Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT enters Belgium with leading driver, hydrogen-powered GR Yaris

MANILA: On August 19 to 21, the Ypres Rally Belgium will see the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (TGR WRT) returning to asphalt roads in an effort to conquer the rally's infamous difficult stages.

Following his second-place performance at Rally Finland last week, Kalle Rovanperä now leads the drivers' standings by 94 points and, should he win in Belgium, has a remote possibility of being the first driver to ever win the championship with four races remaining.

Rovanperä placed third in the rally last year, slightly ahead of teammate Elfyn Evans, in the WRC's first trip to Belgium. After his heroic podium result in Finland, Esapekka Lappi, who also competed in Ypres in 2014, completes the TGR WRT lineup once more, with Takamoto Katsuta representing TGR WRT.

The Ypres Rally is regarded as a classic of the European rally calendar even though it is a more recent addition to the WRC program. Its reputation is based on the region's quick, winding country roads in West Flanders, which are typically bordered by wide drainage ditches and have numerous intersections where dirt is frequently pulled into the road.

All three days of the rally will take place inside a 30-kilometer radius of the city of Ypres, which hosts the service park in its historic center. Unlike last year, there won't be a trip east to Spa-Francorchamps.

On Friday, a four-stage anticlockwise circle is run twice before a longer, more challenging circuit is done on Saturday. The schedule for Sunday includes two stages that are repeated either side of final service, with the renowned Kemmelberg serving as the rally's last stage.

The GR Yaris H2, an experimental concept that uses hydrogen to feed a combustion engine based on the same turbocharged block used in the normal production car, will also make its public premiere on Belgian stages.

The GR Corolla H2, which Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala and Team Founder Akio Toyoda raced in during the Fuji 24 Hours earlier this year, is equipped with the ground-breaking power plant.

On one stage each day of the Ypres Rally, the GR Yaris H2 will be driven by Toyota rally legend and four-time world champion Juha Kankkunen ahead of the competitive field as a test vehicle.

A Toyota Mirai, the company's commercially available hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, will provide zero-carbon energy to the team's service area as part of Toyota Gazoo Racing's commitment to investigating new possibilities for attaining carbon neutrality.

In a statement, TGR WRT Team Principal Jari Matti Latvala said: “Ypres is a challenging and fast asphalt rally, with a lot of heavy braking, many cuts and lots of dirt coming onto the road. If there’s rain it can be very slippery, and the drivers need to be able to read the road all of the time to judge how the grip is changing.

We are much better prepared this year with the experience we gained last year. We understand the nature of the rally and we have tested on more suitable roads. So I think we will be more competitive and can challenge for the victory.

It will also be interesting to see the GR Yaris H2 in action: It was exciting for me to compete in the Fuji 24 Hours together with Akio and now we have the chance to demonstrate the same technology on the rally stages. I would love to have driven the car myself but with my focus on the rally, I’m looking forward to hearing what Juha Kankkunen makes of driving a hydrogen-fueled car.”

Photos from Toyota

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