Earlier this season, Toyota announced its driver roster for next year. Kalle Rovanperä will return as a full-season driver, joined by Elfyn Evans, Takamoto Katsuta, and Sami Pajari, all of whom will compete in every rally.
Sebastien Ogier, meanwhile, will continue as a part-time driver, taking part in selected events. Latvala hinted that Ogier is likely to compete in the season-opening Rallye Monte Carlo, as it serves as a home rally for the Frenchman.
With four full-season drivers, Toyota cannot nominate all of them to score manufacturer points in every rally. Teams must designate three drivers before each event to collect points for the manufacturers’ championship.
Latvala provided some insight into the driver strategy Toyota will employ as they aim for a fifth consecutive manufacturers’ title.
“We haven’t decided yet completely how we will nominate, but obviously we know that Kalle and Elfyn (scoring manufacturer points) will be normally on this position. And then we are looking at how we’ll manage the situation overall,” Latvala explained.
“Yes, we have an option to change the drivers, of course, if we want. But at this point we haven’t decided. ‘Taka’ and and Sami are doing full season, and we have only one team, but then we can check some events if possible, we can nominate Taka for some events (to score points) and Sami for other events. But we haven’t decided yet, it’s still open,” Latvala emphasised.
One decision, however, has been confirmed. Ogier will continue to play a significant role in the championship battle.
“Those events were ‘Seb’ is driving, then it will be Seb nominated to drive those events,” Latvala stated firmly.
The 2025 WRC season kicks off in late January with the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo.
