TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team takes 7th title

With the conclusion of the 2023 Rally Chile on Sunday TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) can add another manufacturers’ world title in the World Rally Championship (WRC). It is the fourth time, and third year in a row, making it the seventh title since the team were formed.

Although Elfyn Evans finished third, just ahead of team-mates Kalle Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta, the results of both cars were enough to secure the manufacturers’ title with two rounds still to go (subject to official confirmation).

TGR-WRT will soon celebrate the fifth consecutive drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship titles as well. The efforts of Rovanpera and Evans on the Power Stage ensured that only they and their respective navigators, Jonne Halttunen and Scott Martin, can win this year’s titles. Rovanpera and Halttunen lead Evans and Martin by 31 points with 60 available from the last two events.

The return to Chile for the first time since 2019 was far from straightforward, presenting teams and drivers not only with a large number of new roads but also some rather different conditions, with the event taking place in spring rather than autumn.

Evans was in the mix for the rally win before he and his team-mates suffered unexpectedly high tyre wear on extremely abrasive stages on Saturday. He continued to push for a podium place and was rewarded when another driver ahead was caught out by the tricky roads in Sunday’s penultimate test.

As points leader, Rovanpera had lost more time on Friday after having to run first on roads that were far drier and looser than four years ago. But he would bounce back on the day of his 23rd birthday with his sixth Power Stage win of the season, which meant he only conceded 2 points of his pre-event advantage over Evans.

Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston – who have contributed to the manufacturers’ title success after stepping up into the main TGR-WRT line-up this year to share a car with Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Landais – ensured that all three of the team’s cars finished in the top five at the end of a demanding weekend.

“I’m really happy with how this rally ended for us. I’m really proud of the team and crews for all the work we’ve done during the season. Two rounds before the end of the season is the earliest we’ve ever won the manufacturers’ title as TGR-WRT. The competition is hard and the cars are close, but I think we have made the difference with our reliability and bringing the cars home without problems, as we did here. Now we are excited to see which of our two crews fighting for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ title will succeed over the last two rounds,” said Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala.

The championship-winning car
The car that the team used this year is the Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID. It’s a brand-new rallycar designed to the revolutionary new-for-2022 FIA Rally1 technical regulations, which represent rallying’s most significant technical overhaul for a generation.

Rally1 cars replace World Rally Cars at the highest level of the WRC and feature a number of significant changes compared to their predecessors, including the introduction of technologies promoting sustainable motorsport. For the first time, the cars in rallying’s top category have hybrid electric power. The existing 1.6-litre direct-injection turbocharged engine – one of the only features of the previous generation of World Rally Cars to be carried over to Rally1 – is paired with a hybrid unit that is common to every competing car.

The hybrid unit consists of a 3.9 kWh battery coupled to a motor-generator unit, delivering an additional 100 kilowatts (134 ps) and 180 Nm of torque during acceleration. It means that, with the engine and hybrid unit combined, Rally1 cars are capable of a maximum power output of more than 500 ps and maximum torque of over 500 Nm. The unit regenerates energy under braking and the battery can also be plugged in to an external power supply to be recharged during service breaks.

Alongside hybrid power, Rally1 cars run on a 100 per cent sustainable fossil-free fuel. With a renewable blend of synthetic and bio-fuel components, the fuel is the first of its kind to be used in an FIA motorsport world championship.

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