Toyota might never use the GR Yaris in a WRC rally, but the Japanese hot-hatch already found its place in the Australian Rally Championship.
2020 has not been the ideal year for carmakers. However, it apparently won’t be enough to stop them from achieving the goals they had already set. That’s especially true for Toyota, which had a hectic year, giving us the exceptional rally-derived GR Yaris. Now, the Japanese carmaker showcases the full-on Rally version.
Unfortunately, Toyota has already announced that the 2021 GR Yaris would not launch in the United States. In its place, Toyota will probably introduce a hot Corolla instead.
The GR Yaris was designed by Tommi Makinen Racing & Gazoo Racing as Toyota’s WRC entry. However, Toyota will not be entering the World Rally Championship because the Covid-19 pandemic has caused some financial issues. Instead, Toyota would be using the previous model, which won the championship last year anyway.
However, there is still some ray of hope for Toyota. Namely, the rally special Yaris AP4 will participate in the Australian Rallying Championship as a part of Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia’s rally team. Toyota developed the car in collaboration with Neal Bates Motorsport, who manages the TGR team and has already won the Australian Championship four times.
The work on the Yaris AP4 started in March this year. However, that wasn’t an easy task. Developing and testing the Yaris AP4 during the pandemic turned out to be quite complicated.
To counter the slight setback, Toyota Australia’s team and Neal Bates’ rally team used virtual technology to develop external body concepts.
Following that, the teams fine-tuned individual components using the latest technology to comply with AP4 rally regulations.
However, none of the parties involved have revealed whether there are changes to the power output. The modified car probably shares the same 1.6-liter turbocharged engine from the street-legal version, producing 268 bhp and 272 lb-ft of torque. Moreover, it can reach a maximum speed of 143 mph and reach 100 km/h (62 mph) under 5.5 seconds.
More details to come soon.
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