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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing seals manufacturers’ crown in style with Ogier win*

October 24, 2022

TOKYO, Oct 24, 2022 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has completed an FIA World Rally Championship treble in style by clinching the 2022 manufacturers' title* with a superb win for Sebastien Ogier at Rally de Espana.Team PhotoThe manufacturers' championship success follows the drivers' and co-drivers' titles that were won by Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen on the previous rally in New Zealand. It's the second year in a row that the team has managed a clean sweep of the three available titles: An especially notable achievement given that it spans a major revolution in the technical regulations introduced at the start of this season when the all-new GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID succeeded the Yaris WRC.In total, this is the sixth occasion that Toyota has topped the WRC's manufacturers' classification, the third time since it returned to the series in 2017.The rally win in Spain is the team's seventh of the season and a first for the outgoing eight-time champion Ogier in his part-time campaign. The 55th victory of his career is also a maiden triumph for co-driver Benjamin Veillas.In his first asphalt rally since January's Rallye Monte-Carlo, Ogier was among the pacesetters from the start, winning three stages on Friday to lead despite having to deal with dirtier roads than his rivals in mixed weather conditions. He took three more stage wins in a commanding performance on Saturday as he pulled away from the pack, and went on to win the last two stages of the rally on Sunday - including the final Power Stage - as he clinched victory by 16.4 seconds.Rovanpera was also in the battle for the lead on Friday when he was fastest in four stages, and eventually finished in third position overall. His hopes of second place faded after he was one of several to sustain tyre damage over a drain cover in Sunday's second stage.Elfyn Evans was part of a close-fought top five at the beginning of the rally but was unable to find the perfect feeling to match the rapid pace at the front. A flat tyre on Friday afternoon and another at the same place as Rovanpera on SS17 contributed to him finishing sixth overall - still an important result to help the team towards its main goal.One place further behind in seventh was Takamoto Katsuta who recovered from a difficult start to show strong and consistent speed in his TGR WRT Next Generation entry.*Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIAFor more information, visit https://toyotagazooracing.com/wrc/release/2022/rd12-day3/. Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. (via SEAPRWire)

Rovanpera reigns again in TOYOTA GAZOO Racing one-two

July 18, 2022

TOKYO, Jul 18, 2022 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - Kalle Rovanpera has continued his remarkable 2022 season in the FIA World Rally Championship with his fifth victory from the last six events, leading a one-two finish at Rally Estonia for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team after a high-speed battle with team-mate Elfyn Evans.After a series of rougher gravel events, the smooth and fast stages of Estonia provided a test for the outright performance of the new generation of Rally1 cars, one the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID passed with flying colours by dominating the weekend. It recorded the fastest time in all 22 full-length stages, beaten only narrowly in the two short super special stages held on Thursday and Saturday evenings.The weather ensured a challenging weekend from start to finish with short and sharp rain showers making conditions extremely changeable and unpredictable for the drivers.Evans excelled in a mostly dry start to Friday, winning all four stages during the morning to lead Rovanpera, who did well sweeping the loose gravel stages as championship leader and then capitalised on wet weather in the afternoon to move ahead. He and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were then dominant through Saturday, winning seven stages in a row and continued that form into Sunday morning.The worst of the weather however was saved for the final two stages. Both Rovanpera and Evans were more than half a minute slower than some competitors as conditions worsened during SS23 but were able to maintain their overall positions. They then made the most of improving conditions as the sun came out for their runs at the deciding Power Stage, Rovanpera setting the best time by a huge 22.5 seconds over Evans to claim maximum points for himself and co-driver Jonne Halttunen, who increase their championship lead to 83 points after seven of 13 rounds.Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin have climbed to third in the standings after a second straight second-place finish and their third of the season.With the Power Stage result, TGR also scored maximum points towards the manufacturers' championship this weekend and now lead by 87 points.Fighting back after losing time when a tyre came off its rim on a landing on Saturday, Esapekka Lappi won two stages on Sunday and gained sixth place overall on the final stage, where he set the fourth-fastest time despite experiencing considerably worse conditions than his team-mates.Takamoto Katsuta continued his unbroken scoring record so far in 2022 in his TGR WRT Next Generation entry by finishing fifth overall, improving his confidence and performance over the event despite the difficult conditions.For more information, visit https://toyotagazooracing.com/wrc/release/2022/rd07-day4/. Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. (via SEAPRWire)