TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team will target a successful start to the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship at the famous Rallye Monte-Carlo on January 25-28.
The team enters the new season with strong ambitions having won a hat-trick of manufacturers’, drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles in each of the past three years. It continues to develop and improve the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID to make it even stronger: the engine has been updated to further improve response at low speeds, and the torque curve has been improved. Meanwhile, the car has a dramatically different look for the new season thanks to a bold matte black livery.
While the technical regulations remain stable, a radical change has been made to the WRC points system for 2024, aimed at enhancing the sporting spectacle on the final day of rallies. Points will now be allocated based on the positions at the end of Saturday on a scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1, although crews must still reach the finish of the rally on Sunday to be awarded these points. A separate classification will combine all of Sunday’s stages and award points on a 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scale. The rally-ending Power Stage remains in place offering up to five bonus points.
TGR-WRT will aim high at Rallye Monte-Carlo with a driver line-up that includes Sébastien Ogier, who in 2023 claimed his record ninth victory on the event, which is once more based in his hometown of Gap in the French Alps. Elfyn Evans was championship runner-up last year with three victories, including the final round in Japan, and has a strong past record in Monte Carlo with a best finish of second in 2021. Takamoto Katsuta graduates from the TGR WRC Challenge Program into a full-time place in the factory line-up this year and has finished in the points on his four previous Monte starts in the top category.
The oldest and best-known event on the WRC calendar, Rallye Monte-Carlo is also considered one of the most demanding thanks to the often-changeable weather conditions, which can bring ice and snow to the asphalt roads. Tyre choice is therefore crucial, with an expanded range of rubber – some fitted with studs – available to suit the conditions.
The service park returns to Gap following two years in Monaco itself. The Principality will still host the start ceremony on Thursday afternoon before two night-time stages closer to Gap. On Friday there’s a return for three stages just to the east of Gap, each run twice either side of mid-day service. Saturday follows a similar format with three repeated tests to the west of Gap, including the Les Nonières stage which last featured in 1997.
The final leg on Sunday starts from Gap with a third visit to Friday’s La Bréole-Selonnet stage, followed by a single pass over the Col du Corobin from Digne-Les-Bains. The rally-ending Power Stage is an uphill blast towards the legendary Col de Turini, before the official prize giving in Monaco’s Casino Square.
Rallye Monte-Carlo will also be the competitive WRC debut of the GR Yaris Rally2. Four cars will be in action, fielded by four different customer teams: Printsport for Sami Pajari, Burton Racing for Stéphane Lefebvre, ERACE WRT for Bryan Bouffier, and Teo Martín Motorsport for Jan Solans. Lefebvre, Bouffier and Solans are all entered to score WRC2 points on round one.
In another exciting debut, the Special Edition GR Yaris models of Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä will be revealed in Casino Square in Monaco on Thursday at 14:45 before the rally start.
