The recent Rally Challenge Toyota featured a big-name newcomer, with Kamui Kobayashi making his first appearance. Morizo assigned co-driving duties to automotive analyst Shinya Yamamoto, giving him a front-row view of the action.
The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) Rally Challenge is an entry-level rally event with a safe and accessible beginner-friendly course.
To wrap up the 2024 season, a special Rally Challenge Toyota was held between November 30 and December 1 in Toyota City, Aichi.
Making his rally debut in this final round was none other than Kamui Kobayashi, who is both a driver and the team principal of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s World Endurance Championship squad, and the overall winner of the 2021 WEC Le Mans race. Automotive analyst Shinya Yamamoto served as Kamui’s co-driver and shared his firsthand report.
Stepping up
Text by Shinya Yamamoto
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) joined the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2017. Although the team’s main mission is to win, victory isn’t everything. Ultimately, it’s about making cars that are capable of winning, and feeding these technologies back into production vehicles.
While this is true of all the motorsports in which TGR competes, rally is the one category where teams vie for speed on regular roads. By pushing the limits on roads that are driven on daily, Toyota is able to hone both its people and its cars.
Meanwhile, the TGR Rally Challenge can be seen as something of a gateway to rallying. Together with its forerunner, the New Style One-Make Rally TRD Vitz Challenge, the event has been introducing people to rally in Japan for more than 20 years, growing to become a leading example of inclusive, open-entry motorsports. In recent years, entry slots have been filling up as soon as applications open.
The secret to this popularity surely lies in the low barriers to entry. Although being a JAF-sanctioned event means that drivers must obtain a JAF-approved license (Domestic B), the field is open not only to sports models like the GR Yaris and the GR86, but also two-pedal vehicles (AT/CVT) and hybrids, including the Yaris and Aqua.
Among the entries this time was a super big-name newcomer—former F1 racer and current TGR WEC team principal and driver Kamui Kobayashi. It all started with the 2023 Rally Japan.
Kamui was among the crowd that gathered at Toyota Stadium to watch the Super SS, which instantly sparked his interest in rally. “Seeing that course made me keen to try it for myself,” he says.
The day after Rally Japan, TGR held an event in Nagoya to announce its WRC and WEC teams for 2024. Afterward, I had a chance to chat with Kamui.
When TGR World Rally Team driver Takamoto Katsuta happened to walk by, Kamui told him flat out, “I want to drive in the WRC.”
Takamoto chuckled and advised him, “Start with Rally Challenge like everyone else, then you can step up from there.”
Speaking as the organizer at Rally Challenge Toyota 2023 the following week, Morizo introduced Kamui as a special guest who declared his goal: “I want to compete in the category below WRC next year, and to get there, I am looking to start with Rally Challenge.”
Although this announcement was met with a big round of applause, to be honest I was skeptical—with so much already on his plate, could Kamui really make this happen?