There are still five WRC rounds remaining, but in the manufacturers’ championship the title is already close to being sealed. Toyota has won all but one rally this year and leads the standings with a massive 87-point advantage over their arch-rivals Hyundai.
Toyota’s dominance reached its peak on home roads in Central Finland at the turn of July and August, when the team celebrated a historic one-two-three-four-five finish.
“Rally Finland was an incredible result for us and a strong performance by our drivers, and it’s giving the whole team good confidence as we enter the last part of the season,” Toyota team boss Juha Kankkunen says.
“In the drivers’ championship, it’s still very close and exciting, with only 13 points covering the top four drivers – in Elfyn (Evans), Kalle (Rovanperä) and Sebastien (Ogier) we have three very strong contenders.”
Behind the leading contenders, Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari also performed excellently in Rally Finland. Katsuta returned to the podium for the first time since February’s Rally Sweden, and Pajari completed the top-five sweep.
“Hopefully Takamoto and Sami can continue with the confidence and speed they had in Finland too. Paraguay will be something new for everyone, and nobody really knows what to expect there,” Kankkunen reflects.
“What we do know whenever we go to South America is the passion that there is for rallying there – this is something I always remember from competing myself in Argentina. Like Argentina, it seems like the stages could be quite fast, but on a new rally we always need to be prepared for some surprises.”
Rally Paraguay gets underway on Thursday with a shakedown stage. The main competition begins on Friday, featuring a total of 21 special stages covering around 333 kilometres.
