Toyota will showcase its latest hydrogen-powered rally car at Rally Finland next month, with rally legend Juha Kankkunen taking the wheel
Toyota will debut its new hydrogen-powered rally car when the World Rally Championship (WRC) visits Finland at the end of this month. Four-time world champion and current Toyota deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen will drive the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept on the Harju stage of Rally Finland on Thursday and Friday (July 31 to August 3).
The car has undergone extensive development at the Toyota WRC team’s headquarters in Jyväskylä, Finland, and is based on the current GR Yaris Rally2, but is equipped with a combustion engine powered by compressed hydrogen.
Toyota had already unveiled the technology in 2022 at the WRC in Belgium at the Ypres Rally, when Kankkunen and then-Toyota President Akio Toyoda were behind the wheel. Since then, the concept has been further developed to create the current version of the vehicle, which will make its debut in Finland.
Built in Cologne
Toyota has invested heavily in the development of hydrogen-powered race cars as one of the options for the future of motorsports in a climate-neutral society. The Japanese car manufacturer has been competing with hydrogen-powered vehicles since 2021, when a modified Corolla was entered in the Japanese Super Taikyu series – with Jari-Matti Latvala, team principal of Toyota’s WRC team, among the drivers.
Last month, Toyota unveiled a hydrogen-powered prototype test vehicle as the next step toward racing with the alternative fuel at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The GR LH2 was built at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe in Cologne, based on a chassis from the GR010 HYBRID Le Mans hypercar. Details of the engine or hybrid system, which were developed at the Higashi-Fuji Technical Centre in Japan, have not been released.
Toyota proud
In addition to the premiere of the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept, Toyota will field a standard GR Yaris Rally2 for Latvala at his home race in Finland. The 18-time WRC rally winner competed in the WRC2 class at this event last year, driving a Toyota to second place in the class and sixth overall.
“I am very excited to make my 20th start at Rally Finland and to drive the GR Yaris Rally2 alongside Janni Hussi,” said Latvala. “It is a Finnish rally tradition to celebrate a big birthday by participating in your home race, so I am grateful to Akio Toyoda for allowing me to achieve this special milestone in the year I turn 40.”
“It’s also an opportunity for me to stay sharp behind the wheel of a modern rally car and provide feedback for the development of this and other cars for TGR-WRT.”
