In three of the four events so far, Toyota has secured the maximum points in the manufacturers’ standings. Thanks to this strong start, Toyota now holds a 51-point lead over their arch-rival Hyundai. Although there are still ten rounds to go, Toyota’s early season performance can already be described as a knockout.
Last season, Hyundai repeatedly outpaced the Toyota drivers in Super Sunday battles and on Power Stage tests. This year, the tune has changed.
“We had this exact discussion after shakedown and then after the first morning of stages in Gran Canaria. We’ve gone to events and we’ve been doing well in the first stages and then Hyundai has worked on their set-up during the rally and come Sunday we’ve struggled to win the powerstage against them – when on Friday we beat them convincingly, we said: ‘Let’s not be in that situation,” Toyota’s technical director Tom Fowler told DirtFish.
“Our mindset was that we had to take everything we could, because they’re (Hyundai) normally good at coming back, but this time they couldn’t come back,” Fowler continued, referring to the Korean manufacturer’s major struggles on the Canary Island tarmac.
According to Fowler, a broader strategic shift is taking place at Toyota. The team has moved away from a somewhat conservative approach and adopted a more aggressive mindset for events.
“We changed our strategy on this during last year. Historically, we were much more conservative with the development of set-up during events. We would find a level we felt was good enough to win and then not risk changing it,” Fowler explained.
“Hyundai felt like they worked the opposite way around and got quicker as the event progressed. We could see early on that our car was quicker in the twisty, more slippery stages – but that time gap was maintained even when there were less of those roads as the event progressed. Being able to keep building that gap (to Hyundai) was pretty surprising for us, to be honest.”
The World Rally Championship continues in a couple of weeks with the Rally Portugal.
