‘Hashimotorsport’

Clark International Speedway, Pampanga—Toyota Motor Corp (TMC) chair, and founder of the Gazoo Racing Team Akio Toyoda had an interesting approach to the interrelationship between road cars and race cars.

“‘Modifying a road car to create a race car.’ That was Toyota’s traditional motorsport approach. My goal was to reverse the process: ‘Build a winning race car, and make a road car from there.’ That’s the way I wanted to make sports cars,” Toyoda wrote in the foreword of the book “Toyota Yaris WRC (The full story of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC campaign).”

Toyoda recounted that in 2017, Toyota returned to the World Rally Championship with the Yaris WRC. “This machine was based on the Yaris road car, as this was our conventional way of doing things. We were accumulating several years of experience by competing with the Yaris WRC and, at the same time, developing a ‘winning rally car’. That is how the GR Yaris and GR Yaris Rally1 were born.”

Akio’s focus on the GR Yaris in this book authored by Peter Lyon and Brian Long is important, given that the GR Yaris debuted in the Philippines yesterday (March 22) at the Clark International Speedway in Pampanga during the opening of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Philippine Cup 2025. No less than Toyota Motor Philippines (TMP) president Masando Hashimoto ceremonially drove the GR Yaris onto the center of the track.

There is more to the GR Yaris than its being a rally-bred car. Toyoda explained: “Coming back to the WRC in 2017 helped us change our mindset with the aim of ‘making ever-better motorsport-bred cars’. In every phase of development of the GR Yaris, our priority was what should we do to win? Everything from the car packaging to the height of the car is designed with victory in mind.” He added that he has been truly grateful to TGR members “who have continued to fight against our rivals in the field of motorsports, while also fighting to change the way we build vehicles. I strongly believe that we can continue to create ever-better motorsports-bred cars.”

Humans behind the machine

Motorsport enthusiasts know that when Toyoda is out of his corporate suit, he dons his racing suit and takes on the “Morizo” persona. He started using this moniker publicly from the 2007 Nürburgring 24-hour endurance race, when he was TMC vice president. For Akio/Morizo, being behind the wheel of a race car and competing wheel-to-wheel is crucial for developing “ever-better cars” and fostering a passion for automobiles.

Toyoda’s passion for motorsports has been mirrored in the Philippines by no less than Masando Hashimoto, 47, the youngest and most athletic president in TMP’s history. No surprise here, as Masando-san was a former secretary of Toyoda.

Masando-san—who has been into physical fitness such as cycling, jogging, and swimming—started competing in motorsports as a novice just last year. Last Friday, he placed second in the Novice Class, and the day after, he placed third.

Masando can keep up with his younger counterparts mainly because of his excellent physical conditioning. He jogs for 7 km every day. He bikes for 40km every week, and if there’s a chance to go out of town, he can pedal for 100km. He also regularly goes to the gym and lifts weights. Let his height and weight do the talking: He’s 6’-2” and 65 kg light. The power-to-weight ratio is strong in this one.

But he’s also the first to admit that, on the racetrack, he still has a lot to learn. Among these things he’s learning is that motorsports, like in most human endeavors, involves a lot of teamwork. Hashimoto recalled that Akio had always stressed the concept of the team in motorsports.

“Throughout the competitions, the drivers, the mechanics, the engineers, and even the coaches, are all involved and deeply engaged. That is the point why he encourages employees like me to take motorsports seriously,” Hashimoto stressed.

He added that the values that they learn from motorsport can be brought to the business arena.

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“When we take on something new, when we engage in a new business, the grit, the never-give-up mindset that’s always present in motorsports, would be reflected, utilized in the workplace as well. That’s why Akio is asking us to get involved more in motorsports,” Hashimoto explained.

He also believes that motorsports like the TGR Philippine Cup has the ability to build team spirit, motivate athletes and spectators, develop more competitive and team-oriented business people, and support local communities. Motorsports, for a leading automotive company like Toyota, is the razor-sharp edge of its pathways-building practices, both in society and in business.

According to Toyota Times, The sporting mentality was present from the early days of Toyota, which drove company founder Kiichiro Toyoda to organize the company’s first sports club, the track and field club, the same year as the company’s founding in 1937. Since then, Toyota and its sports teams have grown and developed together.

“Since the company was founded, Toyota has experienced various difficulties,” explained Toyoda (when he was still TMC president and CEO). “And whenever we went through times of trouble, sports have always been there to encourage us. The two teams, the auto company and the sports team, have always been inseparable; they always pushed each other to continue, as their paths overlapped.”

Undoubtedly, Toyota has rolled out better, more exciting, more good-looking, and more powerful cars as a result of its decades of “being in the game and being in games.” But do you know the side effects of these ultra-energetic endeavors? It may be a bit hard to fathom now, but, Toyota’s overdrive in motorsports is doing wonders as well for its sustainability and environment efforts, the details of which would be the subjects of future columns.