Tanak Takes Historic First Title with the Toyota Yaris WRC
October 27 2019 - 8:03PM
JCN Newswire (English)
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Ott Tanak and his
co-driver Martin Jarveoja have made history by securing their first
FIA World Rally Championship titles with a stunning second-place
finish on Rally de Espana.
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Podium Ceremony |
Tanak becomes only the third different driver to claim the WRC
crown since 2004, while he and Jarveoja are the first Estonians to
ever achieve the feat. It is the fifth occasion that a Toyota
driver has won the WRC drivers' title, and the first time since
Didier Auriol triumphed in 1994.
Having won six of the 12 rallies so far, Tanak arrived at the
penultimate round of the season with a 28-point advantage in the
championship. In the series' only true mixed-surface event, Tanak
was fifth overall following the opening day on gravel before four
consecutive stage wins on asphalt on Saturday promoted him up into
third place.
On Sunday he opened up a comfortable advantage over the driver
behind but still needed to push hard on the rally-ending Power
Stage to secure the title. In an incredible run over the
20.72-kilometre stage, he was 3.6 seconds faster than anyone to not
only take the full five bonus points, but also grab second place
overall in the rally.
Jari-Matti Latvala finished in the fifth position, scoring
important points for the manufacturers' championship, which Toyota
remains in with a chance of winning at the final round of the
season in Australia, 18 points from the leader. After retiring on
Saturday morning following a crash, Kris Meeke returned to action
on Sunday under restart rules.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Rally Challenge Program driver Takamoto Katsuta
successfully completed his second event at the top level in a
separately-entered Toyota Yaris WRC, once again showing good
progress even though a technical issue slowed him on Saturday.
Quotes
Tommi Makinen (Team Principal)
"This is a historic achievement: We have a new world champion. It's
a big reward for the whole team for the hard work they have done
together with Ott and Martin throughout the whole season to reach
this target. There has been a lot of pressure for Ott this weekend.
I know what it's like and I think it's difficult for anyone else to
understand what it means. What he did on the Power Stage, to do
what he needed to get the title, was absolutely amazing. The second
place helps us in the manufacturers' championship as well. We will
still have a chance in Australia and we will do our maximum
there."
Ott Tanak (Driver car 8)
"It's hard to know what to say at this moment. The pressure this
weekend has been on another level. This has been the target of my
life. I knew I couldn't make any mistakes, but still, I had to do a
good result to make it happen. So it was massive pressure and it
was difficult to get used to it at the beginning. But in the end I
was somehow able to relax and do my normal driving. This morning I
had a good feeling in the car and could drive with a good rhythm,
but Dani [Sordo] was always a bit faster, so I knew it would be
hard in the Power Stage to get the points we needed. I pushed hard
and in the end, it paid off. I've had to overcome a lot in my
career, so it's nice to finally achieve this. Thank you to the
team; they have done a great job."]
Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10)
"I'm happy with my weekend. I think we had a consistent run and we
didn't really make any mistakes during the weekend, and the
performance was overall at a good level. I was lacking some
confidence at the start of this rally so I must be happy with the
result and that we could score some good points for the team. Maybe
we could have got fourth place today if I had pushed hard, but it
would not have benefited us in the manufacturers' championship and
this was the most important thing, to keep it open going to the
final round in Australia."
Kris Meeke (Driver car 5)
"I enjoyed the rhythm back in the car today. We know that the Yaris
WRC is really strong on asphalt, and I had a good feeling again
this morning. We had to back off in the Power Stage because there
was no way in which we could have helped Ott wrap up the
championship, and it was important not to get in the mix and
potentially take points away from him. We'll go to Australia with
something to fight for still in the manufacturers' championship and
we'll give it our best."
For the latest results please visit www.wrc.com.
What's next?
The season ends at Rally Australia (November 14-17), held on varied
gravel roads with tight and twisty forest tracks combined with fast
and flowing sections across open countryside.
About Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that
introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first
mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in
Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today,
Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the
world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in
29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to
mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170
countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For
more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Source: Toyota Motor Corporation
Contact:
Public Affairs Division
Global Communications Department
Toyota Motor Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
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