The team has performed exceptionally well on Central Finland’s fast gravel roads in previous years, and once again Toyota has set its goals high for its home event.
Toyota’s season-long winning streak came to an end in Greece in June, and things nearly fell apart in Estonia as well. However, salvation came in the form of Oliver Solberg, who drove Toyota’s Rally1 car for the first time in Estonia. While Solberg didn’t score points for the team, Toyota still got to celebrate a victory.
Hyundai’s Ott Tänak enters Rally Finland as the favourite, but Toyota’s assistant team principal Juha Kankkunen has plenty of confidence in his own drivers too.
“Rally Finland is a very special event for our whole team. The atmosphere created by the fans in Jyväskylä and in the forests is amazing, and all of our drivers feel great support there and really enjoy driving the fast Finnish roads,” Kankkunen said.
And speed shouldn’t be an issue. Sébastien Ogier returns to the Toyota line-up – the Frenchman won last year’s Rally Finland. But Kankkunen’s belief extends to the entire driver line-up.
“They all have the speed to do well and the team is working hard with them during our pre-event testing to make them comfortable and confident with the car so that they can be fast from the start of the rally,” Kankkunen said optimistically.
Kankkunen himself will also be behind the wheel in Jyväskylä. He will drive the Harju spectator stages in a demonstration run with Toyota’s hydrogen-powered car.
“I’m also looking forward to doing some driving myself with the GR Yaris Rally2 H2 Concept: it’s a very exciting project for our team to be involved in, demonstrating the potential of hydrogen technology with the sound and performance of a proper rally car, and we hope the fans will enjoy it,” Kankkunen added.
