Toyota GR Corolla TC races into the 2025 TC America Series
Toyota has a long history in competitive motorsports, and now the Japanese automaker is expanding its dominance with a custom track-ready GR Corolla race car.
The Toyota GR Corolla rules the road as one of the most affordable hot hatches in the industry. The power-packed model boasts all-wheel drive paired with a 300-horsepower engine and either an eight-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission. That kind of performance will cost you just shy of $40,000, but you might want to hold off on striking a deal until you lay eyes on the brand-new GR Corolla Touring Car.
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The TC America Series is making a major change for the 2025 season
New for 2025, the TC America series is combining the TCX and TC classes into a single class, allowing for a wider variety of performance brands to put their best tire forward in the name of competition. Before the 2025 season, TCX was the premier class, while the TC class occupied the middle tier. The TCX category featured models like the Honda Type R TCX, whereas the TC class saw competitors more akin to the regular Honda Civic Type R.
Toyota is by no means new to the racing scene. The Japanese automaker not only participates in NASCAR and Formula One but will also feature the Toyota GR Corolla as the official pace car for the 2024 NASA National Championships. There, the GR Corolla will pace 400 drivers from 14 regions in 25 racing classes.
“For four years running, we’ve had a GR sports car serve as the pace car for these championships, and we’re thrilled to see the GR Corolla lead the pack once more in 2024,” said Mike Tripp, Group VP of Toyota Marketing.
The Toyota GR Corolla TC one-ups the standard GR Corolla
The standard GR Corolla hatchback features a 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that produces 300 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque mated to either an eight-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission.
The GR Corolla TC model will roll out with the eight-speed automatic transmission as standard, as well as GR-FOUR all-wheel drive, Alcon six-piston front, and two-piston rear brakes, as well as various aerodynamic improvements.
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Custom MacPherson struts and JRi dual-adjustable shocks will be along for the ride as well, while Bosch Motorsport electronics will take control of the race car’s drivetrain, power management, and ABS system.
This is a race car at heart, so safety additions, such as a roll cage, an OMP fiberglass seat with a six-point harness, and an electronically activated fire extinguishing system, are mandatory.
“The opportunity to take the GR Corolla and make it a track-ready racecar with the team here at TGRNA was [an] exciting project to tackle,” said Mike Norem, manager of Customer Racing at TGRNA.
You can buy the GR Corolla TC, but it won't be cheap
According to the press release, we’ll soon be able to get behind the wheel of a GR Corolla TC model. Toyota hasn’t come out with pricing or availability just yet, but we can speculate, perhaps wildly, on a potential price for the street-legal race car.
Currently, the base Toyota GR Corolla TC starts at $38,860 MSRP and tops out at $45,515, but obviously, a race-spec model will cost a pretty penny more. The race-spec Civic Type R TCR comes in hot with an $89,900 price tag, so it’s safe to say that putting a Toyota GR Corolla TC in your driveway will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $80,000 to $95,000.
Before you get excited, though, there are a few other things we can take from what we know about the Civic Type R TCR. First, you’ll probably need a racing license to buy a GR Corolla TC, and second, the GR Corolla TC may not even be street legal.
Final thoughts
Hot hatches are really slick, but they’ve never really been my thing. Perhaps my limited experience behind the wheel of any hatchback other than a 2017 and 2023 Civic is to blame. Still, I wouldn’t mind hitting the track for an afternoon to see what all the hype is really about. Either way, I’ll be tuning in to see how the Corolla GR TC performs in the upcoming season!
