Every now and then, a new hot hatch comes along that shakes up the market and puts everyone on notice. The Ford Focus RS did that in 2015 and in 2020, the Toyota GR Yaris did the same.
Developed as the first real vehicle from Toyota’s GR division (the Supra doesn’t count), the pint-sized GR Yaris was first conceived as Toyota’s new WRC rally car and homologated for the road. It is a fantastic car to drive and this video proves that if you have the skill, it can be driven like a legitimate rally car.
This clip was shared online by Corners.cz and shows a very talented driver pinning the throttle of the hot hatch up a damp and cold road somewhere in the mountains of Europe. When faced with these conditions, most drivers would take heaps of care to avoid having an accident but this driver seems perfectly in tune with the GR Yaris and is able to push it to its limits.
Driven: 2021 Toyota GR Yaris Rallye Is A True Hot Hatch Great
The road is filled with plenty of hairpins and to navigate them as quickly as possible, the driver enters the corner at high speed, pulls the handbrake and then pins the throttle, performing some lovely drifts that look just as well executed as those performed by drivers competing in the highest level of rallying.
As a reminder, the GR Yaris is powered by a compact 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine that is good for 268 hp in JDM specification. This engine is coupled to a six-speed manual transmission driving all four wheels thanks to Torsen limited-slip differentials at both the front and rear.