In India, the Toyota Glanza and the Maruti Baleno might be the prime faces of the premium B-segment hatchback race and today showcase what we can expect in our smaller cars in the future. Toyota Gazoo racing of South Africa feels a bit differently and has decided to take the hatchback rallying and have thus created the Starlet rally car.
The headline figures for this rally car are a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with AWD and a sequential gearbox. The engine is a major step up from the 1.4-litre NA petrol sold in the South African market. The turbo engine, in its most powerful guise, produces 261bhp/324Nm and we suspect that this rally car produces quite a bit more. Obviously, the brakes and suspension have been updated to cope with the punishment meted out to the car during the course of rallying.
The rally-spec Starlet made its debut in the hands of Former South African National Rally champions, Guy Botterill and co-driver Simon Vacy-Lyle at the Cape Overberg Rally but had to retire due to technical issues. They will continue their campaign at the Secunda Rally on the weekend of 10 June to 12 June.
When Toyota adapted the Baleno in 2019, it decided to revive some of its classic small car monikers which include the Glanza and Starlet to sell the hatchbacks in various markets.
