According to Motorsport.com, Toyota is rolling out a massive six-car super team for the 2027 World Rally Championship season, split across two distinct squads using entirely new technical regulations and machinery. The manufacturer will field both the all-new GR Celica and GR Yaris Rally1 cars, bringing back at least three world champions as Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak make their highly anticipated returns to top-level rallying following a season away.
Reigning champion Elfyn Evans will anchor the Toyota Racing banner alongside last year's title rivals Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari, who finished second and third respectively in the 2026 standings. This trio will pilot the brand's GR Celica Rally1 car, marking a nostalgic comeback for a model that dominated the sport in the 1980s and 1990s with championship titles in 1993 and 1994. Evans expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming technical evolution, noting that adapting to a very different car will present a fresh challenge for everyone involved.
Meanwhile, the Gazoo Racing Toyota moniker will field the GR Yaris Rally1 machine, piloted by Ott Tanak and co-driver Martin Jarveoja alongside two-time WRC rally winner Takamoto Katsuta for a full campaign. Tanak and Jarveoja spent the past year deep in development work on Toyota's new cars after departing Hyundai at the end of 2025. Tanak returns to the manufacturer where he claimed the 2019 title, noting that a strong desire to drive and fond memories from his previous stint drew him back to the stages.
The GR Yaris third seat will belong to Kalle Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen, though the youngest ever world champion will contest only a partial campaign. Rovanpera stepped away from the WRC at the end of 2025 aiming for single-seater racing, but illness halted those plans before he was cleared to drive again. "This team has always felt like family to me, and in a way I never really felt that I had left," Rovanpera said, adding that testing the development car quickly sparked plans for a comeback.
Rovanpera's flexible schedule also leaves room for other drivers to rotate into the lineup throughout the season, potentially including selected appearances from nine-time world champion Sebastien Ogier or other young talents in the manufacturer's fold. Ogier has already indicated a scaled-back partial programme for 2027, which will notably exclude an appearance at the Monte Carlo opener for the first time since 2011. Further down the ladder, Toyota confirmed that WRC Challenge Programme drivers Yuki Yamamoto, Jaspar Vaher, and Takumi Matsushita will compete in WRC2.
The grand reveal took place at Toyota's headquarters in Jyvaskyla, Finland, closely following a groundbreaking ceremony for their new technical centre under construction at nearby Majajärvi. Out in the forests of central Finland, the team has been busy wrapping up six days of rally simulation testing with the 2027 prototype ahead of homologation slated for completion before the end of the year.
