©TOYOTA
–
Toyota issued a release on December 18th, revealing the 2021 WRC participation team structure. Drivers and co-drivers have remained unchanged since the 2020 season, with Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia, Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin and Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Harutttenen. Meanwhile, as Tommi Makinen leaves the team, Jari-Matti Latvala will take the lead.
(Hereafter press release)
The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team is preparing for the 2021 season for further success at the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Sebastien Ogier, who joined the team in 2020 and won the driver’s title for the seventh time, extended his career by one season, along with Elfyn Evans, who won second place in the driver championship in 2020, and young Kalle Rovanperä, who is growing rapidly. , Fight the 2021 season.
In addition to these three talented drivers, Jari-Matti Latvala has been appointed as the team representative. Latvala, the most experienced driver in WRC history, will replace Tommi Makinen, who will be Toyota Motorsports Advisor from January 2021, to represent the team. Latvala will lead the team with project director Yuichiro Haruna, sporting director Kai Lindstrom, and technical director Tom Fowler, while also having a driver’s perspective.
Latvala, who has won the WRC 18 times, has been a part of the success story since 2017, the first year of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team’s participation in the WRC. A few weeks before his debut in the 2017 season opener Rally Monte Carlo, he played an important role in the development of the Yaris WRC, and at Rally Monte Carlo he led the Yaris WRC to second place overall by his own driving. Then, in the second round of Rally Sweden, the team and Yaris WRC were given their first victory. In addition, he won the final round of 2018, Rally Australia, and contributed significantly to Toyota’s manufacturer’s title.
Not only is Latvala one of the most popular drivers in the rally world, but also known for his strong passion for rallies, he participates in rallies with his own maintained Toyota historic rally car. He has also been an ambassador for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing around the world in 2020, and he will continue to be the team representative.
With a lot of knowledge, Latvala understands what top rally drivers want from their cars and teams. His wealth of experience, having fought at the forefront of the WRC until very recently, will be of great help to the young team member Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta, the driver of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program.
Akio Toyoda (TGR Team Owner)
To Jari-Matti. It was a year ago that you were sent out of the team as a driver. I’m glad to be able to send you a message again a year later. When I thought about starting a new team from 2021, Jari-Matti’s face came to me. Because, since I met you, I have been able to sympathize with you in many situations.
You value your fans and teammates more than anyone else. As a driver, when you got off the car at the service park, you were the first to go to the fans. He also cared for all the team members, including mechanics and engineers, and always spoke to me. At that time, that led to immeasurable power of the team, and I think that your personality was the source of the strength that led to the team title.
Also, when I first met you, you talked about Celica and Corolla that you cherish, even though you were a top driver in a Volkswagen uniform. The following year, you changed into a Toyota uniform, loved Yaris, and took great care of you. As one of the car guys who love cars, I still remember how happy you were with your love for cars and Toyota.
And the last thing they have in common is “I hate losing.” When you retired at the 2017 Rally Australia, you must have been more disappointed than anyone else, but you came back to the service park and apologized to everyone on the team for your fault. You have a strong sense of responsibility. I know that a “hateful” mind strengthens the team and the car.
Your power as a manager is unknown. I don’t even know what your potential is. However, there is no doubt that the commonalities mentioned above were the deciding factors for entrusting the team to you. I believe that you will definitely connect to the strength of your team and create a strong team. Ask for the new TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team. I am looking forward to the day when we will ride on the roof of Yaris together.
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Representative)
I am truly honored that Akio Toyoda trusted me and appointed me as the team representative. As a driver, I was a member of this team from the beginning, so it is a great pleasure to be able to take over this work that Akio and Tomi have come together. As a team representative, I need to look at things with a big vision in the future. We need to be motivated so that everyone on the team can work together to achieve the best results. It’s a new challenge for me, but it’s very rewarding. Tomi has done a great job of building a team from scratch and leading it to success. Still, there is room for further improvement, and I would like to leverage what I have learned over the years as a driver to work with the directors of the team to bring as much success as possible to the team. The 2021 season is just around the corner, but the team already has proven cars and strong drivers, and everyone knows what to do for the January Rally Monte Carlo.
–
