Toyota GR MR2 prototype spied at Fuji Speedway – mid-engined sports car with 400 PS 2.0L turbo four, AWD

Toyota’s fabled new mid-engined sports car has been teased, hinted at and reported on so many times over the past decade or so that you could be forgiven for thinking it would never become a reality. But at last, we appear to have finally gotten concrete proof that such a car is in development – and at a fairly advanced stage, too.

On X, Japanese user You_SuiKoyoAZ purported that they were at the cafe at Fuji Speedway’s Fuji Motorsports Museum when they spotted a Toyota test mule that was very different from the Frankenstein GR Yaris M Concept units shown previously. While still featuring the hot hatch’s headlights, taillights and front bumper, it now had a proper sports car body with a much lower roof, a sloping rear windscreen and a pert but distinct rear deck.

But the most visible clue of the car’s rear-midship layout were of course the massive vertical side intakes just ahead of the rear wheels, feeding air into the engine. There were also vented front wheels, a sizeable swan-neck rear wing and a large rear diffuser, plus a vented bonnet to draw air out of the front end.

走行動画 pic.twitter.com/5LxZVE7FCC

— ∬なのぽよ∬ →？ (@You_SuiKoyoAZ) July 22, 2026

Normally, the images could be dismissed as being the usual generative AI fodder, but the said user supplemented them with the video above, shot from the cafe’s vantage point above the track’s final hairpin. The same car could be seen being driven in anger, with the unmistakable turbo four-cylinder engine note being clearly audible.

That engine is the new G20E, revealed back in May 2024 ostensibly as a replacement for the T24A 2.4 litre mill. The big news here is that it has been developed for high-performance applications for use in sports cars, reportedly producing up to 400 PS and 550 Nm in production applications, hiked up to 500 PS for race cars.

It’s set to mated to the GR Yaris and Corolla‘s GR-Four all-wheel drive system, and while no details of the chosen gearbox has been released just yet, racing versions of the GR Yaris M Concept participating in the Super Taikyu race series appear to sport the eight-speed Gazoo Racing Direct Automatic Transmission (GR-DAT).

Hopefully, Toyota will see fit to include a six-speed manual option for a more puristic sports car driving experience. The languid upshift and double-clutching heard in the video certainly suggests that a row-your-own gearbox is being used.

The design could lift some cues from the FT-Se concept, a sports car shown at the Japan Mobility Show in 2023. While that sharply-styled two-door was supposed to include an electric powertrain, it always seemed like lip service, and it appears that the zero-emission part never got past the show car stage. That’s a decision that seems prescient now, considering even Porsche walked back on the idea of a two-seat EV.

Given that the car appears to be the spiritual successor to Toyota’s only rear mid-engined sports car, the MR2, there’s only one name that would suit it. Late last year, it was reported that the company had trademarked the GR MR2 and GR MR-S monikers, and it looks like we finally have a face to put to the name.

Toyota FT-Se

The GR MR2 is just the start of Toyota’s sports car adventure – the company has long suggested that it was interested in remaking its iconic “three brothers” lineup that also consisted of a new Celica and a next-generation Supra, alongside a new GR86.

Remember that earlier this year, it was reported that Toyota had tested a new 2027 WRC car that switched the GR Yaris base for a two-door coupé, hinting at the first Celica rally car since the infamous (and illegal) ST205 GT-Four. The fact that the G20E engine is said to have been engineered for front-engined applications too makes an even stronger case for that happening.