New RALLY2 and Upgraded GR Yaris Pair to Make Public Debut at Formula 1® Australian Grand Prix Display

March 19, 2024

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing GR Garage will play host to two exciting new race-bred vehicles making their public debut on Australian soil at the 2024 Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix, reaffirming the link between Toyota GR vehicles and their motorsport-derived counterparts.

On display for fans to view from March 21 – March 24, situated in the Fan Zone – behind PIT Exit, the GR Garage will show off the new GR Yaris Rally2 car that will be campaigned by the TGRA Rally Team in the 2024 Australian Rally Championship (ARC) alongside the upgraded GR Yaris, as well as an exclusive ‘race the clock’ reaction time challenge—a Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix first.

Toyota Australia Chief Marketing Officer Vin Naidoo said the GR Garage was a great opportunity for fans to get up close and personal with the latest Toyota vehicles featuring true motorsport DNA.

“TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is all about taking the learnings from extreme motorsport competition and applying that to our road cars, making for exhilarating driving characteristics,” Mr Naidoo said.

“Fans attending the 2024 Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne this week will get the chance to see both aspects of the GR brand alongside each other, with the first Australian public display of the factory-built GR Yaris Rally2 and updated GR Yaris road car,  sharing the spotlight.”

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Australia (TGRA) Rally Team, who took the top two places in the 2023 ARC competition, will campaign two examples of the new factory-built GR Yaris Rally2 in the upcoming 2024 season at the hands of Harry and Lewis Bates and their co-drivers, Coral Taylor and Anthony McLoughlin.

The new GR Yaris Rally2 cars will replace the Australian-designed and built GR Yaris AP4s that spurred the TGRA Rally Team to two consecutive driver’s and co-driver’s championship titles, while also giving Toyota the past two manufacturers’ titles.

Homologated for WRC2 competition, the GR Yaris Rally2 is Toyota’s first factory-built rally car and is available for customers across the world to buy for use in WRC2 and national championship competitions.

Like the GR Yaris AP4 engineered and built by Neal Bates Motorsport, the GR Yaris Rally2 employs a 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine, driving all four wheels via a five-speed sequential transmission.

Also on display will be the upgraded GR Yaris hot hatch, brought to Australia for the first time ahead of its local launch in 2025.

The revised GR Yaris extracts even more power from its potent 1.6-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine, raising outputs by 24kW to 224kW at 6500rpm, with a strong 400Nm of torque (+30Nm) on tap from 3250-4600rpm.

It will also be available for the first time with an eight-speed automatic transmission which has been developed through hardcore use in motorsport and optimised for dynamic driving.

The automatic transmission senses the driver’s accelerator and brake operation to anticipate gear shifts and provide lightning-fast gear changes.

Visual updates have been made inside and out, including tilting the dashboard and multimedia system towards the driver by 15 per cent to improve operability.

The 2024 Formula 1® Rolex Australian Grand Prix commences on March 21 and concludes with the final race on March 24.