The Toyota Celica is back, and the first place you’ll meet it is a muddy Finnish forest road, not a showroom. Toyota announced on November 3 that a new GR Celica Rally1 car will race in the 2027 World Rally Championship, according to Toyota GAZOO Racing.
Two Teams, Two Toyota Rally Cars, One Very Stacked Garage
Here’s the surprising part. Toyota isn’t swapping the GR Yaris for the Celica. It’s running both, which is the automotive version of refusing to pick a favorite child.
The factory team splits into two squads, and each gets its own body. Toyota Racing gets the Celica, with Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. Meanwhile, GAZOO Racing TOYOTA sticks with the GR Yaris Rally1, with Ott Tänak, Takamoto Katsuta and Kalle Rovanperä. Toyota says it is preparing to field up to six factory cars per rally under the 2027 rules.
The logic was explained in comments reported by Motorsport.com. Rovanperä had won two titles in the Yaris, so he stays there. The younger generation and the current champion go into the new car. Evans just won his first title, by 5 points over Solberg and 6 over Pajari (that’s not a gap, that’s a rounding error with a trophy).
Same Guts, Different Body
Don’t expect two different machines under the skin. DirtFish reports the cars are identical underneath and differ only in bodyshell. Think of it as one outfit, two jackets.
Toyota’s technical director Tom Fowler put it plainly: “as long as the main mechanical components remain identical, you can do a variant model of your Rally1.” DirtFish also says a manufacturer has not homologated two models for its WRC effort in a generation.
Toyota is developing both cars side by side at its base in Jyväskylä, Finland. The Celica prototype has already logged six days of rally simulation in central Finland, per WRC.com.
Will a Road-Going Celica Follow the Rally Car?
Here’s the thing. Toyota’s performance cars usually start life in rallying, and that’s the part that touches your wallet. The GR Corolla you can actually buy in the US grew out of the GR Yaris platform. A Celica would extend that rally-to-showroom pipeline, and that is why car fans are already asking about a price tag. Toyota’s other racing hints, like the mystery racer that looks like an MR2, keep that speculation running.
So is a road car coming? Toyota hasn’t said. It has given no shape, power, drivetrain or seat count.
A road-going Celica is plausible, because homologation rules require at least 10 production units within 24 months of the homologation date, per Road & Track. But plausible isn’t confirmed, and US availability is a complete unknown.
The rumor mill says mid-engine, and a mid-engined prototype did turn up in racing livery in Japan recently. Toyota calls that car the “GR Yaris M Concept,” not a Celica. Treat every spec you see online as a guess for now. The same caution applies to any “new” Toyota that goes viral, such as the Corolla redesign that turned out to be a year old.
Tänak Comes Home to the Celica Era
The other headline is a reunion. Tänak returns to Toyota more than seven years after leaving. “It is a great honor to be back at Toyota, the team with which Martin and I became world champions,” he said, per ERR News.
Rovanperä is part-time, according to DirtFish and Motorsport.com, so the full-season lineup is deep but not unlimited.
What Happens Next for the GR Celica
The GR Celica Rally1 makes its competition debut in the 2027 WRC season. Toyota hasn’t given a reveal date for any road car. Check the 2027 calendar for the season opener.
The nameplate is back and the race car is real. So, Toyota, about that showroom version?
