WRC
Toyoda: Toyota will not impose team orders in 2026
Akio Toyoda has insisted Toyota GAZOO Racing will not impose team orders during the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship season, reaffirming the team’s long-held ‘driver-first’ philosophy.
Speaking during a media roundtable at Rallye Monte-Carlo, the chairman said he welcomed the prospect of his drivers fighting freely on the stages, even when that battle is internal.
"Toyota is a driver's first team," Toyoda said. "That means that we want to create a condition so that the drivers will be able to compete on [an] equal condition."
With Toyota’s line-up again stacked for 2026 - including Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and breakout star Oliver Solberg — the scope for inter-team competition is greater than ever. But Toyoda made it clear that management will not step in to engineer outcomes.
"There will be no specific team orders to specific drivers," he confirmed. "We are trying to create the true competition between the drivers. So anyone can win at the end. I think that will be something exciting to watch."
Rather than viewing close margins as a risk, Toyoda admitted he relishes seeing his cars separated by tenths on the timesheets - a reflection of the competitive environment he wants to foster within Toyota GAZOO Racing.
"It makes it all more interesting this year because after [Elfyn] and then you have Seb. But above them, above the veterans, we have the rookie Oliver competing very strongly. That makes it even more exciting.
"We want to create a condition so that the drivers will be able to compete on an equal condition," he concluded. "So anyone can win at the end."
