Toyota announces WRC plans

**Bobcat** · 22nd December 2010, 23:10

Originally Posted by AndyRAC

Ford have very little to do with the GT1 cars - they are all run by Privateers.

All the teams of the new GT1 World Championship are run by privateers.

**Rally Hokkaido** · 5th February 2011, 05:02

Originally Posted by Rally Hokkaido

Only a larger one of the same photo on the front cover. It's not a prototype - just a photoshop job based on a photo of the standard next generation Auris.
There's a photo of a standard next generation Auris at the same angle in the article.

Recent posts on this thread have discussed two more points that were in the article. Best Car sugggested that while the Toyota brand would be used in WRC, the Lexus brand would be used in any racing programme (FIA-GT, DTM or Le Mans Series). However, the Toyota spokesman they met stated that the idea of joining the FIA-GT (DTM? Le Mans Series?) had been dismissed as it was not a well known category (by their customer base).

The article then continued about the target market for the Auris (=mainly Europe) and their main rival there, which is VW and its Golf model. It speculated that VW could announce its own WRC programme as early as next week's Rally of Germany. And while the new downsized WRCar regs would seem to suit VW's Polo model, from a marketing point of view the Golf would make better sense as their WRC base car, according to Best Car.

In summary, we have seen before where a car maker's marketing people decide the choice of WRC car (307CC!), not their engineers or competition department and it looks like it will be no different in Toyota's (and VW's?) case.

Since I saw the first article about Toyota's return to WRC in the August issue of Best Car, the magazine has had follow-up articles nearly every month. I hadn't bothered quoting them all here as it started to appear to me like the magazine was simply pushing an idea they would like to see happen. That is, more like a dream than a rumour!

However, recently two happenings have made me think that Best Car's inside information might be genuine.

As per their August article, VW have indeed announced their WRC entry. IIRC, in the September article they stated that Toyota would use the soon-to-be-released Yaris as their base WRCar, not the Auris. The reasoning given was that VW would use the Polo, which is the Yaris' market rival. (OK, that is yet to be confirmed by VW).

Last week, I was told by a reliable source that a well-known Japanese rally driver was doing secret suspension testing here for Toyota in a Yaris WRC test mule. I will be checking the next issue of Best Car to see if they know about this!

**HaCo** · 5th February 2011, 09:06

The Yaris Hybrid will be presented in March in the Geneva Auto Show:

http://electric-vehicles-cars-bikes....pt-teaser.html

That's the left upper car on this image:

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/01/12/v...ural-of-prius/

Looking forward to have (much) more manus in WRC again!

**Rally Hokkaido** · 5th February 2011, 09:13

Here is a bit more fuel for the rumour. It would be useful to have an off-the-shelf-engine to
further develop for use in your new WRCar!

http://www.automobilsport.com/btcc-d...e---87416.html

**HaCo** · 5th February 2011, 09:23

Originally Posted by Rally Hokkaido

Here is a bit more fuel for the rumour. It would be useful to have an off-the-shelf-engine to
further develop for use in your new WRCar!

http://www.automobilsport.com/btcc-d...e---87416.html

These are 2lTurbo engines, not 1.6T?

**Rally Hokkaido** · 5th February 2011, 12:49

Originally Posted by HaCo

These are 2lTurbo engines, not 1.6T?

Yes, you are correct!
Sorry I confused the new BTCC engines (NGTC) with the new WTCC engines, which are 1.6 litre turbo.

**NaBUru38** · 6th February 2011, 00:05

Originally Posted by Rally Hokkaido

The reasoning given was that VW would use the Polo, which is the Yaris' market rival.

That reasoning is unreasonable. Both are B-segment cars indeed, but Yaris' direct rivals are Asian, not European like the Polo and Fiesta, much less the DS3.