The Toyota Yaris tested in Italy this week is not intended for WRC competition, nor for homologation. (iRally)
But it is - reportedly - compliant with current WRC regulations. It's the clearest indication yet that Toyota Motorsport is ready to develop an actual contender - if Toyota top management gives the go-ahead.
Toyota withdrew from the WRC at the end of 1999 after winning 4 Driver and 3 Manufacturer titles. Rumours of a possible return have surfaced at regular intervals over the past few years. There was the development of a possible Yaris R1 offering, run as a course car by Isolde Holdereid at WRC Deutschland in 2012. There’s a project to develop a R3 rally car on the GT86 for 2015. There’s a local S2000 version of the Yaris in South Africa. And there were remarks by Toyota President Akio Toyoda on Japanese TV in January saying that the company would like to come back to the WRC.
All these factors have gone to fuel suggestions of an imminent return.
iRally has been assured that the car tested in Italy this week is not intended for competition, nor homologation. Toyota Motorsport says it will not compete in the WRC next year. But significantly, the car is being referred to internally as the TMG Yaris WRC.
There is clearly appetite at the highest level within the giant company to go rallying again, and Toyota Motorsport’s job is to make sure it has enough understanding of the sport and the engineering challenge involved so that it is ready to deliver should Head Office require.
It seems that what is needed is clarity on the future WRC technical regulations and a decent commercial case to return to WRC, and then a decision at main board level...
