Kalle Rovanperä opened Toyota’s new testing area

Toyota's WRC team has started its preparations for the second round of the World Rally Championship season.
Kalle Rovanperä
Kalle Rovanperä. Photo: Toyota GAZOO Racing WRT.
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The WRC stars will get back into action next week at Rally Sweden. Toyota kicked off its own testing programme for the winter rally on Tuesday.

Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä was the first to take the wheel of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car. Rovanperä also had the honour of inaugurating Toyota’s new testing site near the city of Mikkeli.

Toyota’s factory team’s testing site had been located in the same place in Central Finland for years. However, for this year, the team wanted a change of scenery and decided to utilise new test roads.

“We wanted to try something different. Our test area had been in the same location for a long time, and we’ve done a lot of testing there. The drivers have learned it very well,” Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala told RallyJournal.com.

Toyota’s new testing base hadn’t remained completely under wraps, as several interested spectators were present to watch Rovanperä’s test.

Watch the videos from Rovanperä’s test below.

Rovanperä has conducted thorough preparations for Rally Sweden. Last weekend, he participated in the Arctic Lapland Rally as a test, giving him an excellent opportunity to familiarise himself with the studded tyres of the WRC’s new tyre supplier, Hankook.

“I think it was an important weekend for getting the extra kilometres. There is quite a lot of work to do with the car and everything. The tyre is quite different from what we have seen previously, so it was good to be here,” Rovanperä said after the Arctic Lapland Rally.

Rovanperä is one of the top favourites to win Rally Sweden. His starting position shouldn’t be too much of a disadvantage either, as he will be the third car on the road at the start of the rally, following his teammate Elfyn Evans and Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux.

Rally Sweden will be held from 13-16 February.

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