Rumors now being surrounding Toyota’s continued rally investment have been buzzing for several years, it is not about the continuation of Toyota Gazoo Racing in the FIA World Rally Championship but about their next move to broaden the investment and reach consumers.
It is still unknown if the team will be developing a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 or a Rally3 car, but the team management it is all silent concerning the fact that no decisions have been made in Japan, but according to some Finnish motorsport news sources there have been some secret tests taken place recently far from the team´s testing grounds.
Rumors speak of a Rally2 variant, where the company has a perfect starting point in the GR model of the Yaris. Jari-Matti Latvala who is the team principal at Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT has spoken to the Finnish publication Rallit.fi and he does not give any comments yet. In Finland, it is said that the team bought cars from prominent manufacturers at an early stage to collect and gather experience for their development of a Rally2 car.
Juho Hänninen is said to have run the secret tests that were placed far from his own team (Toyota) to more easily keep the tests to himself. Perhaps it is about further test drives of the hydrogen-powered Toyota GR Yaris H2 that was shown in the Ypres Rally Belgium, or if the rumors were to be true, we can expect to see a car from Toyota in the Rally2 customer segment at the earliest by the start of the 2024 season.
