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Toyota GR Cup Racing Series Will Take the GR86 to the Track in 2023

Racing on a budget varies wildly in the United States of America. If you ask Toyota what sort of budget-oriented series they would come up with, the answer to that question would be the GR Cup. Beginning with the 2023 season, the one-make series is sanctioned by SRO Motorsports.
Toyota GR86 Cup for the 2023 Toyota GR Cup racing series 32 photos
Photo: Toyota
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The race-ready GR86 will be put through its paces at seven circuits across the United States in 14 events. As you would expect of a racing series, the GR Cup will offer participants one million dollars total purse and prizes.

The GR86 for the GR Cup starts life as a stock vehicle, transformed into the track-focused thriller by Toyota Racing Development at their Mooresville facility in North Carolina. Stripped out of its creature comforts, the boxer-powered sports car is fitted by the peeps at TRD with engine management from Bosch, a six-speed sequential transmission supplied by Sadev, a custom-fabricated exhaust from Borla, and Stratasys-designed bodywork.

Toyota Gazoo Racing North America is responsible for the struts and splitter. Further still, the GR86 Cup flaunts OMP safety equipment, Alcon brake rotors and calipers, JRI adjustable shocks, and a carbon-fiber rear wing. Unfortunately for prospective customers, pricing details will be published this summer. We don’t know how many ponies it makes either.

Twinned with the Subaru BRZ, the road-going car kicks off at $27,700 excluding destination charge. The Premium trim level is available from $30,300 before optional extras such as a six-speed automatic that doesn’t really fit the character of a lightweight sports car. Even though it’s a torque-converter transmission, the auto returns better gas mileage than the manual at 25 mpg (9.4 l/100 km) compared to 22 mpg (10.7 l/100 km) combined.

Tipping the scales at 2,811 pounds (make that 1,275 kilograms), the GR86 comes exclusively with a 2.4-liter boxer. Naturally aspirated, this mill cranks out 228 horsepower at 7,000 revolutions per minute and 184 pound-feet (250 Nm) at 3,700 revolutions per minute on 93-octane gasoline.
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Editor's note: Road car also pictured in the gallery.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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