Toyota Goes Big: Two Teams, Six Cars and Two Big Comebacks for 2027
Toyota will run two teams and up to six cars in the 2027 WRC season, with world champions Ott Tänak and Kalle Rovanperä both returning to the sport.
Toyota's big announcement
Toyota has just dropped some of the biggest news of the rally world's off-season. For 2027, the reigning manufacturers' champions will run two separate teams with two different cars, and they plan to put as many as six factory crews on the start line at a single rally. That is a big change for a team that has won the last six manufacturers' titles and it arrives just as the WRC brings in brand new technical rules.
Meet the two teams
The first team is called Toyota Racing and it will bring back the Celica name with the all-new GR Celica Rally1. Its drivers are reigning world champion Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. Evans only clinched this year's title by five points over Solberg and six over Pajari so there is plenty of history between his new teammates.
The second team is Gazoo Racing, which will run the new GR Yaris Rally1 for Takamoto Katsuta, Ott Tänak and Kalle Rovanperä. Both teams will work from Toyota's base in Jyväskylä, Finland, and Toyota says all six crews will get cars that can fight for wins and championships. That also means three of the drivers, Solberg, Pajari and Katsuta, arrive as men who took their first WRC wins in 2026, while the other three are seasoned world champions.
Two world champions come back
Tänak is the first big return. The Estonian won the 2019 world title with Toyota and now rejoins them seven years later with his long-time co-driver Martin Järveoja. He is back full-time and he has already been busy helping to develop both the Yaris and the Celica after taking a development driver role at the team.
Rovanperä is the other man returning. The Finn stepped away from rallying to chase a career in single-seater racing and he says he never expected to be back in the WRC this soon. He will team up with co-driver Jonne Halttunen for a part-time season in a GR Yaris, as he hopes to fit in some circuit racing as well. Nine-time legendary champion Sébastien Ogier could also pop up in that car but only if he decides to compete in 2027 at all.
Different bodies, same car
You might expect two different cars to mean one of them is quicker. Toyota says no. Underneath the bodywork the cars are identical and the team's technical director has made sure that even the drag from each shape matches. The idea reportedly came from team chairman Akio Toyoda, who sees two teams and two models as a way to promote more products and give fans more stories to follow.
There is a practical reason too. Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala points out that the new cost-capped cars are cheaper than the old ones so Toyota can run more of them on the same budget. The team also hopes that friendly rivalry between the two squads will help both cars improve faster.
What happens next?
Toyota has already done six days of rally simulation testing with its 2027 prototype in central Finland, and the cars should be homologated before the end of this year. More details and the liveries will come before the season starts. The big question is whether Toyota can stay on top when its own drivers are racing each other for the same wins and we will find out when the 2027 season begins in Monte Carlo in January.
Article written by Ayaan Rahman
