Yamamoto, 27, was selected for Toyota’s training programme in 2022, and since then, he has been living in Jyväskylä, Finland, gaining rally skills under Finnish coaching. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, he competed with a front-wheel-drive Renault Clio Rally4, but for this season, he’s been driving Toyota’s new Rally2 car.
This year, Yamamoto has been building experience in the WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship. The season has been challenging for the Japanese driver, as he has completed only one WRC rally without retiring.
This week, Yamamoto had the opportunity to get acquainted with Toyota’s most powerful rally machine. The Japanese driver got his first taste of a Rally1 car during a demo run in France.
Yamamoto made the most of the experience, even doing donuts on the track.
“Today I drove GR Yaris Rally1 first time ever for demo run, absolutely became the day I’ll never forget,” Yamamoto shared on social media.
“The car is on a completely different level compared to the Rally2, and driving it was just so much fun.”
Check out the video and photos from Yamamoto’s test below. If the embed doesn’t appear, you can view the post here.
Hikaru Kogure, who is also part of the second generation of Toyota’s development programme, will have to wait a bit longer for his own taste of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Kogure is still recovering from collarbone surgery following a crash at Rally Finland.
