Toyota premiers its new Yaris rally car for the road

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s 2019 hint about a WRC "homologation special" Toyota Yaris has come to fruition with the launch of the Gazoo Racing Yaris.

Built with knowledge gained from the Yaris that won the 2019 World Rally Championship, the road-going Toyota GR Yaris is lightened with the bonnet lid and door panels all made from lightweight aluminium. The black roof is made from carbon fibre-reinforced plastics to lower the car’s centre of gravity.

It wears 18-inch BBS forged wheels and stopping power is supplied by 356mm grooved front discs with four-pot callipers.

Aerodynamic efficiency and a grimacing look and stance are also reached with purposeful bulges all over its three-door body shape, and a wide snarling grille ensures good cooling to its internals.  

Much like the older, less manic Yaris GRMN, the new car is developed and fine-tuned with input from professional drivers. It’s the first in the range to wear the top-tier GR badge that signals total sporting DNA for the road.

It’s powered by what is the world’s most powerful in-line three-cylinder turbo engine with outputs of 200kW and 370Nm. It’s stoked by a six-speed manual gearbox with intelligent rev match technology.

As a result, the 1,280kg GR Yaris is said to accelerate from 0-100 km/h in less than 5.5 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 230km/h.

It’s the first Yaris to adopt a sports permanent 4WD system. Known as GR-FOUR, the newly developed all-paw system is the adjustable type that allows front/rear torque balance of 100% front or back or anything in between, depending on usage conditions or mode selected.

It’s equipped with a Torsen limited-slip differential to offer this fast Yaris higher levels of cornering and stability.

The Yaris GR-FOUR is currently under consideration for local introduction. At this stage there is no indication of price, arrival date or number of units headed this way.