Toyota Gazoo Racing introduced the World Rally Championship to hydrogen as an internal combustion engine fuel at the tarmac-based Ypres Rally Belgium August 18-21 2022. The team ran a GR Yaris H2 on two stages ahead of the regular WRC competitors. Four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen, now 63 years old drove the car on SS3. Team founder Akio Toyoda got behind the wheel the following day, ahead of SS11 with Kankkunen then in the co-driver’s seat.

The GR Yaris H2 has the same powertrain as the GR Corolla H2 which Toyoda has been racing in the 2022 Super Taikyu series in Japan, including June’s Fuji 24 hour race. Toyota WRC boss Jari-Matti Latvala shared the car with Toyoda in the Fuji twice around the clock marathon.

The GR Corolla H2 uses the ‘G16E-GTS‘ engine from the Yaris, a 1.6-litre I3 turbo converted to run on hydrogen fuel via a special Denso injection system. The car has four hydrogen tanks capable of holding 180 litres of the fuel but due to more frequent and longer refuelling stops it finished the Fuji race behind its conventional fuelled rivals. Nevertheless it completed 450 laps, a total of just over 2000 km.

GR Powertrain Development Division General Manager, Masakiyo Kojima told RET, “This project is at a very early stage of development so we have only made small modifications to the production engine. The standard injectors are built for a liquid and we are using hydrogen gas, so new injectors had to be fitted. We have also removed the fuel pump. The pressurised hydrogen tank and a regulator are directly connected to the hydrogen injectors.”

Toyoda remarked of the Ypres rally adventure, “I want to keep the engine's vibration and exhaust sound in motorsports. While we are trying to achieve carbon neutrality, we still want to keep the excitement. It was great that we were able to share that feeling in Europe.”