In the 1990’s, Toyota had a competitive team in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and took several championships. After being banned from the WRC for half of the 1995 and all of the 1996 season for cheating on the new restrictor plate requirements, Toyota made a comeback. In 1998, Toyota took second place in the WRC and in 1999, they won the manufacturer’s championship. Toyota bowed out of the WRC after their 1999 win and focused on building a Formula 1 team that ended up lasting only seven seasons.

In January of 2015, Toyota officially announced their intent to return to the WRC for the 2017 season under Toyota GAZOO Racing, the same team that competes in the WEC LMP1 class. It was also announced that the WRC car will based on the Toyota Yaris chassis.

By July, news had broke that Toyota signed Finnish rally legend Tommi Mäkinen to be team principal. Over the next several months following the announcement of signing Mäkinen, various versions of the WRC Yaris were spotted all over Europe, with Mäkinen behind the wheel, testing them on various forms of paved and dirt roads.

The version most recently spotted in Spain shows promise of being close to the 2017 production version. Under the secretive patterned wrap, this version appears to show off more aggressive body lines than older versions and looks closer to meeting the new 2017-2019 regulations.

Toyota’s announcement to come back to WRC is great news. It shows the continued growth of the WRC series and the manufacturer support of the new 2017-2019 regulations will help the series grow even further. These new regulations will give WRC cars more individuality in appearance and will allow for more power and less weight; making for an exciting 2017 season.