Toyota Gazoo Racing has confirmed its 2027 World Rally Championship driver lineup, with Ott Tänak and Kalle Rovanperä both making comebacks.
Toyota has been the dominant force in the WRC throughout the 2020s, winning the last six manufacturers’ championships from 2021-26, but 2027 heralds a new era for the WRC with brand-new technical regulations.
However Toyota will rely on familiar faces to carry it to glory, with new world champion Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg, Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta all remaining for a full 15-round campaign next season.
As expected, 2019 world champion Ott Tänak will join them, having undertaken a test and development role of Toyota’s new car since he left Hyundai and the championship at the end of 2025.
It marks Tänak’s first competitive season with Toyota since he departed the team as world champion at the end of the last decade. Rovanperä makes a return of his own, stepping back into a part-time program like the one he undertook in 2024.
However, they won’t all compete under the same banner, as Toyota will enter two teams next year: Toyota Racing and Gazoo Racing. Each outfit will compete with a different bodyshell: Toyota Racing with a GR Celica Rally1 and Gazoo Racing with a GR Yaris Rally1.
Evans, Solberg and Pajari will compete for Toyota Racing, with Tänak, Katsuta and Rovanperä repesenting Gazoo Racing.
Nine-time champion Sébastien Ogier will represent Gazoo Racing if he competes at all in 2027, driving the car Rovanperä uses.
Toyota’s press release said Rovanperä’s part-time season will “provide the team with the possibility to welcome other drivers into its line-up during the season. This could include selected appearances for experienced drivers such as nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, who remains part of the GAZOO Racing family. The team will also continue to explore opportunities for young drivers, like those in the GR WRC Challenge Program, who show potential to compete at the top level.”
