Safari Rally – New suspensions and snorkeling on the Yaris Rally1

For 4^e consecutive year, the Safari is on the calendar of WRC. During the three previous editions, Toyota crushed the competition there with a double and two quadruplets. Suffice it to say that the Yaris is the queen of the bush. Already competitive since 2021, it could once again prove formidable since Tom Fowler, the technical director and his men have scheduled the arrival of a new suspension for this meeting. The team based in Finland worked throughout the 2023 season to achieve this result, which consists of an overhaul of the system through around ten parts. “ For approval and planning reasons, explains Kevin Struyf, We decided to introduce this change now, because we think it will give us a fairly free performance gain, but also reliability. » Since the arrival of the hybrid in 2022, the Yaris has experienced some problems in this area which the TGR hopes to have resolved.

This new suspension comes at a time when the Toyota appears less dominant and it will be interesting to see how the crews will make it their own to reverse the trend and maintain control over the African round. During previous editions, Kenya was sometimes criticized for no longer really being Kenya, because the cars no longer had anything specific. This will no longer be the case this year. The teams were allowed to install snorkels on the Rally1s, giving them a typically “Safari” look.

Snorkeling « will please the fans » believes Toyota

Although this utensil will be very useful in the event of heavy rain or in the fesh-fesh, it still required a certain adaptation. “ I find it very nice, it looks more Safari, enthuses the French engineer. This is a novelty that is already getting a lot of attention. She will please the fans. The snorkel wasn't difficult to set up, but it was something completely new to me and there may be surprises. We had to be careful because it doesn't always work like it does on a computer or on paper. We'll see if we install it or not. Everything will depend on the water level that we will encounter, knowing that this can change very quickly. It will take extreme conditions for it to be useful. » Between the suspension and this tool which could prove very useful if the forecast rain falls in abundance, the Toyota Yaris Rally1 seems better equipped than ever to extend its African reign.

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