- The Toyota GR Yaris now has racing version that will compete in the Australia Rally Championship.
- This highly modified version of the hot hatch has the same turbo 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine.
- The street version of the GR Yaris won’t be coming to the U.S., but we are expecting a similar GR Corolla for our shores.
Toyota’s Australian division has teamed up with Neal Bates Motorsport to turn the rally-inspired GR Yaris hot hatch into an actual rally car. Called the GR Yaris Asia-Pacific 4WD, this race car will compete in the AP4 category of the Australia Rally Championship that starts up next month.
The factory GR Yaris looks plenty cool on its own, but this rally version is even more aggressive with its flared-out fenders, mud flaps, and various vents and scoops. Much of the bodywork is fiberglass, and the car is so light that team says it will have to use ballast to meet the minimum weight requirement of around 2700 pounds for its racing class. Under the hood is the same turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-three in the standard GR Yaris; although specific output numbers aren’t made public, it has a different turbocharger and will surely produce more power than the street car’s 268 horsepower.
A six-speed sequential gearbox replaces the six-speed manual transmission, and the all-wheel-drive system has a locked center differential in accordance with regulations. The suspension has also been modified to provide more travel.
The GR Yaris in street form won’t be coming to the U.S., but we are looking forward to another Toyota hot hatch, likely a GR Corolla, that will be coming to our shores soon. We can only hope that it will carry on some the same spirit as this Yaris rally car.
Leave a Reply