Toyota WRC boss Latvala to sample Rally2 action in Finland

Latvala, who has achieved 18 WRC victories as a driver, will use the event to familiarise himself with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, which was launched earlier this year as Toyota GAZOO Racing’s first-ever customer rally car.

The Finn previously made a comeback to drive last year’s event with a Rally1-specification GR Yaris, where he finished fifth overall alongside co-driver Juho Hänninen.

“Last year when I did Rally Finland, there were such amazing feelings and emotions when I was driving with the Rally1,” he told WRC.com. “I really enjoyed it and I must admit that after that I was looking towards 2024 and I was really looking forward to Rally Finland and if I could drive.

“I have a really big passion for driving, as you will know, and we basically launched the [GR Yaris] Rally2 for this season. This was something in my mind that, when I went to see Akio Toyoda [Toyota chairman] in May, I basically asked if I could drive in Rally Finland. My reasons were that he knows my passion for driving, but at the same time it’s quite important for me to understand the Rally2 car so that I can communicate better with the customers when we are selling these cars and tell them how the product is when I have been driving it myself.

“I drove the car last year at Rally Hokkaido in Japan, but the car has been developed a lot since that, and it is very different these days. When I asked Akio it was before the 24 hour race, and after the race he said: ‘Okay Jari-Matti, you can drive. I don’t necessarily have time to come myself, but you can drive.’

“That was a nice handshake and at that moment I have to say that it felt really good that I will be driving the Rally2 car, and to see also how the level of the young drivers is in WRC2, which is a very competitive category.”

Latvala joins leading WRC2 entrants including Oliver Solberg and Gus Greensmith, while other regulars such as Yohan Rossel, Nikolay Gryazin, and Jan Solans will be present but not scoring points.

In the headline Rally1 category, Toyota fields five GR Yaris Rally1 cars – including one for home hero and reigning WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä.

Rovanperä, who crashed while leading the rally last year, is part of an all-star line-up alongside Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta. Twenty-two-year-old Finn Sami Pajari will also drive a GR Yaris for his and co-driver Enni Mälkönen’s top-flight debut.

Hyundai Motorsport is fielding a trio of i20 N Rally1 cars for championship leader Thierry Neuville, Ott Tänak and local ace Esapekka Lappi, who will contest his third event of the year. M-Sport Ford, meanwhile, has entered a pair of Puma Rally1s for Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster.

Across FIA Junior WRC and WRC3, 25 Rally3 cars are entered. Drivers include current Junior WRC leader Romet Jürgenson, as well as Diego Dominguez and Taylor Gill.

Kai Tarkiainen, Secto Rally Finland clerk of the course, said: “It's brilliant to have 10 Rally1 cars on our entry, three of them driven by Finns which is a good story for us. Especially Sami Pajari, who in 2019 was the Flying Finn Future Star, drove with a Fiesta Rally4 here and actually ended up in a bush. But he showed his speed and after that, he's taken huge steps. To go from your first WRC event to a Rally1 car in five years is a Cinderella story.

“It's a very good-looking entry list which just further ramps up the excitement for what will be another epic Secto Rally Finland.”