Rally Monte Carlo 2022 was not just another season opener. Held on 20–23 January 2022, it was the world premiere of the FIA Rally1 hybrid regulations, and every car on the start list represented a step-change in WRC engineering. Among them was car #18, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 of Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston, entered by Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT alongside the factory trio of Ogier, Evans and Rovanperä. IXO Models has reproduced that specific entry as a 1:43 die-cast, locking in a piece of the sport's regulatory watershed moment.
The GR Yaris Rally1: Hybrid Power Meets Rally Tarmac
The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 was developed by Toyota Gazoo Racing for the 2022 WRC season, built around the GR Yaris road car platform. Under Rally1 regulations, the car pairs a 1.6-litre turbocharged inline-three petrol engine with a standardised 100 kW hybrid unit supplied by Compact Dynamics, delivering a combined output of approximately 500 hp. That powertrain, available in rear-wheel or all-wheel drive configuration, was common to all manufacturers competing that season. Toyota's execution proved exceptionally competitive: the GR Yaris Rally1 took the 2022 WRC Manufacturers' Championship by the end of the year.
Monte Carlo 2022: Where the Rally1 Era Began
The 2022 Rally Monte Carlo was the first competitive outing for all three manufacturers' Rally1 cars. Sébastien Loeb, returning with M-Sport Ford, won the event. For Toyota, it was a complex debut: Katsuta and Johnston in car #18 delivered a solid 8th overall finish, operating as a semi-independent fourth entry within the TGR WRT structure rather than one of the three primary factory seats. As the only Japanese driver in the top WRC class during the 2022 season, Katsuta brought additional significance to the #18 entry's presence on the Monte Carlo stages.
IXO Models and the RAM Rally Range in 1:43
IXO Models is one of Europe's principal producers of die-cast rally and racing replicas, with their dedicated RAM (Rally Auto Models) line focused specifically on WRC machinery. This 1:43 scale model replicates car #18 in die-cast metal, finished in the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT white-and-red livery with TGR and Gazoo Racing branding as run at Monte Carlo 2022. The 1:43 format is the benchmark scale for WRC collecting, balancing livery fidelity with shelf efficiency across a wide field of entries.
Building the Monte Carlo 2022 Grid in the Cabinet
Car #18 sits naturally alongside the other three Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 entries from the same event — Ogier/Veillas (#1), Rovanperä/Halttunen (#69) and Evans/Martin (#33) — to document the full TGR WRT Monte Carlo deployment. Expanding further, the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 of Loeb and Galmiche (#19), who won the rally, and the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 entries complete the three-manufacturer picture of rallying's first hybrid round. Together they represent a self-contained and historically coherent display theme: the opening chapter of the Rally1 era.
