National rallying in the 1990s and 2000s was primarily the domain of the Subaru Impreza WRX and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, cars that were dominant worldwide.
While the big boys played with Group A and World Rally Cars, the two Japanese manufacturers pulled at the heart strings of the rally fan by offering cars that not only went fast, but that you could buy from your local dealer.
That meant Group N, a category for production based cars that, in all reality, were actually slower than what you could buy off the showroom floor.
Cars were built to a strict set of regulations, but the performance of the cars was reduced by the addition of a 32mm turbo restrictor – a rule that still seems odd all these years later.
The early years of Group N also meant the cars had to run all their original trim, including the back seats, so they were quite a good deal heavier than their faster Group A cousins.
The motoring market changed though, and cars like the Lancer Evo disappeared after 10 evolutions of the model, while the Subaru WRX got bigger and heavier.
Both cars are still competing and are still popular, but their competitiveness has waned a little, and manufacturers are no longer willing to stump up the costs for factory teams, hence the disappearance of the Group N class.
It could be about to return though. The FIA’s latest pyramid of rally car classes has changed all the names, and while it may be confusing, a new form of Group N is about to emerge.
Rally3 is the category that many believe will see production based competition re-emerge onto the world stage, and that’s good news for national rally championships the world over.
The class is designed for rally cars that provide an accessible and affordable first step on the four-wheel drive ladder, to be used on national, regional and world-level rallies.
Ford and M-Sport have already released their Rally3 car, a four-wheel drive Fiesta with a 1.5 litre turbo, three-cylinder engine developing 215 bhp and 400 Nm torque, which comes from the Fiesta ST road vehicle.
Testing is well underway and the car looks like being a real weapon.
Now, Toyota’s much-heralded GR Yaris is about to come to the party, with Toyota Gazoo Racing’s new boss already singing the praises of the Rally3 opportunities.
“The way I see it, the new Rally3 seems to be the more interesting category than Rally2 (formerly R5) and could build on the success of Group N,” Latvala said.
“With the GR Yaris, Toyota has the perfect basis for a high-performance customer sport model.”
I recently had the pleasure of test driving a GR Yaris for a full week, and like Latvala, I can’t praise the car highly enough.
Turning off the tarmac onto a smooth gravel road, within a couple of hundred metres it was blatantly obvious that the car would be an absolute weapon in rally trim.
Bolt in a roll cage, give it some rally wheels and suspension, a bit of underbody protection and other bits and bobs, and you’d have a rally winner straight out of the box. I have no doubt about that.
It really is the Subaru WRX or Lancer Evo of the modern age, and with a base starting price of around $50,000, it puts it within reach of more people.
Whether the emergence of Rally3 at a national level encourages manufacturers to get back involved in rallying remains to be seen.
In Rally3 trim the cars wouldn’t be running for outright positions against AP4 or Rally5 machinery, but it may provide many more marketing opportunities on a national level than the more heavily modified cars currently do.
Regardless of whether than manufacturer support is forthcoming or not, cars like the Fiesta Rally3 and the GR Yaris for good for rallying, just as the Impreza WRX and the Lancer Evo were in their day.
There are exciting times ahead.
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