Toyota savors its fantastic quadruple in the Canaries: "This kind of result doesn't happen often"

On the winding and beautiful roads of Gran Canaria, we only saw them. Toyota GR Yaris dominated the debates throughout the weekend on the Rally of the Canary Islands. The observation is clear with 100% of the special stages won (18/18) by the Japanese manufacturer and an incredible quadruple with its four-race victory. Kalle Rovanperä won with a masterful hand in front of Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans, who did not disgrace their podium on the Spanish archipelago. Takamoto Katsuta, further back, nevertheless completed this Top 4 by finishing ahead of Hyundai.

With this hegemony over the Canary Islands Rally, Toyota is further cementing its place in the legend of WRC. Indeed, the Japanese manufacturer has achieved its fifth quadruple in the history of the championship (Ivory Coast 1986, Safari 1993, Safari 2022, Safari 2023 and Canary Islands 2025) and equals Lancia's record in the statistics. However, with a slight advantage for the Italian firm, which had established a quintuple during the 1990 Rally of Portugal. This weekend, the Japanese brand could also have claimed a historic quintuple, but Sami Pajari made a mistake on Saturday evening and had to retire. The only cloud on the horizon of a sublime weekend for the Toyota team.

"This kind of result doesn't happen often, so we are very happy, rejoices Juha Kankkunen, deputy director of Toyota Gazoo Racing. Everything went very well, starting with testing and set-up. Our car worked perfectly for our drivers on these roads. It was really nice to see Kalle's speed: he produced a perfect performance. He drove in a very relaxed, clean way, and he dominated the weekend. His performance didn't surprise me: when he finds his rhythm, he's really a very fast guy. But the whole team was on board. Seb has participated in two rallies this year and placed first and second, Elfyn continues to do a very good job and Taka also drove very well here. There are still many rallies to come and we know they will be more competitive with our competitors, but I am confident in the work of our team."

Toyota crushes Hyundai and escapes in the championship

Juha Kankkunen, present in the Canary Islands to fill in for Jari-Matti Latvala, who was absent from a historic rally, was one of the keys to Toyota's triumph in the Spanish islands. The four-time world champion used his experience to guide the Japanese manufacturer to success. The 66-year-old former driver was also a valuable ally for Kalle Rovanperä, whom he helped to break away from his poor start to the season to shine in Gran Canaria. With this brilliant team result, Toyota took the lead in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' Championships, now 51 points ahead of Hyundai.

"I believe that this wonderful result we have achieved was made possible by the efforts of each and every member of TGR-WRT. I am very grateful to each and every one of them, says Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Gazoo RacingIt's incredible that we were able to do 1-2-3-4 with Kalle, Seb, Elfyn and Takamoto on the roads of Gran Canaria, where we were going for the first time. Juha [Kankkunen], who has a lot of experience in the Canary Islands, told everyone about the roads in this region and reassured the team even before the rally started. Even on unfamiliar roads, our engineers and mechanics managed to prepare the cars with settings that the drivers already felt confident with during the shakedown. I heard that after Friday, the drivers expressed their gratitude for the great work they had done."

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