, as you can already buy the Vios and Tamaraw OMRs from Toyota Motor Philippines itself.

Of course, we could all be wrong, as this could simply be a way to make the key visual look better, but having yet another one-make series racing could not only further spice up and expand the TGR Philippine Cup, but it would also be a welcome addition to the Philippine motorsport scene as well.

^{Photos by Sam Surla, Toyota Gazoo Racing, TRD Japan, Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup}