Evans, Solberg and Pajari get the new GR Celica; Tanak, Katsuta and a part-time Rovanpera drive the GR Yaris.
Toyota announced on 3 November that its World Rally Championship operation will run two teams in 2027. Toyota Racing will debut the GR Celica Rally1, while Gazoo Racing Toyota will campaign a new GR Yaris Rally1. Six drivers are named, including champion Elfyn Evans and returning Ott Tanak and Kalle Rovanpera.
Toyota will run its World Rally Championship programme as two separate teams in 2027, each with its own car, and it has named a six-driver line-up to staff them. Announced on 3 November at the squad's Jyvaskyla base in Finland, the plan puts a new GR Celica Rally1 car on the stages alongside a 2027 version of the GR Yaris Rally1.
Two teams, two cars
Toyota Racing will debut the GR Celica, bringing back a name with a long rally history. Gazoo Racing Toyota will continue with the GR Yaris. Both cars will be built to the new 2027 Rally1 regulations, which are meant to make the top class more accessible, and Toyota says they will have equal power and performance. Preparations are under way to enter as many as six factory cars on each rally, with the two teams treated as equal challengers for victory. Both will still operate from the same headquarters.
Who drives what
Toyota Racing is led by Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin, the reigning drivers' and co-drivers' champions. They head into an eighth full season with the team. Evans took the 2026 title by five points from Solberg, with Pajari a further point back.
Beside them are Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson, who finished runners-up in their first full year with Toyota after winning three rallies and setting more stage wins than anyone else. Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen complete the trio. They were third in the standings, with three wins and nine podiums from 13 events.
Gazoo Racing Toyota fields Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja, who rejoin the team seven years after their 2019 title. Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston are also in, after maiden victories in Kenya and Croatia this year. Katsuta became the first Japanese driver to lead the championship.
Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen return to the team too, but for a partial programme of selected events. That leaves room for guest drivers, and Toyota mentioned nine-time world champion Sebastien Ogier as a possible occasional entry.
What comes next
Toyota secured a sixth consecutive manufacturers' title in 2026, equalling the record. The new cars are in testing now: the team finished six days of rally simulation in central Finland on 3 November with its 2027 prototype. Homologation is due to be complete before the end of the year, and Toyota says more detail on the cars and their liveries will follow before the season begins.
The announcement came a day after a groundbreaking ceremony on 2 November at Majajarvi, where a new technical centre is being built near the team's base. The TGR-WRT name stays with the Jyvaskyla company.
Toyota also confirmed plans for its young-driver scheme. Jaspar Vaher and Takumi Matsushita step up to an expanded programme of WRC rounds in Europe and Japan for 2027, and Yuki Yamamoto returns to WRC2 for a championship campaign on selected rallies.
