The WRC continues next week as the series returns from its summer break with the Acropolis Rally in Greece.
Hyundai currently holds a strong position. Thierry Neuville leads the drivers’ championship with a 27-point lead over Toyota’s Sébastien Ogier, and in the manufacturers’ standings, Hyundai has a 20-point lead over Toyota.
In the Rally Finland, Toyota seemed poised to significantly close the gap on Hyundai in both championships, but then Kalle Rovanperä, who had been leading by a wide margin, crashed out, and even before that, Elfyn Evans was forced to retire.
Although Sébastien Ogier won the Rally Finland, the new points system allowed Neuville and Hyundai to still secure a defensive victory. The new points system also makes it incredibly challenging to close the aforementioned gaps.
“The championship is getting tighter now, and we only have four rallies left,” said Toyota’s team principal Jari-Matti Latvala to RallyJournal.com.
“The Acropolis Rally in Greece is known to be quite a tough rally. There are many rocks, and cars and tyres can suffer damage,” Latvala continued.
Latvala admitted frankly that the championship is no longer in Toyota’s hands.
“We need success there if we want to fight for the manufacturers’ championship, and of course, we want to fight. But it requires success in the competition and also on Sunday,” Latvala emphasised.
“But it’s also necessary to say that we would need some help from Hyundai. With the current rules, it’s very difficult to close a 20-point gap, but we have to try,” Latvala said resolutely.
In Jyväskylä, Toyota also had quite a bit of plain bad luck. No one could have done anything about the loose rock that suddenly appeared on Kalle Rovanperä’s line, but it cost a significant amount of valuable points.
“We certainly left Jyväskylä with a lot of frustration and a strong desire to make up for the lost points. It was just bad luck with Kalle’s rock, and a lot of points were lost, but we can’t get them back. Now we just have to do the job as well as possible, and through that, we have a chance to get back into the fight,” Latvala planned.
Last year, Kalle Rovanperä won in Greece, but this time the Finn is not participating. However, the larger trend has been that slower and more technical gravel rallies have suited Hyundai better than Toyota. This is a trend that Toyota now needs to somehow reverse.
“Hyundai has traditionally been stronger in rougher gravel rallies. But I think we have improved our performance in tougher gravel rallies. I believe the car should be competitive now, and it shouldn’t be down to the car. A lot also depends on luck, that the drivers succeed and there are no tyre failures,” Latvala said and continued:
“The most important thing now is to analyse what the conditions are like and how fast you can drive in them. We need to provide that data to our drivers so that they know what pace they can maintain.”
The Acropolis Rally in Greece will take place from 5th to 8th September.
