The technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Tom Fowler, says that the new GR Yaris Rally2 will go to customers which means that the team does not think of running as a factory in WRC2 class and of offering to Sami Pajari a contract for 2024.
The Japanese team scheduled a two-day test in Alps earlier this week with the intention of developing further the GR Yaris Rally2 ahead of the new year. Stephane Lefebvre and Sami Pajari had the chance to drive this new car on snow conditions and gave to mechanics a valuable feedback. Although it was rumored that Toyota will run factory cars in WRC2 class, Fowler dismisses these speculations by supporting that the team wants to provide these cars to privateers in 2024. However, a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 Demo car will be running as a 'zero car' at Rallye du Dévoluy which will be held in France this weekend. So far, only Citroen Racing has confirmed Nikolay Gryazin and Yohan Rossel for 2024 while Emil Lindholm may join M-Sport Ford at the top level in 2024, which means that still there are many youngsters available to secure a drive with the new GR Yaris Rally2.
"Toyota’s position on the Rally2 project has been transparent from the very beginning: GR Yaris Rally2 is a customer car", Fowler said.
"It’s not a factory car.
"Across the last 18 months, we’ve had a very wide spectrum of drivers coming testing with us – this is something we wanted to do.
"We’ve had Kalle Rovanperä testing the car, but we’ve also had really good national drivers like Norihiko Katsuta giving us feedback for the car he would to drive.
"On Monday, we had Stéphane Lefebvre driving and Tuesday it’s Sami Pajari.
"These drivers can make agreements with some of the teams who have expressed an interest to buy and run GR Yaris Rally2, once it’s homologated".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Toksport
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