The Gazoo name traces to 2007, when an informal in-house team led by test driver Hiromu Naruse entered the 24 Hours Nurburgring. Akio Toyoda, then Toyota's vice president, participated as a driver under the nickname "Morizo." Because official Toyota branding was not permitted for the low-budget project, the team adopted the name Team Gazoo from a Toyota-affiliated web portal. Naruse died in an accident in June 2010, and the 2014 Nurburgring effort was dedicated to his memory.
From 2002 to 2009, Toyota competed in Formula One as Panasonic Toyota Racing, engineered by Toyota Motorsport GmbH in Cologne, Germany. Despite fielding experienced drivers and carrying the sport's largest budget, the team never won a race, recording thirteen podium finishes including five second places before withdrawing after the 2009 season citing the global economic crisis.
In April 2015, Toyota unified all motorsport activities previously split across Gazoo Racing, Toyota Racing, and Lexus Racing under a single Gazoo Racing umbrella. A common livery of red and black stripes on white was adopted across factory machines. In 2017, an in-house Gazoo Racing Company was established as a semi-independent entity to strengthen the link between racing development and road car production. Toyota Motorsport GmbH was renamed Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR Europe) in April 2020.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR WRT), based in Jyvaskyla, Finland, was established by Tommi Makinen Racing upon Toyota's request for a WRC return in 2017. TGR Europe later purchased the team in 2020. Running Yaris WRC cars from 2017 to 2021, TGR WRT won the manufacturers' championship twice, in 2018 and 2021, while Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja took the drivers' title in 2019 and Sebastien Ogier won in 2020 and 2021. From 2022, the team switched to the hybrid GR Yaris Rally1 car and won a third manufacturers' title in its debut year, along with the drivers' championship for Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen. Former rally champions Jari-Matti Latvala and Juha Kankkunen serve as team principals.
TGR's endurance racing effort is operated by TGR Europe from Cologne. Since competing under the Toyota Gazoo Racing name from 2016, the team won the World Endurance Championship four times. Its LMP1-class TS050 Hybrid took three Le Mans victories, and the LMH-class GR010 Hybrid added two further Le Mans wins, including Toyota's first overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2018, which was also the first Le Mans win by a Japanese manufacturer.
Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa, an alias for independent local company Hallspeed, operates TGR's Dakar Rally and FIA World Rally-Raid Championship efforts. The program earned its first outright Dakar victory in 2019 with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel. TGR repeated that success in 2022 and 2023 and won the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship title in 2022.
On 11 October 2024, Toyota and Haas F1 Team announced a technical partnership under which TGR provides design, technical, and manufacturing services while gaining track experience for Japanese engineers and drivers. In December 2025, Haas and Toyota extended the relationship into a title sponsorship, with the team entering the 2026 season as TGR Haas F1 Team. Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda stated that the arrangement was not a full factory return but an opportunity to develop personnel within the sport.
The GR performance sub-brand emerged directly from racing development. The GR Supra, launched in 2019, shares a platform with the BMW Z4 and is produced by Magna Steyr in Austria. The GR Yaris, introduced in 2020, is assembled at a dedicated GR Factory at Toyota's Motomachi plant using station-based manual processes. The GR86, introduced in 2021, is co-developed with Subaru and built at Subaru's Gunma plant. The GR Corolla followed in 2022, built primarily for North America alongside the GR Yaris.