Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Crew keep their lead within the World Rally Championship (WRC) producers’ standings after spherical two of the season, Rally Sweden. The staff narrowly missed out on a podium place yesterday (Sunday) however claimed factors for fourth and fifth after a hard-fought weekend of snow and ice motion.
Kalle Rovanperä completed fourth, simply 5.1 seconds from third place, after combating arduous till the final stage. Hotter situations meant that final yr’s Rally Sweden winner was at a drawback this time. He was operating first on the highway on Friday however fought again effectively to start the ultimate day solely 3.8s away from a podium place. That hole was additional decreased to 1.1s due to a stage win in Sunday’s opening take a look at, however rival Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) responded on the subsequent stage and managed to carry on to the place.
With an additional three bonus factors for the third-fastest time on the rally-ending Energy Stage, Rovanperä stays second within the drivers’ championship, solely three factors behind chief Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford).
Elfyn Evans completed one place behind Rovanperä in fifth general, after working in the course of the rally to enhance his feeling with the automotive within the difficult situations. This culminated within the second-best time within the Energy Stage, simply 0.6 seconds from the quickest time and 0.015s faster than Rovanperä. His outcomes maintain him in fourth within the championship race.
Because of the additional factors from the Energy Stage, TGR-WRT stay within the lead of the producers’ championship by 14 factors.
Rally Sweden was Takamoto Katsuta’s first drive as a part of the staff’s three-car producer line-up and the Japanese driver carried out impressively on Friday morning when he was concerned within the lead battle and gained a stage. Having been caught out within the afternoon by the snowbanks that line the levels and rolling his automotive, Katsuta restarted on Saturday and gained helpful expertise, opening the highway on snow. His automotive was retired previous to Sunday’s ultimate stage after he had reported a problem within the earlier take a look at.
There was one other first for TGR-WRT with Lorenzo Bertelli turning into the primary buyer driver to compete behind the wheel of the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid. The Italian loved the expertise of driving the automotive on certainly one of his favorite rallies, finishing each stage and reaching the end in 14th place.
Crew quotes
Jari-Matti Latvala (Crew Principal): “This was a rally we had been hoping to get one thing extra from, provided that it has been a robust occasion for us up to now. We suffered a bit on the primary day when the situations weren’t best for our highway positions and people beginning additional again had been in a position to assault and construct a spot. We tried to battle again and speed-wise I feel we noticed some constructive indicators, however issues simply didn’t fairly click on for us in the long run. We’ve got seen an incredible battle right here between all of the groups and it’s clear that the competitors goes to be very shut this yr, simply as we anticipated. With the outcomes from the Energy Stage, we’ve nonetheless scored some good factors: we keep within the lead of the producers’ championship and Kalle stays near the lead of the drivers’ standings with out having to open the highway in Mexico.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver automotive 69): “It was fairly a troublesome weekend however in the long run we might be pretty comfortable. Opening the highway on Friday we misplaced over 30s simply in a single difficult stage that we drove twice. We had been 25s behind on the end, so we did fairly rally within the circumstances. On Sunday morning’s first stage we might immediately do time and be combating with Thierry, however on the second move we simply lacked the tempo in these sorts of rutted situations. We pushed arduous the entire weekend however on the second passes of levels the occasions weren’t there. A minimum of we gained’t need to open the highway in Mexico and might go there with a contemporary thoughts and hopefully have rally.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver automotive 33): “This has been a troublesome weekend and never what we hoped and labored for. I’ve struggled to really feel actually assured within the automotive and on the again of that we made a few errors as effectively. In that sense I’m comfortable to no less than come away with some factors, however we come to rallies aiming for higher performances and outcomes than this. There are a number of areas we’ll evaluate after the occasion and work on for the long run, however Sweden is all the time a really particular occasion. Now the main target wants to change to gravel and I’m trying ahead to Mexico.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver automotive 18): “I felt actually good with the automotive this weekend. Because of the staff who fastened it after my accident on Friday in order that I used to be in a position to get a whole lot of expertise from the Saturday and Sunday levels, which can assist for the long run. Sadly, we couldn’t end the rally right now: I began to really feel a scarcity of energy and the engineers checked the information and noticed there was a problem, so we couldn’t proceed. I’m sorry for the staff that we couldn’t get consequence right here, however I’ll attempt to carry out effectively on the subsequent rally.”
PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY SWEDEN
1 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) 2h25m54.5s
2 Craig Breen/James Fulton (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +18.7s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +20.0s
4 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +25.1s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m24.0s
6 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicolas Gilsoul (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +5m59.0s
7 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +7m42.4s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m48.1s
9 Ole Christian Veiby/Torstein Eriksen (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) +8m30.4s
10 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m03.2s
Retired Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID)
(Outcomes as of 13:30 on Sunday, for the newest outcomes please go to www.wrc.com)
What’s subsequent?
The WRC returns to Rally Mexico for the primary time since 2020 on 6-19 March. The primary gravel occasion of the season options temperatures within the area of 30°C. Excessive altitude can be a significant component on a route that peaks at 2,747 metres above sea degree.
ENDS
