Photo: Stefan Baldauf/Guido ten Brink
Toyota’s long-awaited return to the World Rally Championship is going to happen next year, so the Japanese brand showcased its racing car at this year’s Paris Motor Show.
Toyota’s return to WRC comes with the Yaris WRC, which has been designed to comply with the specifications mandated by FIA regulations for next year’s season.
These new specifications allow extensive aerodynamic changes when compared to what was allowed in 2016, as well as changes to the drive train.
Along with the unveiling of the 2017 WRC car for Toyota’s factory team, the manufacturer revealed its “technology partner,” in the form of American tech giant Microsoft. Other sponsors include DMG MORI, along with the Panasonic Corporation, two partners of Toyota other motorsport series.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC rally team will have Tommi Mäkinen as its principal. The Japanese automaker has yet to announced its pilot roster, but one of its test drivers, Juho Hanninen, is among the names expected to be ready to race next season.
Some rumors announced that Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg could return to the first class of the World Rally Championship in next year’s season at the wheel of the Toyota Yaris WRC.
As you can observe, those rumors have yet to materialize, but there is always hope until the news is denied by the company or one of the legendary drivers mentioned above.
Other drivers, like Pontus Tidemand, Teemu Suninen, Elfyn Evans, and Esapekka Lappi are also in the cards. The drivers mentioned above come from the WRC2 Championship, some of which “graduating” from WRC3 and Junior WRC.
In turn, the WRC2 roster is assembled by those drivers that have scored well in the young driver’s league, which is also known as Junior WRC. This year’s title in the latter has yet to be settled, but Italian Simone Tempestini is in the lead and seen as the favorite for the title that could bring him a seat in a Citroen DS3 R5 next year.
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