GR Yaris Rally2 FIA-homologated, ready for Monte Carlo Rally

Up to now, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) has been participating in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID – and won the 2022 and 2023 championships (Drivers and Manufacturers).

For customer teams
Now the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID is joined by the GR Yaris Rally2 which this week received its homologation by the FIA. Unlike the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID which is used by the TGR World Rally Team, the GR Yaris Rally2 has been developed for sales to customers who want to enter competition.

With FIA homologation, this new model qualifies for any FIA event anywhere in the world. The first unit will be delivered to ROOKIE Racing, led by Morizo (the racing name of Akio Toyoda, Toyota’s Chairman), and another 4 teams which will be participating in the 2024 Monte Carlo Rally later this month.

Another way to make ever better cars
Having developed the GR010 HYBRID World Endurance Championship racing car for works motorsport activities, and also developed the GR Supra GT4 to promote making ‘ever better cars’ through customer motorsports, Toyoda hopes this will be the new rallycar will be the first step in building a bridge between motorsport vehicles and production vehicles through rally competition.

It is the first 4-wheel drive sportscar to be developed exclusively by Toyota for 20 years, created by TGR with a mission to win in the WRC. “Rather than a car made for TGR to win, the GR Yaris Rally2 is a car made for customers to win: this is the start of our new challenge,” Toyoda said.

Under development since 2022
The car made its public debut at Rally Japan in 2022, when Morizo took the wheel and assessed its performance. Since then, TGR received a lot of feedback from the many drivers who tested the Rally2 car on different surfaces and in different conditions.

More than 15,000 kms have been covered, including participation in the Japanese Rally Championship which also served as testing on Japanese roads.

So far, the development process has incorporated feedback from top professional drivers, young up-and-coming drivers and experienced customer drivers. From now on, an even wider range of feedback will be gathered from customer motorsport competitors in championships such as the WRC. This will be TGR to develop improvements to make an ever better rallycar.

Click here to find out more about GR models available in Malaysia

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