Toyota GR Corolla Rally Concept Looks the Part with Fender Flares, Giant Wing
The Toyota GR Corolla Rally concept draws inspiration from Toyota’s GR Yaris rally car, with boxy fender flares and a huge rear wing.The Rally concept features 3D-printed vents in the rear quarter-panels and a full roll cage in the cabin, which also holds a pair of OMP racing seats and a fire suppression system.White 17-inch OZ Racing wheels complete the rally-car look.
Toyota returned to the World Rally Championship in 2017 after a nearly 20-year absence, and the rediscovered passion for motorsports has spawned a performance rejuvenation in Toyota’s road-car lineup.
First came the GR Yaris, a homologation special built so Toyota could race a three-door hatchback body style in the WRC. While the GR Yaris never made it stateside, Toyota answered the pleas of U.S. buyers with the GR Corolla, which packs an upgraded version of the GR Yaris’s turbo three-cylinder, a six-speed manual transmission, and a trick all-wheel-drive system. Now, before the GR Corolla arrives at dealerships in 2023, Toyota is showing off a customized version of the hot hatch that takes inspiration from the Yaris rally car at the 2022 SEMA show.
Toyota
The GR Corolla Rally concept stands out, literally, thanks to a widebody kit with protruding three-inch fender flares and integrated carbon-composite side skirts. Those boxy fender extensions are open in the rear to channel dirty air coming off the wheels, while a carbon-composite front splitter and an elephantine carbon-fiber rear wing glue the Corolla to the road. The rear quarter-windows have also sprouted 3D-printed vents that feed cool air to the oil and transmission coolers mounted in the cabin behind the seats.
Toyota
Toyota
The Rally concept rides on 17-inch OZ Racing wheels for that classic rally look, with the tires wrapped in 215/60R-17 Continental VikingContact 7 tires. The stock brake setup has been complemented by an extra set of rear calipers, with the Wilwood turning brakes helping rotate the car on a gravel rally course. The suspension includes fully adjustable TEIN Gravel Rally coil-overs, and while the turbo-three remains unchanged, it gains a custom exhaust.
Toyota
The interior has been stripped down to the racing essentials, with OMP racing seats with harnesses, a fire suppression system, and a full roll cage, which is mounted around the now useless rear seats. There is also an intercom system to allow the driver and navigator to communicate on the rally stage, plus a spare tire and jack, while Toyota says the six-speed manual’s shifter was slightly repositioned for better ergonomics. For now, this modified, motorsport-derived GR Corolla remains a concept, but maybe one day Toyota will take its exciting new hot hatch racing.
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