After the quadruplet in Kenya, Toyota is back in business in Estonia

Trois semaines après l’euphorie du quadruplé au Safari Rally, Toyota est de retour aux affaires en Estonie. L’équipe japonaise réalise pour l’instant une saison presque sans faute, avec 4 victoires en 6 épreuves et un résultat historique au Kenya. Avec une Yaris aussi bien rapide que fiable, l’écurie championne du monde semble intouchable face à des Hyundai fragile.

Toyota will almost play at home for the next two rally, since the team is based in Jyväskylä in Finland and Peetri, Estonia. On the Baltic land, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala expects a completely different racing outlook this weekend. “The result in Kenya was incredible for us. But we now face a very different challenge for the next two events in Estonia and Finland, explains the ex-Finnish pilot. So far we have focused on reliability. While we would of course want to keep it, for these regular, fast rallies we also need to focus on extracting maximum performance from the Yaris. »

Toyota must “attack from the first step” to win

Toyota's only defeat this season on gravel dates back to the Sardinia Rally in early June. Ott Tänak had established itself with a very efficient Hyundai in Italy. If Toyota has reliability on its side, it could be worried by the Korean team regarding pure speed.

But the main danger for the Latvala team could come… from its drivers themselves. “ It will also be a challenge for the drivers. After something as difficult as the Safari Rally, it's easy to drive too comfortably, and you have to push from the start of the first stage or you can lose a lot of time. To do this, they must have confidence in the car. The feedback from our tests before the event was positive, so we are looking forward to Estonia. We are aiming for another good result. »

In Estonia, Toyota will once again arrive with four cars. Only change: Esapekka Lappi takes the place of Sébastien Ogier for the next two rallies. “Estonia won't be easy because I didn't do the rally last year, so there are stages that will be new for me. I believe I can do well there, but I'm not going there with high expectations. (…) The main goal for Estonia is just to have a good, clean rally,” said the Finnish pilot. He will also aim to score points for Toyota in the manufacturers' championship. Before the Estonian round, the Japanese brand is comfortably in the lead with 62 points ahead of Hyundai.

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