The winning formula: Inside Toyota Gazoo Racing

A rally car engine is complex, with more than 1,200 parts that power the driver at high speeds for hundreds of miles through extreme conditions.    

ExxonMobil is a sponsor and lubricant supplier of Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR), one of the top racing teams in the World Rally Championship.  “By providing TGR with custom lubricants that drive top-level performance, we’re also able to test formulations that improve our commercial products,” said Jason Gao, ExxonMobil Technology & Engineering researcher. 

In line with society’s desire for more sustainable mobility, racing leagues are starting to shift to lower-carbon technologies. Before the start of last season, the World Rally Championship announced a mandatory switch to biofuels. TGR had little time to recalibrate its engines and leaned on its relationship with ExxonMobil to optimize performance. 

In a matter of weeks, our scientists had developed a new lubricant for Toyota to test, and it worked!  The new formulation matched the needs of the racing team, and maintained a high level of power and efficiency. That season, TGR was a triple title winner in the FIA World Rally Championship (Manufacturers’, Drivers’, and Co-Drivers’ Champions). "This work was done perfectly in short time. We knew that we could count on the experience and expertise that ExxonMobil had," said Norio Aoki, Toyota Project Manager, WRC Power Train.

This success is a testament to expertise and innovation in engineering, as well as the long history between Toyota and ExxonMobil. But it’s more than about just winning races – we’re also helping to shape the future of mobility. Lubricants are fundamental to helping the world move, and we’re using our race-winning formula to improve the products for everyday drivers. That’s our finish line.