Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team take on the second in a trio of tough consecutive gravel events at Rally Italia Sardegna this weekend, anticipating a tough challenge as they seek to extend their winning run.
The team claimed their fifth victory from the first five rounds of 2025 last time out in Portugal, where Sébastien Ogier scored his record-extending seventh win on the event.
With Kalle Rovanperä also finishing on the podium in third, TGR-WRT have extended their manufacturers’ championship lead to 55 points while Elfyn Evans continues to lead the drivers’ standings, 30 points in front of Rovanperä and 32 ahead of Ogier.
While the gravel tracks on the Italian island of Sardinia can appear similar on paper to those in Portugal, the event usually provides an even more demanding challenge, not least with temperatures that can exceed 30 degrees centigrade, punishing cars, crews and tyres. The stages are narrower and more technical, with little margin for error, while the sandy surface is soon swept away by each passing car to expose a rocky and abrasive base.
A quartet of silver GR Yaris Rally1 cars will once again be entered by TGR-WRT, with Evans, Rovanperä and Ogier nominated to compete for manufacturers’ points and Takamoto Katsuta at the wheel of a fourth car. Sami Pajari drives a fifth car entered under the TGR-WRT2 banner.
After a record 15 GR Yaris Rally2 cars took part in Portugal, there is strong representation again in Sardinia with 13 cars entered. Having claimed WRC2 victory in Portugal, Oliver Solberg will drive in Sardinia without counting it as one of his seven points-scoring rounds for the season with the Printsport team – as will the TGR WRC Challenge Program duo of Yuki Yamamoto and Hikaru Kogure.
Those competing for WRC2 honours include a trio of cars run by Teo Martín Motorsport for Jan Solans, Alejandro Cachón and Diego Domínguez, as well as Roope Korhonen (Rautio Motorsport), Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Rallylab Technology), brothers Marco and Bruno Bulacia (both Delta Rally) and privateer Fabio Schwarz. Two more drivers – Eduardo Castro from Peru and Italian Simone Romagna – will drive GR Yaris Rally2 cars outside of WRC2.
The rally’s base alternates back from Alghero to Olbia this year with all the action to take place around the north-east of the island. The first two days on Friday and Saturday each total just over 120 competitive kilometres across a loop of three stages run either side of mid-day service in Olbia. Two new stages are driven twice to form Sunday’s finale, with a final service preceding the second pass of Porto San Paolo which serves as the rally-ending Power Stage.
Jari-Matti Latvala, Team Principal, explained, “Portugal was a good result for our team overall but we know that we face another challenge in Sardinia. The stages there have a very hard base covered with a layer of fine sand, which can be very slippery for the first cars on the road.
“With Elfyn, Kalle and Seb at the top of the standings, we have to be prepared that Friday could be a challenging start, but on the other hand, it would be great to see if Taka and Sami could also have the chance to benefit and be in the fight for the top places. It’s been a very good season for us so far, but the competition is fast and we are realistic that we cannot win every rally. Still, we can be confident that our car is strong and reliable and we will be aiming for another good team result.”
Welsh driver Elfyn Evans (above) said, “After a bit of a frustrating rally in Portugal we certainly want to be stronger in Sardinia. It’s a similar rally in some ways and maybe a bit more demanding in others.
“We will also have the challenge again of running first on the road on Friday, although the more typical schedule should hopefully help in that respect. We’re still looking for some more performance on this type of rally, and with the limited testing available it’s not easy to find an immediate solution, but we’re going to give it our best like always and try to come away with as many points as we can.”
Sébastien Ogier added, “Our victory in Portugal is good motivation to keep working hard with the team in this busy period of rallies because we know that we can still improve. Sardinia has always been a difficult challenge, one that it took me some years to master.
“This year it can be even tougher for our team because we have the top three drivers in the championship and we will have the biggest job to sweep the road for our rivals on Friday. But I have good memories from our win in 2021 from first on the road and we know well that it’s a rally where anything can happen.”
