Remember in the 90s, when Carlos Sainz (not the F1 Driver, but his father) and Juha Kankkunen made waves in a WRC-spec Celica?

RALLY JAPAN 2023

PHOTOS: Toyota

We are fans of WRC, and if you are too, you would probably know that Toyota is the current Group Rally1 Manufacturers’ leader. The cars, piloted by Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta, are specially prepared GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID hatchbacks (based on the GR Yaris. These are powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged in-line four, which receives an additional boost from an electric motor.

Toyota is definitely no stranger to WRC, as names like Juha Kankkunen and Carlos Sainz, who brought the brand glory in the 80s and 90s, might put a smile on the face of any Gen-X WRC fanboy. Back in the mid 70s, Toyota made its mark on the WRC circuit with the Celica, scoring its first win with the Group 4 Celica RA20… the one with the “Coke Bottle” side profile (which is still my favourite Celica to date). In 1984, Toyota won their very first Safari Rally in a Celica Twin Cam Turbo TA64. Then in 1990, Carlos Sainz, behind the wheel of an ST165, won his very first WRC drivers’ title.

In 1992 Sainz followed-on with his second drivers’ title, this time in a Celica GT-Four ST185. Toyota had produced a special limited run of 5,000 ST185 cars for WRC homologation purposes; badged as the Carlos Sainz Limited Edition. Borneo Motors, Singapore’s Toyota dealership was fortunate enough to snag 25 units of the car, decked out in Castrol livery. Unfortunately, the Celica’s hype got somewhat played down, since the world back then was a good enough place… good enough, that we had a plethora of (now legendary) Japanese sports cars plying our roads. These included the Honda NSX, the Mitsubishi 3000GT, Nissan Skyline GTR, Nissan 300ZX, and the Mazda RX7.

Regardless of this, the author, who back-then was a teen in white-and-blue school colours, spotting a non-regulation hairdo, had a penchant for three cars. First, the Suzuki Swift GTi (because he found it attainable, even though he still could not afford one), second, the R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R (because it was the best car in the world in his lens), and lastly, the Toyota Celica GT-Four ST185 (because to him, it was a much cooler coupe than the Nissan 200SX, that, and also Carlos Sainz).

In the third quarter of 2014, the Celica was chosen again for the last time, to compete in the WRC. The ST205 which replaced the ST185, was unfortunately not up-to-scratch, so desperate engineers, keen to squeeze more out of the engine, devised a way to bypass the air restrictor, while still being installed for improved performance – something which became almost the perfect crime, but they were eventually found out (it has been rumoured that someone went to Bao Toh). This would probably be the most ingenious cheat in WRC history.

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In 1997, the ST205 was retired from WRC in-favour of the smaller Corolla WRC. The Celica, though, lived on for one more generation, but this time, the car would not have turbocharging or full-time four-wheel drive. In Singapore, there were two variants, the SS1, which was powered by the 1ZZ-FE engine (found in the 1.8 litre Toyota Wish), and the SS2, which had the high-performance 2ZZ-GE engine, co-developed with Yamaha. This engine would also find its way into the Lotus Elise and Exige.

While Toyota may have closed its chapter with the Celica in the mid 2000s, Hitoshi Hongo, the former editor-in-chief of Best Car magazine, brought up the question of reviving the Celica moniker to Akio Toyoda, the company’s chairman, during a Q&A session at Rally Japan 2023. 

In response Toyoda said: ”You’ll have to ask Toyota Motor about that. I’m not on the executive side.” Toyoda however went on to mention that he had put in a request for a new Celica to the team.

So this brings some questions. Will Toyota then axe the similar-sized GR86? Will it become their future WRC car? For the second question, we think not so likely, since the current WRC cars, like the Yaris are B-Segment by size.

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