There really is nothing wrong with taking what is (let’s face it) one of the most boring superminis on the market, the Toyota Yaris, and turning it into a crazy WRC-ready rally machine. In fact, it’s a welcome image change for a car otherwise associated exclusively with going to the shop and almost always bought by women.
We’d heard rumors that Toyota was looking to enter the WRC scene with the Yaris, but since that came out in December of last year, we’d not heard a peep out of them.
Now we see renowned French driver Stéphane Sarrazin (now in Formula E) giving it the boot around muddy Belgian tracks. It looks agile, and is quite a spectacular sight.
That’s partly down to the 1.6-liter turbo engine with 300-ish hp and all wheel drive, although we don’t know any technical specifics about it – we’re just quoting from the rule book here…
There’s also a slightly older video of Sarrazin and the Yaris WRC, but this time on smooth tarmac. Check both out after the virtual jump!