Mazda is taking the CX-60 rallying in Japan

Remember the Mazda Spirit Racing CX-60 Rally Concept that we caught a glimpse of at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon? It appears that Mazda has followed up on this idea and will now field a CX-60 in the 2025 Rally Hokkaido, in cooperation with TCP Magic and Toyo Tires.

This isn’t the team’s first rodeo with Mazda vehicles. TCP Magic was founded by Taisuke Kawato, who has been a professional race mechanic. He’s worked on countless cars, most notably, Mad Mike’s crazy rotary cars, and last year’s TCP Magic Toyo Tires CX-5 rally car that participated in last year’s Rally Hokkaido and won second place in the XCR class.

At the moment, the automaker only has one render of the vehicle in its blue-yellow-white livery, but we know it will be based on the diesel variant of the car, with a 3.3-liter inline-six turbodiesel pushing out 254 horsepower and 550 Nm of torque, mated to an eight-speed automatic sending power to all four wheels.

If the MSR CX-60 Rally Concept and the previous CX-5 rally car are anything to base it on, it’ll have Toyo Open Country all-terrain tires, a raised suspension, a stripped-down interior with the prerequisite safety equipment, and maybe even the roof scoop and spoiler from the concept.

The automaker will be entering its six-cylinder crossover in the XC-2 (cross-country) class, meant for crossovers and SUVs, with driver Kazuhiro Terakawa and co-driver Miyoko Ishikawa behind the wheel. You can catch the car at the sixth round from September 5 to 7, 2025.

^{Photos from Mazda and Sam Surla}