Toyota has conducted tests of its final, homologation-specification Yaris WRC ahead of its Monte Carlo debut in January 2022.
Sebastien Ogier drove the car over two days of testing in the French Alps, with team technical director Tom Fowler confirming the car was as homologated and had been subject to inspection by the FIA.
Talking to the WRC promoter, Fowler noted that the team had tested a variety of body styles, none of which were ever intended to be the final design. However, he pointed out that they gave Toyota’s competition, Hyundai and M-Sport, something to waste resources analyzing, potentially distracting from their own development paths.
Under the skin of the Yaris is a new-for-2022 spaceframe chassis (with the WRC moving away from production car shells) which houses the spec, Kreisel Electric-supplied hybrid system. In order to cool the battery and MGU (housed behind the driver), the Yaris now sports substantial cooling scoops on the rear quarters.
However, the new rules have also removed some of the aerodynamic devices previously allowed, most significantly, the rear diffuser and various dive planes used on the 2021 generation cars.
