Toyoda hails TGR's success as 14 GR Yaris cars start Rally Finland

When Toyoda visited Rally Finland in 2018, he arrived in Jyväskylä with a dream of seeing frontline Toyota factory cars competing alongside privateers further down the field. Last week, TGR delivered on that with 14 cars starting the ninth round of the World Rally Championship.

Toyoda said: “Six years ago at Rally Finland, there was a big Yaris signboard in the city with the message 'Welcome to my home roads'. I remember being very happy about the message that welcomed the Yaris homecoming.

“At that time, there were just three Yaris cars: Esapekka [Lappi], Ott [Tänak], and Jari-Matti [Latvala’s]. In Rally Finland six years later, there were a total of 14 GR Yaris cars that came back home. As the base of cars expands from Rally1 to Rally2, the base of drivers also expands to include young drivers and gentlemen drivers... I want to express my deep gratitude to all the colleagues who have made it possible to realise the scene that I had envisioned only in just a few years.”

Toyoda was full of praise for the five works crews as well as the private Rally2 runners, adding: “Séb [Ogier], Vincent [Landais], congratulations for the victory! Throughout this season, whenever they have participated in a rally, they have always come back with a win or a second-place finish. The team has truly relied on their consistency and I really appreciate it.

“For Kalle [Rovanperä] and Jonne [Halttunen], despite achieving so many victories, there was one thing they hadn't yet been able to accomplish: to win in front of their home fans. I believe both of them approached Rally Finland with a strong determination of ‘this year, for sure.’ It was truly heartbreaking for them to retire after leading until the final day.

“Sami [Pajari] and Enni [Mälkönen] finished in fourth place in their first rally in the top category. Considering the difficulties many drivers faced on the roads of Finland, it is an impressive result.

“The other nine cars were the Rally2, which has been developed in Finland with the hope of expanding the base of rallying. Two of them were driven by young Japanese drivers in our WRC Challenge Program (Yuki Yamamoto and Hikaru Kogure), and one of them was Jari-Matti, the team principal of TGR-WRT. And the remaining six cars were driven by private customers who chose GR Yaris to compete in Finland.”