"Roads build people and cars." After a development period guided by those watchwords, Toyota is finally selling the GR Yaris Rally2. We closely followed the development team for a year to see how they grew.
The GR Yaris Rally2 was first unveiled to the global public at Rally Japan 2022. Development continued in Finland, and at the start of 2023, it went on to take the stage at the All Japan Rally Championship with Norihiko Katsuta tasked to be the development driver. Toyota Times News has followed the development’s journey of trial and error.
A “huge blunder” uncovered by a crash, and an exhaust leak revealed during a rally. An unavoidable dropout made for an “unforgettable birthday,” and deteriorated parts were also unearthed... None of these defects would have been found if Katsuta hadn’t taken the GR Yaris Rally2 to its absolute limit, as the extreme conditions of motorsports require.
Katsuta, though, insists he still needs to train. He occasionally resorts to learning driving techniques from his greatest rival so he can always be ready to push the car to its limits. Meanwhile, engineers and mechanics compete in a world of milliseconds, honing their skills so they can find problems and repair them as quickly as possible.
“Roads build people and cars.” Morizo inherited this principle from his driving master, Hiromu Naruse, and the truth of this can be felt on the front lines of development.
In January of 2024, the GR Yaris Rally2 was officially approved by the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile) for sale as a rally car. It is meant to play a role in expanding the scope of rallying as a car for private drivers who participate as individuals rather than automobile manufacturers that enter rallies with whole teams.
The first GR Yaris Rally2 went into the hands of Morizo as a step toward achieving Toyota’s valued goal of “making ever-better cars through motorsports.” He acquired the first car not as chairman but as Morizo to uncover issues and feed the results back into other cars as quickly as possible. He commented: “It’s a car that doesn’t mock the driver for having limited skills.” He went on to say, “A world-class machine has appeared here. It’s a big first step for Toyota.”
However, the development team considers their greatest mission to be continuous improvement. They are still working toward this year’s Rally Japan in an ongoing repetition of driving, breaking, and fixing, continuing the evolution.
This week’s Toyota Times News is full of exclusive footage showing how drivers, engineers, and mechanics have different roles but the same aspiration. Viewers will surely be moved by the passion they have for this car.