Toyota Turned the GR Corolla Into an AWD Touring Car

From the same people that brought you the GR86 Cup, the GR Corolla is a racing version of everyone's favorite all-wheel drive hatch.

Photo by: Toyota

By: Chris Perkins

Oct 17, 2024 at 5:06pm ET

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In sports-car racing, we haven’t seen all-wheel drive in a long time. That changes with the Toyota GR Corolla TC, the newest race car from Toyota Gazoo Racing North America (TGRNA).

TGRNA made a “special agreement” with SRO Motorsports Group America, the organization that sanctions the TC America series, company representatives told Motor1. In TC America, SRO will combine the current TC and TCX classes in 2025, allowing for more flexibility in car design.

The GR Corolla TC uses the road car’s stock 1.6-liter turbocharged three-cylinder engine and newly available eight-speed automatic transmission. Those pair with the GR Corolla road car’s unique “GR-Four” all-wheel drive system, which uses a clutch pack rather than a center differential to send power to the rear wheels. Matt Anderson, TGRNA’s head of electronics and vehicle systems told us the GR Corolla TC will be homologated with a fixed torque split front-to-rear.

Chris Perkins / Motor1

Toyota

While all the drivetrain components for the GR Corolla TC come 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 allow for more-precise, racing-oriented traction control and ABS. GR Corolla engineers in Japan also collaborated with TGRNA to get the engine, automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive system to work with the Bosch control units.

The suspension for the GR Corolla TC uses the same basic geometry as the road car, but with adjustable JRi dampers, and Alcon brakes. There’s a FIA-spec roll cage, naturally, and a fully stripped interior with an OMP bucket seat, six-point harness, Bosch digital dash, and TGRNA control panel for various vehicle functions. The steering wheel is also the same used on Toyota’s Supra GT4 car.

Chris Perkins / Motor1

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The GR Corolla TC sports new aero components as well, including a huge wing sprouting from the hatch. On both road and race cars, the hatch is composite, so TGRNA had to develop new brackets to affix to the rear window to support the wing.

In the SRO TC America series next year, the GR Corolla TC will race against a ton of different cars, from front-wheel drive Civic Type Rs to rear-drive BMW M2s. Like so many sports-car series, SRO will use Balance of Performance to even out the playing field between such different machines. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but you can expect the GR Corolla TC to cost a chunk more than the $132,000 of TGRNA’s other homebrew race car, the GR86 Cup.