A car that will remain in Toyota’s motorsport history

Currently, the base car of Toyota’s rally car is the GR Yaris. But previously it used to be the Celica GT-FOUR.

Before the GR Yaris was launched, Toyota’s 4WD turbo sports car was the ST205 Celica GT-FOUR, which was discontinued in 1999, and the GR Yaris is the heir to that lineage.

The ST165 Celica GT-FOUR was very successful in rallies

The GT-FOUR was first offered in the Celica in 1986. The car it was based on was the fourth-generation model and was very successful in rally championships.

The most significant feature of this ST165 Celica GT-FOUR was its four-wheel drive (earlier Celica had entered motorsport with rear-wheel drive). The engine was the newly developed 3S-GTE, which greatly increased its fighting power.

The ST165 Celica GT-FOUR rally car was driven by Carlos Sainz in 1990 and became the first Japanese car to win the drivers’ championship in the WRC. It is one of the most famous cars in Toyota’s motorsport history.

The car owned by Jari-Matti Latvala

The ST165 Celica GT-FOUR displayed at the Osaka Auto Messe 2023 has a nostalgic look, painted in the Marlboro colors of yesteryear. This car is not a former Toyota rally car, but a car owned by Jari-Matti Latvala, who leads the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (World Rally Team).

Latvala broke the record for the youngest WRC winner in 2008 and remained a Toyota works driver until 2019. He still drives this Celica GT-FOUR in historic rallies and is still active as a driver while running a rally team.

The car on display in OAM is not a past glory, but a current rally car. Latvala owns a variety of cars. He owns five Celicas (2 ST165, 2 ST185, and an ST205) and is a real Celica freak.