Toyota Gazoo Racing is secretly plotting an even faster GRMN version of the turbocharged all-wheel drive rally-bred Toyota GR Yaris hot hatch, which will be both lighter and more powerful.
When we asked the chief engineer of the Toyota GR Yaris, Naohiko Saito, directly if Gazoo Racing would consider a more powerful GRMN version of Toyota’s all-new hot hatch, he replied: "In the future, maybe we can".
He then added that such a car is still "under consideration", hinting that the wilder GR Yaris was yet to be green-lit for production.
However, speaking to an insider working closely with Gazoo Racing, carsales can exclusively reveal that instead of just boosting power for the GRMN, engineers have also found ways to carve even more weight from the GR Yaris.
Our source wouldn't be drawn on where the kilo-cutting would occur.
As standard, Toyota's pint-size hot hatch bags an aluminium bonnet, rear hatch and doors, plus a forged carbon-fibre roof that all help the four-wheel drive GR Yaris weigh in at less than 1300kg.
Incredibly, early on in the development the project boss Saito said he tasked his team to do a feasibility study on a full carbon-fibre body for the GR Yaris.
It's now thought that some of those parts could be reintroduced to the low-volume GRMN version.
Therefore parts like forged carbon-fibre front fenders will likely replace the steel items, which are retained on the standard GR Yaris to appease motorsport teams who don't want expensive or exotic materials that will be regularly damaged in competition.
A set of ultra-light alloy rims, composite rear windows and a delete option of the air-conditioning system and rear seat could shave as much as 100kg from the Yaris GR’s kerb weight.
An even more radical approach could be to switch the GR Yaris to front-wheel drive for the GRMN model, but that could not only have a big effect on dynamics but confuse buyers about the benefits of all-wheel drive in the standard model.
Meanwhile under the bonnet, another engineer revealed that the new-from-the-ground-up 1.6-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine had plenty of potential left in it beyond the standard car's 190kW/350Nm-plus outputs.
With power wound up to around 225kW/400Nm, the little GRMN Yaris would have the firepower to outperform any similarly sized rival and challenge the world’s fastest hot hatches.
Expect a 0-100km/h time of less than five seconds and a top speed of around 270km/h.
The Gazoo Racing insider said chassis tuning could also involve stiffing the car up using braces that have already been developed for Japan-only dealer-fit accessories.
Adding weight to the likelihood of an even faster Yaris, when asked if Gazoo Racing had categorically ruled out a Nurburgring lap record attempt, Saito replied: "Maybe we will publish a lap".
It's thought that with less weight and more power the Toyota GRMN Yaris stands a fighting chance of beating the 7:45.39 compact-car lap record set by the Renault Megane RS Trophy-R back in April.