WRC debut for Toyota S2000 rally car

[Plex]

Toyota's South African-developed and built S2000 rally car will make its World Rally championship (WRC) debut in the Wales Rally GB, the final round of the 2006 series, from December 1-3, in the hands of experienced Scottish driver Alister McRae.

It's based on the RunX derivative of the Corolla; Toyota Motorsport SA was the first to build a rally car to the S2000 class regulations, the first to enter one in competition, and the first to win an event and a National championship with one.

Only Fiat and Toyota have so far been granted FIA homologation for S2000 cars; Volkswagen SA is currently in the process while Peugeot is expected to follow early in 2007 and Renault has a prototype S2000 car running

The Wales Rally GB will be only the second time that an S2000 car has competed in a WRC event; it will be one of 118 entries and will compete against a large mid-field group of N4-class Subaru and Mitsubishi Evo rally cars.

Toyota Motorsport head Wammy Haddad said: "Competing on the world rally stage for the first time is a daunting prospect.

"We have two years experience with the car in South Africa and we know it can be competitive against good N4 cars � we saw that in the Zulu Rally � but this will be the first time we'll be against the top competitors in the world in this class."

McCrae said: "I was impressed with the Toyota when I drove it earlier in the year. It just offers so much more than an N4 car as a true rally car - everything about the car feels right

The deal to enter the Toyota S2000 in the last round of the WRC was finalised in late October � giving Toyota only three weeks to build a completely new car.

S2000 Rally Formula

The S2000 class was conceived by the FIA in 1997 as a new regional rally formula to make rallying more affordable, replacing the ultra-expensive vehicles derived from the WRC rules.

The formula is based on production body shells and specifies a number of "one-make" components including the transmission and four-wheel-drive transmission. It also specifies a maximum selling price for a rally-ready vehicle and a degree of control over the maximum prices of spare parts.

Engine capacity is limited to two litres; engines must be naturally aspirated and are limited to 8500rpm for reliability and lower maintenance costs. Even with these restrictions the cars produce more than 200kW.

South Africa was the first country to introduce S2000 as the premier formula for National rallying.

Source: http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3560152&fSectionId=1630&fSetId=381

[vfp16]

yuh real thief up my head yes. I was expecting a Honda Toyota S2000 hybrid thing.