Hot hatches aren’t designed to go fast in a straight line, especially a three-pot model that previews a World Rally Championship car. This particular GR Yaris, however, has been treated to a few mods that helped it blast through the quarter-mile in 12.84 seconds at 105 mph (169 kph).
Filmed at the Heathcote Park Raceway in Australia, the right-hand-drive Yaris GR first ran 13.38 seconds at 105 mph. On the second try, warmer tires and a better launch translated to 13.04 seconds at the same trap speed.
The list of upgrades kicks off with a cat-back exhaust from Maxx Performance, an Aussie tuning company specialized in all things Ford. The bone-stock air filter has been swapped for a less restrictive filter from K&N, and the Weds TC-105X wheels are wider at 18 by 9.5 inches. Of course, the tires are also wider at 255 by 35 instead of 225 by 40 from the factory.
As a certain gentleman puts it in the comments section of the following video, “10 years ago I was running 12s in my LS1 Camaro and I thought that was fast. Now this little nugget with a three-banger is doing the same.”
Officially presented in January at the Tokyo Auto Salon, the homologation special for the 2021 Toyota GR Yaris WRC develops 261 PS (257 horsepower) and 360 Nm (266 pound-feet) of torque from 1.6 liters of displacement. Limited to 230 kph (143 mph), the subcompact hatchback features a high-response coupling that channels torque between the front and rear axles.
The AWD system also features two LSDs that split the torque between the left and right at both ends, and yes, this AWD solution can switch between 100 percent of the torque up front to 100 percent out back.
Toyota has no plans to bring the GR Yaris to the United States but fret not. According to the Japanese automaker, “perhaps it's time the U.S. got a Toyota hot hatch to call its own. One that continues to push the boundaries of performance. And one that can only come from Gazoo Racing.”
Reading between the lines, the GR Corolla is the most likely culprit.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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