WRC
The thinking behind TGR’s split 2027 team
Excitement levels ahead of the 2027 season have been cranked up following the reveal of Toyota GAZOO Racing’s bold strategy to field two distinct teams and two new Rally1 machines.
Next season Toyota will field an expanded six car line-up split into two teams, run under the banner of Toyota Racing, which will run the GR Celica, while GAZOO Racing Toyota will utilise the GR Yaris. The two cars are expected to adopt different liveries to help differentiate the teams.
Defending champion Elfyn Evans will be joined by Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari at ‘Team Celica’, while Takamoto Katsuta and returning world champions Ott Tänak and Kalle Rovanperä will represent ‘Team Yaris’.
On paper Toyota appears to have created more work for itself homologating two body shapes for 2027, so why embark on such a strategy? As Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala explains, the decision boils down to several reasons. Firstly, a reduction in costs to run Rally1 machines under the FIA’s new 2027 technical regulations, an opportunity to revive the iconic Celica name in rallying, and the ability to create extra storylines and generate extra engagement for fans.
“First of all the new regulation has a nice aspect in that the cars are less expensive than the previous generation so the cost reduction will help you to run more cars with the same budget [as 2026]. We're thinking about the budget, so we thought to add more cars because we have the budget to run it. [The] second thing, we wanted to improve the fan engagement with the drivers and teams and the cars,” explained Latvala.
“If you think about the Celica and its story from the seventies, eighties, and nineties, and winning three titles in the nineties and how iconic a model it was. I think for Toyota’s history it is very important. I think it is a great idea for the fans.”
The all-new GR Yaris
© Toyota GAZOO Racing
WILL THERE BE ANY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE CELICA AND YARIS?
From the outside the GR Celica and GR Yaris will sport noticeably different body shapes and rear wings, but underneath the cars are absolutely identical. To ensure that there is parity between the two models, Toyota’s technical department has worked meticulously to ensure both body shapes will achieve the same aerodynamic performance.
“Everything else underneath [the body] is 100% identical,” explained Toyota technical director Tom Fowler. “The reality is that the two cars are designed to be the same.”
“This [achieving identical aerodynamic numbers] has been one of the technical challenges of taking on the regulation in this way. We had to develop two cars which were comparable to each other as well as on a higher level than the opposition. The number of constraints was much higher. This has been one of the targets from the beginning to make sure that the two cars are comparable.
“And the only area where they're different is the body shape and therefore the aerodynamics. This has been part of the development all along to develop them step by step. That doesn't mean they're identical in physical shapes because they can't be. So you have to take the steps to ensure the end result is the same which anyway is not different from a normal technical development because you have an aerodynamic target to achieve.
“You work towards it normally with one model, but what we've done is work towards that target with two models and allowed there to be physical differentiation between the two models in order to achieve the same target. It essentially makes your life much more difficult.”
Toyota’s new signing Tänak has arguably the most mileage behind the wheel of the Celica and Yaris 2027 models having played a significant role in their development operating as the team's development driver this year.
“There is really no major difference in the cars, they are physically the same under the skin. We have done mileage on both of them and they are working well," said Tänak.
The 2027 Toyota GAZOO Racing Driver line-up
© Toyota GAZOO Racing
HOW TOYOTA DECIDED IT TWO TEAM LINE-UP
Deciding which crews to place into the Toyota Racing and Gazoo Racing Toyota teams was a decision made by team management, with drivers unable to have any input on the outcome.
“In that sense it was quite easy to decide because when Ott won his championship he was in a Yaris so he goes into the Yaris team. Kalle had won two titles in the Yaris so he went into that team with Taka (Katsuta). We wanted to put the new young generation [Solberg and Pajari] in the new car [Celica] plus the current champion in Elfyn, so that was how it was done,” added Latvala.
