What's the news?
Somebody fire up Photoshop - we need a Castrol livery and we need it now! This plea comes with the news that Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) may be working on a WRC version of its Yaris R1 rally car. Reports from Motorsport News and Autocar say the Yaris WRC could be ready to begin testing as early as next year ahead of a full assault on the WRC in 2015.
The timing for Toyota could not be better; with Sebastian Loeb moving to WTCC and both Volkswagen and Hyundai making factory backed entries, the WRC could be the automotive duke-out that it was during the nineties. At that time Toyota enjoyed much success with the Celica GT-Four and later Corolla WRC doing battle with Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos in what was, for many, the golden era of rally.
A turbocharged 1.6-litre engine is apparently being developed to comply with WRC regulations and will follow the 1.0-litre Yaris R1 and recently announced GT86 R3 into the fray when it arrives.
Anything else?
It has also just been announced that Skoda is working on an R5 variant of its Fabia rally car. The development programme will begin next year with an official, homologated racer expected in 2015. Anyone else care to join the rally carousel?