The team didn’t have to wait long for success. Carlos Sainz clinched the drivers’ title in 1990 (the first for a Japanese manufacturer) and took second place in the manufacturers’ championship. In 1992, a new WRC homologated ‘special’ was made called the GT-Four RC (Rally Competition). It went on to seal the WRC drivers’ and manufacturers’ title in 1993 and 1994 with Juha Kankkunen and then Didier Auriol, respectively.
Unbeknown to those who witnessed the covers come off, the seventh-generation model of 1999 would be the final interpretation of the Celica. After 35 years, seven distinct generations, numerous motorsport victories and over four million sales, the final page of the Celica story was turned. Thankfully, the memories of the brightest stars take a lifetime to fade…