Toyota’s hydrogen rally car to make stage debut at WRC Finland
Toyota Gazoo Racing will run its new hydrogen-powered rally car in front of a live WRC crowd this week, as the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept makes its public debut at Rally Finland.
The car burns compressed hydrogen in a modified combustion engine, delivering near-zero tailpipe emissions without losing the noise, speed, or drama that define rallying.
Hydrogen, flat out
The car is based on the GR Yaris ‘Rally2’ chassis that racing customers can go out and buy, but instead of burning petrol, it burns hydrogen.
Four-time world champion and Toyota Team Principle Juha Kankkunen will take the wheel on the Harju stage in Jyväskylä – first on Thursday evening’s opening run, then again as SS10 on Friday – giving fans a rare chance to see a hydrogen car run at rally pace on real WRC stages.
Toyota developed and tested the car at its Gazoo Racing WRT base in Jyväskylä, using the same gravel roads that feature in the rally itself.
The company says the goal is to give spectators a glimpse of how hydrogen combustion might keep rallying loud, fast, and relevant in a post-carbon world.
From Belgium to Goodwood
In 2022, the firm debuted an earlier prototype – the GR Yaris H2 – at Rally Belgium, driven by company boss Akio Toyoda, and Kankkunen.
The same car made a splash a year later in 2023 when actor and petrolhead Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean, or Blackadder, depending on how old you are) took it up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Atkinson called the experience “tremendous fun” and praised Toyota’s effort to decarbonise motorsport without losing its soul.
A hydrogen programme with rally pedigree
The new Rally2 H2 Concept is a more mature proposition. It builds on Toyota’s hydrogen work in Japan’s Super Taikyu endurance series, where a Corolla has been racing on hydrogen since 2021.
Team Principal and Finnish rally ace Jari-Matti Latvala – who has driven that car himself – also contributed to the Rally2 development programme.
The hydrogen Yaris won’t be competing for times, but it will run in full view of fans as part of a broader hydrogen technology showcase in Jyväskylä.
Alongside the on-stage demonstrations, Toyota will display the car in the Rally Finland service park, joined by the hydrogen-powered Mirai saloon car and Tundra pickup.
Toyota says hydrogen combustion could offer motorsport a way forward – retaining the emotional appeal of combustion while eliminating carbon from the tailpipe.
This car still bangs through gears, slides sideways, and throws gravel at the scenery. It just doesn’t throw out any CO₂.
