Toyota put on yet another spectacular show in Africa last weekend. This time, Kalle Rovanperä and Takamoto Katsuta secured a one-two finish, with Elfyn Evans also taking fourth place in the rally.
The team’s chairman, Toyoda, praised his drivers’ performance.
“Kalle, Jonne (co-driver Halttunen), congratulations on another victory in Kenya after two years, and thank you for the clever driving and running through those rough roads without trouble,” Toyoda said.
The Safari Rally returned to the WRC calendar in 2021. Since then, the competition has been Toyota’s playground.
Over four years, the team has achieved two quadruple victories and two double victories in the rally. This is a record that particularly warms Toyoda’s heart.
Toyota once again demonstrated on the savannah that its Rally1 car is reliable and durable.
“The pre-event test just before Kenya was done in Portugal and it was raining heavily at the time. The team reported to me that they had heavy rain “luckily” and many parts got broken. Unlike previous years, the rally was held during the rainy season, and the engineers and mechanics continued to make improvements including the countermeasures for rain until just before the rally started,” Toyoda said.
Following this, Toyota’s top boss thanked a somewhat more unusual entity for Rovanperä’s fantastic victory.
“When I heard the word ‘luckily’, I recalled the words from GR Yaris engineers. They always tell me, one of the master drivers in Toyota, ‘Thank you for breaking the car as it will become even stronger!’ So this time, on behalf of the team, I want to thank the rain in Portugal for making the GR Yaris Rally1 stronger and brought us the first win,” said the 67-year-old Toyoda, who is also a rally driver himself.
