With its wide fenders, short wheelbase and four-wheel drive, the Toyota GR Yaris already evoked the rally car par excellence. Here is its real competition version, approved for asphalt and of course for dirt. Test and baptism on a very special track…
In the life of an automotive journalist-tester, one alternates between pleasant days and unforgettable days, like the one spent with the teams of Toyota Gazoo Racing, in Spain, in a 200-hectare area called “Nasser Camp”. In other words: one of the properties of Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah. The latter has laid out, literally in his garden, several dirt tracks sometimes to show off his Dakar Hilux, sometimes to accommodate a GR Yaris prepared for the competition.
With this little ringworm, we thought we had done everything:
- A first test on a tortuous road
- A test at the Nürburgring and on the unlimited motorway
- A match between the GR Yaris Track and the Premium Pack
It was without counting on the facetious Spanish and Portuguese colleagues, who are launching the GR Yaris Iberian Cup in 2022. On the program? A cup organized around nine local championship rallies, four of which take place on asphalt and five on gravel. The equipment of the car differs according to the surface trodden (see next chapter) and, as it was our lucky day, it was the clay version that we tried…
From the GR Yaris to the GR Yaris Iberian Cup
If the technical data sheet of the series GR Yaris already smacks of rallying with its 261 hp 1.6 turbo, its permanent all-wheel drive, its Torsen differentials at the front and rear…, this competition version receives worthy modifications of this name. On board are: a roll cage, two bucket seats and no original trim. Outside: carbon fiber mirrors, protective casings and smaller wheels for dirt (15 inches instead of 18), which require smaller diameter front discs (297 mm instead of 356 mm). Under the bodywork: a strut bar between the front shock absorber chapels, a stainless steel exhaust after the original catalyst and specific shock absorbers, not adjustable but supported by three types of springs to choose from (hard, standard or soft) for each surface.
Like the engine and the turbo, the six-speed manual gearbox remains standard, but it is surrounded by a reinforced clutch (ceramic twin-disc) and specific limited-slip differentials (the use of Yaris Track Torsen limited-slips is prohibited). The ABS and ESP type driving assistance systems are naturally deactivated, unlike the automatic double-clutch system when downshifting. Perhaps so as not to frighten the youngest drivers, fed on the sequential gearbox from driving simulators to modern rally cars.
At the wheel of the GR Yaris Iberian Cup
Harnessed in a real bucket seat implanted at ground level, I do not recognize much of my favorite GR Yaris. The driving position is much more suitable (no more high seat of the road car!), a digital display replaces the standard meters, and the bare sheet metal resonates the small three-cylinder in a din well away from the band – artificial sound of the serial model. The reinforced clutch no longer offers the progressiveness of the original one, but the short-stroke gearbox control remains.
To the right of the gear lever, we find the new “rod” of the hydraulic handbrake, undoubtedly essential to twirl the GR Yaris Cup on this turnstile of test 900 m long and riddled with hairpins. So as not to frighten my passenger supervisor, I delay the action of this magic lever and pass the first hairpin at the agreed pace. ” Gas, gas, gas! finally shouts my co-pilot, miming with his right hand a foot crushing the mushroom. It was enough to execute me … and immediately grasp the meaning of his advice.
Naturally understeering on the ground if you just turn the steering wheel, the GR Yaris Cup adopts a pleasurable propulsion temperament on re-acceleration, allowing you to get out of turns with a slight drift, straight wheels, with total traction. Very playful in the middle and exit of corners therefore, the car also becomes so on entry if you steer while keeping light pressure on the brake pedal, or even by using a small call/counter-call as easy to trigger as effective in the tightest hairpins. To the point of making the handbrake useless, at least on dirt, where causing a drift will always be easier than on asphalt with slick tires.
It remains to anticipate the downshifts well and not to hesitate to take the first in the tightest hairpins, just to not stifle the small three-cylinder, always a little off under 3,000 rpm. After three laps the little merry-go-round is already over, but the sequel promises to be even more enjoyable.
As a passenger in the GR Yaris Cup
For the next workshop, we go into the passenger compartment, to the right of a certain Pepe Lopez. Junior winner of the 208 Rally Cup in 2016 and double Spanish rally champion in 2019 and 2020, the young Spaniard takes us on a 5 km track, winding and very brittle, which will allow you to feel the full potential of this little toy. The first acceleration in support confirms the propensity of the Yaris to roll up the butt, which Pepe will use throughout his joyous run.
Despite the narrowness of the course winding between cliffs, ravines and adult pines, the guy makes the GR Yaris Cup fly without relieving the accelerator too much, even when arriving in the “breaking”, confirming the effectiveness (and the resistance!) of the specific suspension. The grip of the gravel tires allows you to set an impressive rhythm, a fortiori from the right-hand seat, whose location at ground level makes the turns happen almost by surprise (the co-drivers, those seriously ill people, etc.). And, since a short video is better than a long speech, here are the embedded images of this unforgettable session:
Review of the GR Yaris Cup trial
Technically designed to shine on slippery surfaces, the GR Yaris becomes a formidable gravel rally car once prepared for competition. The pleasure of driving is increased tenfold by the oversteering balance on acceleration, which allows you to fly over curves with a slight drift and to mimic the “real” Yaris WRC Rally 1. Paradoxically, the technical sheet of the GR Yaris Iberian Cup will prevent prancing at the head of a national rally, the car being a little heavy (1,300 kg minimum empty or 1,460 kg minimum with the crew and tools) and devoid of sequential gearbox, now generalized in most categories (read our Renault Clio Rally 4 test). But it shows much greater driving pleasure on gravel, for an all in all reasonable price on the expensive planet of rallying: at €65,800 excluding taxes, the GR Yaris Iberian Cup costs €10,000 less than the French one peaking at 230 hp and two-wheel drive. Not to mention the attractive arrival bonuses offered in the Spanish and Portuguese cups… We want the same in France!
Data sheet GR Yaris Iberian Cup
- Engine: 3-cylinder turbo, 1618cc3
- Power: 261 hp at 6,500 rpm
- Torque: 360 Nm from 3,000 to 4,000 rpm
- Gearbox: 6-speed manual
- Transmission: permanent all-wheel drive
- Differentials: front and rear limited slip
- Tires: 20-65/18 (asphalt), 17-65/15 (dirt)
- Front brakes: ventilated discs (356 mm on asphalt, 297 mm on dirt), Pagid RST5 pads (RST3 authorized on dirt)
- Rear brakes: 297mm ventilated discs, Pagid RST5 pads (RST3 allowed on gravel)
- Weight: at least 1,300 kg
Arrival bonuses TGR Yaris Iberian Cup 2022
Per rally:
- 1D place: €7,500 (+ €1,000 if the driver is under 24)
- 2and space: €6,000
- 3and space: €5,000
- 4and space: €3,000
- 5and space: €2,000
- 6and space: €1,000
- 7and space: 750 €
- 8and place: 500 €
- 9and place: 500 €
- 10and place: 500 €
In the general classification at the end of the season:
- 1D space: €25,000
- 2and space: €12,000
- 3and space: €9,000
TO READ. Alpine soon to be involved in the WRC and the Dakar?
