Toyota confirms GR Celica name, legendary badge returns to WRC in 2027

Toyota has officially confirmed the GR Celica name, with the GR Celica Rally1 set to compete in the 2027 World Rally Championship (WRC). The announcement brings one of Toyota’s most recognisable performance nameplates back to the championship where it built its rallying reputation.

The Celica will form part of a new two-team approach. Toyota Racing will campaign the GR Celica Rally1, while Gazoo Racing Toyota will run the 2027 GR Yaris Rally1, allowing both nameplates to compete alongside each other.

Photo credit: Car Watch

Both teams will operate from TGR-WRT’s headquarters in Jyväskylä, Finland, with up to six factory cars entered per rally. The two cars will follow the new regulations, with Toyota promising equal power and performance.

Leading the Celica campaign will be defending champions Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, joined by Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson, as well as Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen.

The GR prefix gives the returning Celica Toyota’s current performance identity, while the name itself carries decades of rallying history. For enthusiasts familiar with the Celica GT-Four, its return to the WRC brings a particularly significant badge back into the spotlight.

The ST165 Celica GT-Four helped establish Toyota as a serious championship contender. Equipped with a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine and all-wheel drive, it took Carlos Sainz to the 1990 drivers’ title, making him Toyota’s first world rally champion.

Its successor, the ST185, went further. Sainz secured another drivers’ championship in 1992, followed by Juha Kankkunen in 1993 and Didier Auriol in 1994. Toyota also claimed consecutive manufacturers’ championships in 1993 and 1994.

Across those three seasons, the ST185 collected 16 WRC victories. It also wore the white, green and red Castrol colours that remain closely associated with Toyota’s rallying exploits.

That connection extended to the road. Toyota produced 5,000 examples of the Celica GT-Four RC to meet Group A homologation requirements, with changes including improved engine cooling. The relationship between the showroom model and its competition counterpart helped cement the Celica’s appeal among performance car enthusiasts.

The newly confirmed GR Celica Rally1 now takes that name into Toyota’s next WRC campaign. The confirmation concerns the competition car, with the announcement centred on the manufacturer’s 2027 rally programme.

Toyota expects to complete homologation before the end of 2026, with further vehicle details and the new liveries to be revealed ahead of the 2027 season.