High hopes on home roads for Toyota Gazoo Racing
Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team hope to fly high on home roads when Rally Finland stages the fastest and most spectacular round of the FIA World Rally Championship this week (31 July – 3 August).
The forests of central Finland around the city of Jyväskylä are considered to be rallying’s spiritual home, containing smooth and high-speed gravel roads with frequent jumps and crests that delight drivers and fans alike. They are home territory too for TGR-WRT, who are headquartered just a couple of miles across the Jyväsjärvi lake from the service park. The team have a strong track record on the event, winning six of the last seven editions.
Currently leading the manufacturers’ championship by 52 points, the team will field a full five-strong line-up of GR Yaris Rally1 cars, piloted by drivers who all relish competing on the Finnish stages.
The greatest cheers from the local crowds will be reserved for double world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who, along with co-driver Jonne Halttunen, also hails from Jyväskylä. They continue to dream of a first home victory after an errant rock on their line caused them to crash out while on course to win one year ago.
Welshman Elfyn Evans is one of only four foreign drivers to have won Rally Finland more than once, having triumphed in 2021 and 2023 with TGR-WRT. This year, he arrives just one point from the lead of the drivers’ championship. Last year, Sébastien Ogier joined that same elite club; the French eight-time world champion sits third in this year’s standings after three wins and two second places from five starts. Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta grew up as a rally driver in Finland as part of the TGR WRC Challenge Program and finished on the podium in 2023.
TGR-WRT2 driver Sami Pajari returns to his home event one year on from a hugely impressive debut at rallying’s highest level, when he won a stage on his first full day in Rally1 machinery and finished fourth overall.
Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala will once more get behind the wheel for his 20th start on his home rally, driving a GR Yaris Rally2 car for the second year in succession as he returns to more modern machinery between outings in the FIA European Historic Rally Championship aboard the classic Toyota Celica ST185.
Fresh from scoring a sensational victory on his GR YarisRally1 debut at Rally Estonia just last week, Oliver Solberg resumes his main season programme in pursuit of the WRC2 championship, which he leads by three points in his GR Yaris Rally2 car run by Finnish team Printsport.
Other GR Yaris Rally2 drivers include reigning Finnish champion Roope Korhonen and compatriot and Rautio Motorsport team-mate Tuukka Kauppinen, as well as Estonia’s Georg Linnamäe of the RedGrey team.
The TGR WRC Challenge Program is represented by Yuki Yamamoto in WRC2, Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita in WRC3 and Japanese co-driver Tomiya Maekawa making his WRC debut next to Finnish driver Jarkko Nikara in Rally4 machinery.
Deputy Team Principal Juha Kankkunen will also be back in the driving seat to debut the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept. Fitted with an internal combustion engine fuelled by compressed hydrogen, it delivers near-zero emissions while retaining the sounds and sensations so enjoyed by rally fans.
The GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept will be revealed in the Jyväskylä service park on Wednesday. It will then be demonstrated by four-time world champion Kankkunen in the heart of the city on the two runs of the mixed-surface Harju stage, allowing fans to experience the potential of hydrogen as one of the options for the future of motorsport in a carbon neutral society.
The always-popular Harju opens the competitive action on Thursday evening and is run again at the end of Friday, following two loops of four stages in the forests north-east of Jyväskylä including classic tests Laukaa, Myhinpää and Ruuhimäki. Saturday’s route to the south-east includes more classic roads in Västilä and Päijälä as well as new-look Parkkola and Leustu tests. The legendary Ouninpohja becomes the centrepiece of Sunday with its second pass serving as the rally-ending Power Stage.
Team quotes
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal): “Rally Finland is a very special event for our whole team. The atmosphere created by the fans in Jyväskylä and in the forests is amazing, and all our drivers feel great support there and really enjoy driving the fast Finnish roads. They all have the speed to do well and the team are working hard with them during our pre-event testing to make them comfortable and confident with the car so that they can be fast from the start of the rally. I’m also looking forward to doing some driving myself with the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept: it’s a very exciting project for our team to be involved in, demonstrating the potential of hydrogen technology with the sound and performance of a proper rally car, and we hope the fans will enjoy it.”
Elfyn Evans (driver car 33): “Finland is a brilliant rally and a highlight of the season for me. Nothing quite compares to the feeling of driving on the Finnish stages, especially when you’re at one with the car. While it’s a similar event to Estonia in terms of speed, the surface and the character of the roads are quite different, so our test in Finland this week was important to try and find the best setup and feeling behind the wheel. It’s always a very enjoyable rally so the main thing is to enjoy the driving and hopefully a good result can follow.”
Kalle Rovanperä (driver car 69): “As our home event, Rally Finland always feels special with all the excitement and support from the fans. We’ve had good chances to win there with good pace in the last two years and didn’t quite manage to do it. We continue to work hard with the team to improve on the pace that we’ve had on gravel so far this year, and we’ve been trying some more new ideas in testing for this event. Of course, we will try to enjoy the whole week, keep pushing as much as we can and do our maximum to get a top result.”
Sébastien Ogier (driver car 17): “It will be nice for me to do Rally Finland again this year. I had a great experience there last year, taking my second win after a couple of years away, so it felt like a good idea to add it to my schedule again. We’ll try to have fun on the beautiful Finnish roads and secure a good result on the team’s home event. It will be the first truly fast rally that I’ve driven this year, but we’ve had good performance on gravel so far this season and I’ll still have the chance to test in Finland and get back up to speed before the start of the rally.”
Takamoto Katsuta (driver car 18): “Finland is a special place for me: I lived there for many years and learned so much and have many friends there, so I think of this event as being a second home rally for me. I usually have a very good feeling on the Finnish stages and it’s of course an important rally for the team as well. It was very nice to finish on the podium there two years ago and I want to have an even better rally this time. I hope we can take another step forward with our performance and will just try to push as much as I can and enjoy.”
Sami Pajari (driver car 5): “Rally Finland has always been a very special rally for me – right back to the first WRC event I drove six years ago. To drive in front of friends and family is a nice feeling and the roads themselves are cool to drive in any car. To be able to drive them with a Rally1 car still feels like a dream for me. You always want to try and do better than the last time, but it’s never as easy as that and I’m not putting too much pressure on myself. I’m just looking forward to it and will try my best.”
ENDS
