We haven’t seen all-wheel drive in sports car racing for a long time. That changes with the Toyota GR Corolla TC, the latest race car from Toyota Gazoo Racing North America (TGRNA).
TGRNA has entered into a “special agreement” with SRO Motorsports Group America, the organization that sanctions the TC America series, company representatives said Engine1. In TC America, SRO will combine the current TC and TCX classes in 2025, allowing greater flexibility in car design.
The GR Corolla TC uses the road car’s standard 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbo engine and the newly available eight-speed automatic transmission. These are linked to the GR Corolla road car’s unique ‘GR-Four’ all-wheel drive system, which uses a clutch pack instead of a center differential to send power to the rear wheels. Matt Anderson, TGRNA’s head of electronics and vehicle systems, told us that the GR Corolla TC will be homologated with fixed front-to-rear torque distribution.
Chris Perkins / Engine1
Toyota
While all the drivetrain components for the GR Corolla TC are sourced from the road car – plus the front and rear Torsen limited-slip differentials – their controls are unique. TGRNA uses Bosch engine management and ABS systems to enable more precise, race-oriented traction control and ABS. GR Corolla engineers in Japan also worked with TGRNA to make the engine, automatic transmission and all-wheel drive system work together with the Bosch control units.
The GR Corolla TC’s suspension uses the same basic geometry as the road car, but with adjustable JRi dampers and Alcon brakes. There is, of course, an FIA-spec roll cage and a completely stripped interior with an OMP bucket seat, six-point harness, a digital dashboard from Bosch and a TGRNA control panel for various vehicle functions. The steering wheel is also the same as that of Toyota’s Supra GT4 car.
Chris Perkins / Engine1
The GR Corolla TC also features new aerodynamic components, including a huge wing that extends from the hatch. On both street and race cars, the hatch is composite, so TGRNA had to develop new brackets to attach to the rear window to support the wing.
Next year, the GR Corolla TC will race in the SRO TC America series against a bunch of different cars, from front-wheel drive Civic Type Rs to rear-wheel drive BMW M2s. Like many sports car series, SRO will use Balance of Performance to level the playing field between such different machines. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but you can expect the GR Corolla TC to cost quite a bit more than the $132,000 of TGRNA’s other homebrew race car, the GR86 Cup.