The mysterious Toyota coupe prototype that was spotted testing on a rally stage in Portugal last week has captured the imagination of Celica fans worldwide, with many hoping it wears the legendary badge when it debuts as the automaker’s WRC entry next year.
Toyota‘s Gazoo Racing World Rally Team (WRT) confirmed that it is indeed testing a new rally car prototype, most likely built according to new WRC27 regulations, but stopped short of providing more details.
The Mid-Engine Celica Rumor Mill Is Spinning Harder than Ever
Premières images de la Toyota WRC27 en essais au Portugal #WRC
Photos : Marcio Pereira pic.twitter.com/JLDMR9ejMn
— Rallye Sport (@RallyeSport) February 26, 2026
While Toyota’s new rally car will be front-engined and all-wheel drive to comply with the WRC rulebook, the big question is whether the road-going Celica—there has to be one if Toyota is bringing the iconic name back to the WRC—will stick with its traditional front-engine layout or switch to a mid-engine configuration as the rumor mill has so insistently been churning for the past few months.
In January, Toyota confirmed it is developing a mid-engine sports car, and the automaker has also filed trademark applications for GR Celica and GR MR2 names. If a Toyota GR MR2 happens, it should be a mid-ship car, but what about the GR Celica?
Well, surprise, surprise, Toyota is not going out of its way to deny that the Celica will be mid-engined, quite the contrary; it looks as though the automaker doesn’t mind the attention on this matter, and why would it?
🚗 Toyota WRC27?
🎥 Márcio Pereira pic.twitter.com/xkKNzQhM8a— eWRC-results (@eWRCresults) February 26, 2026
We say that because around the same time the new rally prototype was spotted in Europe, a demo run of a rally-spec version of the mid-engine GR Yaris M prototype took place at the Rally Mikawa Bay in Japan.
Previously Unseen Mid-Engine GR Yaris M Rally Prototype Shown in Japan
When Japan’s Best Car asked someone close to the project about the car, they “did not deny that the test machine wasn’t a Celica.” As such, the publication speculates that the GR Yaris M prototype is a technological bridge between the future Celica rally car and the future Celica production vehicle, since the GR Yaris M has competed several times in Japan’s Super Taikyu endurance racing, in addition to rallying.
It appears that the GR Yaris M demonstrated recently in Japan is an earlier version of the mid-ship test bed that also happens to have a 1.6-liter turbo engine, just like the rally coupe spotted in Europe.
That said, the GR Yaris M Concept that debuted at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon featured a 2.0-liter turbo-four engine (codenamed G20E) from Toyota’s new-generation engine family. The 2.0L is said to deliver more than 400 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque, without hybrid assistance.
That engine would suit the production GR Celica much better, especially if we’re talking about a mid-engine sports car with all-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox as it was previously reported. All we can do now is wait and see what other clues Toyota decides to give fans next.
