Famous faces join Toyota to celebrate motorsport excellence at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Famous faces joined Toyota’s motorsport stars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed to celebrate both current successes and future opportunities.

The annual four-day automotive celebration in grounds of historic Goodwood House in Sussex, England, concluded yesterday (14 July) with Toyota enjoying the opportunity to demonstrate how its carbon-reducing multi-path technology strategy is being developed to enter the world of top-level competition.

Rowan Atkinson, the celebrated international film actor and automotive aficionado, took the wheel of the first European-built hydrogen-fuelled GR Yaris on Goodwood’s hill climb course. David Richards, chairman of both the motorsport and advanced technology business Prodrive and the national sporting organisation Motorsport UK, and the Duke of Richmond, owner of the Goodwood Estate, were among special guests invited to experience the car from the passenger seat.

TGR-WRT was out in force with eight-time World Champion Sébastien Ogier, reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä and 2024 title-challenger Elfyn Evans. The team presented both the GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid and – new this season – Rally2 WRC cars, while the new GR Yaris – a high-performance road car developed with direct input from TGR-WRT and professional drivers – was also put through its paces.

Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala hosted the official handover of the keys of the two special edition versions of the new GR Yaris to Ogier and Rovanperä and introduced a special message from Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman and Master Driver Akio Toyoda (alias “Morizo”) who thanked them for their championship-winning contributions. The drivers have each had direct input into the special editions – produced only very limited numbers – tailoring the cars’ handling to their personal preferences.

The multi-path technology strategy was also embraced by Toyota’s support vehicles at the event. These included the hydrogen fuel cell Toyota Hilux prototype, a new version of the legendary pick-up that has been developed by a Toyota-led consortium in the UK, and the Corolla Commercial, another British-made model that has brought the efficiency benefits of hybrid power to the van market.

The mighty GR DKR Hilux Evo T1U gave a taste of the all-terrain capabilities that are making it a leading contender in this year’s FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, running on all three Goodwood courses – hill climb, rally stage and off-road – piloted by TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team members Seth Quintero, Dennis Zenz and Armand Monleon.