Toyota’s mid-engine GR Yaris M Concept is back in Super Taikyu with a new coupe body and a six-speed manual in place of the eight-speed GR-DAT automatic. Akio Toyoda, racing as “Morizo”, is one of its four drivers at Okayama this weekend.
In practice on 23 October the car lapped Okayama in 1:37.231, Car Watch reports. That beats the 1:38.698 best lap of the Civic Type R HRC Concept, which won the ST-Q class at the same track in 2025.
Quick facts
- Car: GR Yaris M Concept, No. 28, GR Team ORC Field, ST-Q class
- Event: Super Taikyu Round 6, Okayama International Circuit, 24-25 October 2026
- Layout: engine behind the driver, four-wheel drive
- Engine: Toyota’s 2.0-litre G20E turbo four
- Gearbox: six-speed manual, replacing the eight-speed GR-DAT
- Drivers: Yasuhiro Ogura, Morizo (Akio Toyoda), Masahiro Sasaki and Takayuki Matsui
- Qualifying: 8th in Group 2 and second in ST-Q, on the combined time of Ogura and Morizo
- Power: not announced
The hatchback had to go
The first M Concept looked like a GR Yaris with its engine moved into the back. That body was the problem. Car Watch says the hatchback shape made too much drag, and even a big GT wing could not give the rear enough downforce.
The car also sat high. With the weight in the back and a high centre of gravity, the rear could snap round quickly when one tyre lost grip, the old MR2 problem. The team had already lowered the car by machining the mounts between the body and the suspension subframes, and that trick had reached its limit.
So they built a new body. GR Company president Tomoya Takahashi told autosport web that the aims include a lower centre of gravity and better aerodynamics, and that the team is still working through problems, as expected.
Still wearing GR Yaris lights
The headlights and tail lights are stock GR Yaris parts. Almost everything else is new: a much wider front bumper with big cooling openings, stronger air guides and very wide rear fenders.
Look at the rear badge and you will see a hand-written “風” next to it. It means “style”, so the car is now a “GR Yaris-style M Concept”. autosport web says driver Masahiro Sasaki added it. The official entry name is still GR Yaris M Concept.
Goodbye GR-DAT, hello third pedal
Toyota had worked on the eight-speed GR-DAT automatic for about two years, Car Watch says. Now the M Concept has a six-speed manual, so the team can focus on the driving itself, autosport web says. The car is also left-hand drive, because the project is aimed at global development.
Morizo liked both changes. “There is joy in using my left foot again after a long time,” he told Car Watch (our translation). He also said the left-hand drive suits him because he can shift with his right hand.
It was not perfect at first. Car Watch says he missed some shifts in practice, so the engineers measured the seat and the shifter and found them 2 mm off Toyota’s own reference values. They fixed it on the spot.
From Tokyo Auto Salon to Okayama
Toyota first showed the GR Yaris M Concept at Tokyo Auto Salon in January 2025. The “M” stands for midship and for Morizo. The idea was to fix the understeer of the front-engine GR Yaris on track by moving the engine and gearbox behind the driver.
It was meant to race at Autopolis in July 2025, but Toyota held it back because of problems with braking, steering and driving that come with a mid-engine car. After three months of testing it raced at Okayama in October 2025 as the No. 32 car and finished third, with Morizo at the wheel at the end.
Toyota’s other ST-Q car has changed too. The No. 32 GR86 Future FR Concept swapped its three-cylinder turbo for a new 2.0-litre naturally aspirated four. A mechanic told Car Watch it makes about 200 PS and that the car’s weight has hardly changed.
Will Toyota sell it?
Takahashi said the team would like to turn the car into a product and GR Company is keen, but there is no concrete plan yet. Motor1 thinks it could become a new MR2. Best Car says the coupe looks like a new Celica. Toyota has confirmed neither name.
For fans the mid-engine idea is not new at Toyota. The MR2 ran for three generations, from the AW11 to the last ZZW30, which went out of production in 2007. A road car with a mid-mounted 2.0 turbo and four-wheel drive would be something Toyota has never sold.
Our take
This is our opinion. We love that Toyota develops this car in real races where everyone can watch, and that it went back to a manual. Big car companies rarely let fans see a prototype with stock lights and a hand-written badge.
The bad side: Toyota still won’t give a power figure or promise a road car, and it has been a concept for almost two years. One fast practice lap doesn’t make a production plan, so we want to see it run a full race first.
Your turn
If Toyota builds a road version, what should it be called: MR2, Celica or GR Yaris M? Tell us in the comments.
Sources: Car Watch (revised GR Yaris-style M Concept at Okayama, 23 Oct 2026), Car Watch (Morizo races the manual M Concept, 24 Oct 2026), autosport web (aims of the coupe body, 24 Oct 2026), autosport web (official qualifying result), Car Watch (GR86 Future FR Concept with 2.0 NA engine), Toyota (GR Yaris M Concept racing debut, Oct 2025), Motor1, Best Car.
Photos: Toyota Motor Corporation (photos 1 to 3, official press images from October 2025) and TTTNIS (photo 4, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons). Photos 1 to 3 show the 2025 hatchback version of the M Concept (No. 32) and its G20E engine bay, not the new coupe. Photo 4 shows a 2026 GR Yaris RZ road car.
