'Fake' rally car Toyota Yaris GR takes on a real classic Lancia Delta Integrale in epic rally test

The Toyota Yaris GR, AKA the ‘fake’ rally car, and the legendary Lancia Delta Integrale might be decades apart, but both claim rally-inspired DNA.

Now, the two cars have finally gone head-to-head in a thrilling comparison by Edwin and Will from the YouTube channel Top Dead Center.

The pair took the modern pocket rocket and the vintage icon to a proper rally stage.

Their goal? To see how a ‘fake’ rally car stacks up against one of the most celebrated machines in rally history.

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The Lancia Delta Integrale is a legendary rally car

The Toyota Yaris GR has been praised since its launch as a rally-inspired marvel.

It was originally built as a homologation special for Toyota’s next-generation World Rally Championship (WRC) car.

This meant that it was designed to meet the requirements for rally competition by producing a certain number of road-legal versions.

The GR Yaris features a turbocharged 1.6-liter three-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, and a lightweight, rally-focused chassis.

However, changes in WRC technical regulations made the GR Yaris platform obsolete for top-tier competition before it could race.

Because of this, some skeptics call it a ‘fake’ rally car, due to its WRC dream being cut short.

However, in reality, the GR Yaris has been widely praised for its performance and handling, even achieving a cult following.

In fact, it is the daily car of choice for Koenigsegg’s CEO, so that surely means something.

On the other hand, the Lancia Delta Integrale is a name that needs no introduction among rally fans.

With multiple World Rally Championship titles under its belt in the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Integrale is a bona fide legend.

It was so legendary that it found itself in the garage of actor Rowan Atkinson, next to powerhouse cars like his McLaren F1 and the V16 Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe.

It’s boxy, it’s turbocharged, and it still looks ready to launch through a gravel stage, decades after its prime.

The Toyota Yaris GR has modern comforts

In the video, the two YouTubers took both cars to a proper rally setting: gravel, tight corners, long straights.

The Lancia was full of old-school charm: a raw driving experience, twitchy handling, and turbo lag you could measure with a stopwatch.

Of course, there was one glaring omission in the Lancia, which was exacerbated by the hot summer sun: a lack of air-conditioning.

Since most rally cars remove air-conditioning systems to save on weight, this is one of the downsides of driving the Lancia.

The Yaris GR, on the other hand, is all about modern precision.

It’s faster, more composed, and far easier to drive fast.

In fact, its performance clearly shows that it was meant to be a rally car in the first place.

And of course, since it’s merely a ‘fake’ rally car, it also has modern features, like air-conditioning.

In the end, the test wasn’t about crowning a winner; after all, both cars are incredibly different.

Instead, it was about celebrating two very different takes on the rally car formula.

Looking at the two cars side-by-side, it’s clear that technology has improved greatly, but the soul of the rally car remains.

If you want to see the full video, you can check it out here:

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