The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris is set to make its debut in an online event on September 16, the little speedster having been ‘reverse engineered’ from the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (WRT) to become a road car.

This online event (only in Japanese) event will communicate the ideas incorporated in the development of the GR Yaris and its development story, together with information about the GR Factory. Additionally, President Akio Toyoda (in his Morizo master driver persona) will drive the GR Yaris and offer the opportunity for a VR1* drive-along.

Based on the desire of master driver Morizo to ‘restore Toyota sports cars’, the new GR Yaris was created as the first Toyota vehicle developed with the reversed concept of turning a motorsports car into a production car.

The main features of the new GR Yaris are that it is engineered with an emphasis on aerodynamics, light weight and high rigidity; has excellent performance from the newly-developed 1,6-litre in-line three-cylinder intercooled turbo engine combined with the ‘GR-FOUR’, a newly-developed sports 4WD system, to transmit power to all four wheels and three distinctive models have been created for the Japanese Domestic Market: the RZ, the fun to drive RS (1,5-litre FWD) and the competition based RC.

In addition, the GR FACTORY, an exclusive production line, has been created at the Motomachi Plant, where each sports model will be produced by takumi (master craftsmanship) team members.

Vehicle Outline

RZ:

A high-output model that offers outstanding driving stability, exceptional acceleration and the pleasing feel of a revving engine. The RZ ‘High performance’ with even higher marginal performance is also available.

The newly-developed compact, lightweight, and high-power G16E-GTS 1,6-litre in-line three-cylinder inter-cooler turbo engine. An air-cooled inter-cooler with a cooling-spray function is standard on the RZ ‘High performance’

It features a newly-developed ‘GR-FOUR’ sports 4WD system with a variable front and rear driving force system using multi-plate clutch Torsen3 LSD front and rear differentials. Toyota’s ‘iMT’ technology is included in the six-speed manual transmission.

RS:

This version has the M15A-FKS 1,5-litre in-line three-cylinder Dynamic Force Engine based on the TNGA approach

It sports a Direct Shift-CVT with an additional gear for starting up and powerful and responsive performance from low to high speeds. Equipped with a 10-speed sequential shiftmatic paddle shifter that provides the feel of a manual.

RC:

A model ideal for customisation as a base model for competing in motor sport or other applications.

Based on the RZ with all equipment not needed for driving eliminated. Maintains basic performance with the G16E-GTS 1,6-litre in-line three-cylinder inter-cooler turbo engine and ‘GR-FOUR’ sports 4WD system and gains 16-inch ventilated disc brakes in consideration of installation of small-diameter tires for rally use.

GR YARIS ONLINE EVENT: (available only in Japanese)

Date and time: September 16, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. (scheduled) (JST)

TGR official YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/TOYOTAGAZOORacingJPchannel

• Part 1―An event for fans (7:30 – 8:05 p.m.)
• Part 2―A GR Yaris online Q&A session (8:15 – 9:00 p.m.)

Event details will be released on the Toyota Gazoo Racing website at a later time.
URL: https://toyotagazooracing.com/jp/gr/yaris (available only in Japanese)

*VR1 Virtual Reality. A smartphone and basic VR goggles are needed to enjoy this VR experience (2D images will be streamed to enable viewing even without VR goggles).