Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team started the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship with a one-two finish on Rallye Monte-Carlo as Sébastien Ogier claimed a record ninth victory on the event ahead of team-mate Kalle Rovanperä. Mostly dry weather made this year’s rally – the opening round of the 2023 World Rally Championship – more a test of outright performance than usual. Ogier (below) set the … [Read more...]
Toyota will crown WRC win at home
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team will celebrate their clean-sweep of the 2022 World Rally Championship titles when they compete on Rally Japan this week. The “homecoming” event will also see the team present two rally concept cars, a new version of the GR Yaris built to Rally2 competition specifications and the GR Yaris H2 powered by a hydrogen combustion engine. The WRC’s first visit … [Read more...]
WRC championship reaches knife-edge
The battle for the manufacturers’ crown in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship reaches a potentially decisive point in Spain this weekend as just two teams remain in contention for the crown ahead of RallyRACC – Rally de España 20 – 23 October. Toyota Gazoo Racing can seal its second title in as many years at this penultimate round. The only squad able to prevent that from happening is Hyundai … [Read more...]
Rovanperä rallies to record on Repco
Finnish wunderkind Kalle Rovanperä obliterated the FIA World Rally Championship record books after sealing a historic title with victory at Repco Rally New Zealand. At 22 years and one day old, the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver becomes the youngest driver in the history of the sport to lift the crown - sweeping aside the record previously held by Colin McRae, who won in 1995 aged 27 years and 89 … [Read more...]
Rovanperä wants it all this weekend
With a factory drive and a huge FIA World Rally Championship lead, Kalle Rovanperä is the man who seemingly has it all, but there is something missing which he hopes to correct this weekend, a victory on home soil. It’s no surprise that Rovanperä is the hottest property in the sport right now. He’s achieved more during three years in rallying’s top-flight than many drivers do in their entire … [Read more...]
Rovanperä bids to consolidate WRC lead
FIA World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä will rekindle some very special memories as he returns to Rally Estonia this week 14 - 17 July. Rovanperä leads the championship by 65 points having won four of the last five rallies as the season approaches its second half on Estonia’s blisteringly quick gravel roads around Estonia's second city, Tartu. Estonia feels like a second home to … [Read more...]
WRC Croatia washout win for Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä snatched an extraordinary Croatia Rally victory on Sunday afternoon as a downpour turned the event on its head in the final kilometres of the last stage. The Finn led from the start of the three-day rally in the hills around Zagreb in his Toyota GR Yaris, only for a storm in the penultimate speed test to wipe out his hard-earned advantage. A resurgent Ott Tänak, whose gamble on … [Read more...]
Hybrids hit the hard stuff this weekend in WRC
Kalle Rovanperä starts on the back foot this weekend as he defends an early-season FIA World Rally Championship lead in Croatia at the event that marked his low point of 2021. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver holds a 14-point advantage ahead of the Zagreb-based Croatia Rally (21 - 24 April), round three of the year and the first pure asphalt fixture of the new hybrid-powered era. Twelve months ago … [Read more...]
Evans joins former team-mate Ogier in new look Toyota WRC
Welsh wizard Elfyn Evans has been formerly confirmed for the 2020 WRC with Toyota Gazoo Racing. The news has been rumoured for nearly a month but was only confirmed yesterday as part of a wide changing review of the works team pairings. Toyota Gazoo Racing will field an all-new driver line-up in next year’s FIA World Rally Championship after confirming the signings of Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn … [Read more...]