Jari-Matti Latvala, who has served as Toyota’s team principal in recent years, revealed to RallyJournal.com that he will likely miss a few WRC rounds next year. Latvala’s plans include competing in the European Historic Rally Championship and reducing his travel to long-haul events.
Read more: Jari-Matti Latvala considering an unprecedented decision – something never seen before in the WRC
According to MTV Sport Finland, Kankkunen is set to join Latvala in sharing Toyota’s team principal duties. Kankkunen disclosed in an interview with MTV that further discussions are expected to take place in two weeks during Rally Japan.
“I admit there have been talks, but nothing substantial has been agreed with anyone yet. Honestly, I don’t know myself at this point. We’ll have to wait until Japan to see what they have in mind, so I can’t say more than that,” Kankkunen told.
Kankkunen stated that he is available should Toyota need him to step in for Latvala.
Kankkunen has close ties to Toyota’s WRC team. The four-time world champion has been a global ambassador for Toyota in recent years and enjoys a good relationship with Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda, who appointed Latvala as the WRC team principal.
Leadership at Toyota is shared among several key figures.
“This year, I’ve been involved quite a lot on the sidelines, helping Jari-Matti here and there. They have a top-notch team: Jarmo Lehtinen, Tom Fowler, Kaj Lindström… they’re all top guys, fully engaged. And Yuichiro Haruna oversees things on the Japan side. There’s no shortage of expertise,” Kankkunen commented.
Latvala has been the voice and face of Toyota to the media and public, a setup that has worked well. Kankkunen, too, would undoubtedly bring significant media visibility to Toyota.
