Toyota explains how it split drivers between Toyota Racing and Gazoo Racing for 2027

Toyota will run two teams in the 2027 World Rally Championship: Toyota Racing, with Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari in the GR Celica Rally1, and Gazoo Racing, with Ott Tänak and Takamoto Katsuta full-time and Kalle Rovanperä for around half the season, in the new GR Yaris Rally1.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said the drivers were placed by the team rather than asked for preferences. Tänak and Rovanperä were linked to the Yaris given their past championship success with the car, while the younger drivers and the reigning champion were assigned to the Celica. Katsuta was placed in the Yaris team alongside his friends Tänak and Rovanperä.

Latvala said the two cars are technically the same apart from bodywork, with the Celica possibly stronger on fast roads and the Yaris on tighter ones, and that Toyota does not regard either team as the lead or secondary outfit. He added that the decision was made expecting more full-season manufacturers in 2027, which he said has not materialised.