Deputy Team Principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Juha Kankkunen is delighted with his team

Four-time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen, recruited at the end of 2024 to support Jari-Matti Latvala at the helm of the Toyota Gazoo Racing is a happy man this weekend. First, because his cars are in contention for the win in the Rally from the Canary Islands, but above all because none of its five entered crews has made a major error so far in the competition, except for Takamoto Katsuta on Saturday morning who had a slight mishap on a donut. Despite this, the five cars from the Japanese manufacturer are still in the top five positions in the standings at the moment: « It couldn't be going any better; all five of them are very close and they're all doing an excellent job. », told us the person who serves as Deputy Team Principal at the reigning World Champions.

Juha Kankkunen sends a small tackle to Jari-Matti Latvala

An experienced pilot before taking on these leadership roles, Kankkunen also mentioned Oliver Solberg's performance, which has been surprisingly adaptable to the unique tarmac of the Canary Islands: « Okay, he had a few close calls yesterday with some oversteer due to his tires overheating, but that only demonstrates his top speed. »But Juha Kankkunen doesn't only have his eyes fixed on his regular drivers. WRCJari-Matti Latvala, who is competing in the Rally Costa Smeralda in the European Historic Rally Championship this weekend, is not present in the Canary Islands… and he went off the road yesterday on the first special stage at the wheel of his Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD. « I think I should give him some flying lessons »Kankkunen found it amusing. « He won last week in the USA with the Corolla Rally2, but nobody's perfect… »The atmosphere at Toyota is clearly excellent.

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