Does Lexus have a racing division?
Lexus does not operate a standalone racing division. Motorsport for the Lexus brand is managed through Toyota Gazoo Racing, the global factory and customer-racing arm of Toyota, which oversees Lexus-badged entries in various championships.
To understand the answer in context, it helps to know how Toyota organizes its racing efforts. Toyota Gazoo Racing (often shortened to Gazoo Racing or TGR) brings together Toyota’s factory competition programs across rally, endurance, and other forms of racing. Lexus-branded race cars have appeared in international GT competition and in Japan’s Super GT, but these efforts are coordinated under the Gazoo Racing umbrella rather than a separate Lexus-only racing division.
Racing under Toyota Gazoo Racing
Gazoo Racing is the global motorsport division that runs Toyota’s factory programs and collaborates with Lexus on race cars built for competition. The division has led Toyota’s endurance, rally, and cross-country efforts in recent years, aligning Toyota’s performance brand with competitive racing innovations.
Key programs under Gazoo Racing
- FIA World Endurance Championship (Hypercar/LMH): factory GR010 Hybrid entries competing for Le Mans and season-long honors.
- FIA World Rally Championship (WRC): Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team campaigns the Yaris WRC with factory support.
- Dakar Rally: Toyota Gazoo Racing Dakar Team fields Toyota Hilux pick-up entrants in cross-country rallying.
These programs illustrate how Gazoo Racing coordinates high-profile factory efforts across disciplines, a structure that also shapes how Lexus-branded racing develops, even when the cars carry Lexus liveries or are built to Lexus production-metal specifications.
Lexus-branded racing cars and how they’re run
Lexus does not maintain a separate, stand-alone “Lexus Racing” division. Instead, Lexus participates in sportscar and GT racing through production-based programs that sit under Gazoo Racing’s umbrella, with cars developed for customer teams or used in specific series as Lexus-branded entries.
- Lexus RC F GT3: a GT3-class race car used by customer teams around the world, built and supported in coordination with Toyota’s competition engineering efforts.
- Lexus LC 500 GT3: a successor to the RC F GT3, deployed in GT3 championships for customer teams seeking a Lexus-branded option.
- Lexus LC 500 GT500 (Super GT): used in Japan’s Super GT series in the GT500 class, operated by Toyota-backed teams under the Lexus branding in certain seasons.
- Lexus RC F GT4: a GT4-spec racer used by private teams in regional and international GT4 competition, offering a Lexus-backed option outside the top-tier GT3/GT500 programs.
In short, Lexus racing activities are largely conducted within the broader Toyota Gazoo Racing framework, with the GR sub-brand serving as the performance umbrella for road cars and associated racing programs rather than a separate Lexus-only racing division.
What this means for the brand and fans
The arrangement means Lexus benefits from Toyota’s centralized racing know-how, engineering resources, and the continuity of a factory-backed racing ecosystem while maintaining its own distinct performance image through production-focused models like the GR line. Fans see Lexus-branded race cars in GT competition and Super GT, but the backing and coordination come from Gazoo Racing rather than a standalone Lexus racing entity.
Summary
Lexus does not have a separate, independent racing division. Its motorsport activities are carried out under Toyota Gazoo Racing—the global factory and customer-racing arm of Toyota. Lexus-branded race cars participate primarily through GT3/GT4 programs and, in Japan, Super GT, all coordinated within the Gazoo Racing umbrella. The GR performance brand continues to tie Lexus road-going performance models to racing-inspired engineering, reinforcing Lexus’s competitive identity without a standalone Lexus Racing division.
