TimesLIVE Motoring ready for battle in GR Cup Yaris Challenge

2022 has got off to a great start. The pandemic seems to be easing, SA thrashed India in the cricket (didn’t see that coming) and Toyota Gazoo Racing invited me to represent TimesLIVE Motoring in their GR Cup Yaris Challenge.

Designed to stir up some excitement around the brand and test the waters for a competitive one make race series, this home-grown initiative will see six local motoring scribes battling against each other at circuits around the country in GR Yaris hatchbacks tuned for the track. 

Overseen by the experts at Fast Development, modifications have mostly been about improving safety and handling. As such every GR Cup Yaris Challenge car is fitted with a full interior roll cage, driver’s side window safety net and an OMP race seat equipped with a five-point harness. Suspension has been dropped 10mm over that of the road-going GR Yaris while those 18-inch forged alloy wheels swap their factory Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tyres for Dunlop Direzza semi-slicks.

Pop that feathery aluminium bonnet and you’ll find that aside from a K&N air filter the venerable G16E-GTS engine has been left untouched. Not that it needs any fettling mind as it already pushes out 198kW and 360Nm — figures that make it the most potent production three-cylinder motor on the market right now. 

Finished off with a custom black, red and white vinyl body wrap (the official colours of Toyota Gazoo Racing in case you were wondering), the menacing GR Cup Yaris Challenge car sure looks the business — like something you’d expect to find lining up on the grid for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring or for a tarmac rally stage.

Unfortunately at the time of writing I’ve yet to get behind the wheel of one so I’m unable to tell you how it drives in anger. However, going on how the standard car drove when I had it on test last year, it should prove a formidable whip. Particularly through the curvy bits where the pairing of a GR-Four all-wheel drive system with those front and rear Torsen limited-slip differentials should culminate in impressive corner speed.

I’m also expecting a lot of confidence in the braking zones as the GR Yaris comes fitted with a set of monstrous anchors. Especially up front, where those BBS wheels shroud 356mm grooved discs and four-piston calipers — bigger than you get on the GR Supra.

The 2022 GR Cup Yaris Challenge will consist of seven races, the first of which will take place at Cape Town’s Killarney International Raceway on March 5.