According to the rumours, Toyota had started building Rally3-class cars for its customers. The Japanese team brought a Rally2 car to the market this season, and demand for it has been high.
However, Toyota’s team principal Jari-Matti Latvala confirmed to RallyJournal.com that the team does not plan to bring Rally3 cars to the market.
“There hasn’t been much talk about it. We are now focusing on the Rally2 car”, Latvala confirmed.
Building a Rally3 car has certainly been considered at some point, but then the plans were decided to be abandoned.
“Rally3 is not an option right now. Initially, when Toyota considered this customer car, there was a weighing up between Rally2 and Rally3. The Rally2 car was then the one Toyota wanted to focus on”, Latvala continued.
Toyota’s new Rally2 car has so far been a success story. The team’s car has been able to compete seriously in the WRC2 class for good positions against Skoda. A good example of this was the Rally Sardinia at the end of May and beginning of June, where Sami Pajari achieved his first class win.
The car has proven to be competitive and has therefore also generated widespread interest.
“The situation is really good, and I am very pleased with it. There has been a lot of demand, and between twenty and thirty Rally2 cars have been manufactured. There has been a lot of demand, and the list is quite long”, Latvala revealed.
“I think this year will go in such a way that we are constantly building cars for customers. They are not left lying in storage”, the team boss continued.
Manufacturing Rally2 cars for customers has kept Toyota’s people busy throughout the year. However, the problem is only a positive one.
“In this sport, there is of course also the aspect that when driving hard, accidents happen and cars may get damaged. When cars are lost, they naturally have to be built more and more. It has kept us busy in that regard, and that is only a good thing”, Latvala smiled.
