What does a team do after six manufacturers’ titles in a row? Toyota’s answer is to split in two. Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) will run two separate squads with two different cars when the World Rally Championship’s new regulations arrive in 2027. One squad, Toyota Racing, will debut the GR Celica Rally1, while the other, Gazoo Racing Toyota, will run a new 2027 version of the GR Yaris Rally1. Between them, the two teams will have at least three world champions.
A Familiar Name Returns
The Celica name carries real weight in Toyota’s rally history, and its return to the WRC will please a lot of us enthusiasts. Defending champions Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin will lead the Toyota Racing team. They won their first titles this year after finishing runners-up five times before.
Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson join them. In their first full season with the team, they finished second overall, won three rallies and took more stage wins than any other crew. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen complete the trio after finishing third, with three wins and nine podiums from 13 events. The 2026 title fight went down to the final stage. Evans won it by five points from Solberg and six from Pajari.
Old Heroes Join the Yaris Team
The Gazoo Racing Toyota line-up looks just as strong. Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja return seven years after winning the 2019 title in the Yaris WRC. During their earlier stint, the Estonians won 10 rallies across two seasons. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston also move to this team. They took their first WRC wins in Kenya and Croatia this year, and Katsuta became the first Japanese driver to lead the championship.
Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen also come back after a year away, though only for selected events. Rovanperä is the youngest world champion in WRC history and won the 2022 and 2023 titles with the team. His partial programme leaves room for guest drivers. Toyota says these could include Sébastien Ogier, the nine-time champion.
Equal Cars, Separate Teams
Toyota plans to enter up to six factory cars at each rally. It says both teams will compete as equal rivals for victory. Both cars are built to the same new rules, which aim to make Rally1 more accessible, so they will have equal power and performance. Still, both teams will work from the same headquarters in Jyväskylä, Finland. That makes it fair to ask how separate they will really be. Toyota’s argument is that two driver line-ups give it more feedback to develop both cars.
The team broke ground on a new technical centre at nearby Majajärvi on 2 November. It also finished six days of rally simulation testing with its 2027 prototype in central Finland. Homologation should be complete before the end of the year. Toyota will reveal more details and the liveries before the 2027 season starts. For now, the key point is that Toyota is fielding six cars and two model names under the new rules, so its rivals will be up against a much larger factory effort.
