Toyota has become the latest manufacturer to join the ranks of Rally2 within the World Rally Championship (WRC). The WRC’s current reigning champion, Toyota’s Rally2 contender was officially granted homologation by the FIA from January 1, 2024. Rally2 is the customer-focused category that runs in support of the factory team-dominated WRC Rally1 ranks. It is also used in many regional and national rally series around the globe.
The Toyota Rally2 contender is the GR Yaris, developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR), which runs the factory Rally1 programme in the WRC. The Rally1 car is also a GR Yaris, albeit much modified from stock, using a space frame chassis and equipped with a hybrid system.
While the Rally1 car has a 1.6 litre I4, turbo-fitted with a 36 mm intake air restrictor, and married to a 100 kW (134 hp) electric motor-generator unit and a 3.9 kWh battery, the non-hybrid Rally2 has a I3 turbo, fitted with a 32 mm restrictor. The I3 Rally2 engine has a bore of 87.5 mm and a stroke of 89.7 mm for 1618.16 cc.
The Rally2 I3 powers a chassis much closer to stock than that of the Rally1. Nevertheless, like the Rally1 car, the Rally2 is four-wheel drive and uses a five-speed gearbox. The GR Yaris Rally2 actually made its (pre-homologation) public debut at Rally Japan in 2022. Since then, extensive testing has seen more than 15,000 kilometres covered, including participation in the Japanese Rally Championship.
TGR chairman Akio Toyoda, known as ‘Morizo’, says he hopes the new GR Yaris Rally2 will be the car “to make the first step in building a bridge between motorsport vehicles and production vehicles through rally competition – something that could contribute to enhancing the rally market worldwide”.
With the granting of the FIA homologation certificate, distribution of the GR Yaris Rally2 began to customers all over the world. The ‘commemorative’ first car was delivered to ROOKIE Racing, led by Morizo. TGR announced that four teams were set to contest the Rallye Monte-Carlo from January 25-28, using the GR Yaris Rally2.