In spite of running first on the road, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin took the 5.16km Umeå Sprint stage win by half a second from their Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen.

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led the Hyundai charge, tying with Rovanperä, with Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria 0.7 seconds back in fourth place.

Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe set the fifth fastest time, 3.7 seconds off Evans’ time, followed by Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston and Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen.

M-Sport Ford’s rookie, Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy in only their second Rally1 start, lead the four-car strong Puma attack with the eighth fastest time, three seconds quicker than Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka while Martins Sesks/Renars Francis rounded out the top ten.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg – chasing a hat trick of Rally2 wins – and co-driver Elliot Edmondson beat fellow Swedes Pontus Tidemand/Jorgen Eriksen by 1.4 seconds to lay down an early marker.

Earlier in the day, Neuville topped the shakedown stage times, from Sesks, Tänak, Fourmaux and Evans.

There’s a long way to go…

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Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has announced its line-up for the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship season as it further strengthens its squad of drivers with a mix of young talent and title-winning experience.

After winning eight out of 13 rallies in 2024 and claiming a fourth consecutive manufacturers’ championship at the season-ending Rally Japan, TGR-WRT will enter 2025 with the mission to defend its crown and fight for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles. It will be able to count on an expanded line-up of cars and drivers, with four or five GR Yaris Rally1 entries set to appear on each event.

Joining the team to start his first full season at the highest level will be22 year-old Finn Sami Pajari, following an impressive 2024 season in which he won the WRC2 drivers’ championship driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car and performed well in his first three outings in Rally1 machinery in Finland, Chile and Central Europe. Pajari’s inclusion in the TGR-WRT roster demonstrates their commitment to developing young drivers as well as the GR Yaris Rally2’s role in providing a pathway to the top of the sport.

Pajari, who will confirm the identity of his co-driver in due course, is one of four drivers who are set to feature on every rally.

Double world champions Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen will return to competing full-time with the team in 2025 after taking four wins from seven starts during a partial campaign this year. Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin, winners of last weekend’s Rally Japan, continue for their sixth successive season with the team, with Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston also returning for another year. Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais will once more contest a partial schedule of selected events after scoring three victories this season.

Jari-Matti Latvala will continue in the role of Team Principal and will drive one of the most successful Toyota rally cars – the Celica ST185 – in Toyota Gazoo Racing colours in the FIA European Historic Rally Championship.

Juha Kankkunen will take up the role of Deputy Team Principal. A four-time world champion, who won the last of his titles driving the Toyota Celica ST185 in 1993, Kankkunen will bring considerable experience to share with the drivers and other team members

The post Toyota Gazoo Racing announces strong WRC line-up for 2025 appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Toyota Gazoo Racing bounced back in style on the final gravel event of the World Rally Championship in Chile, the 11^th of 13 rounds.

Sebastian Ogier took the early lead but lost it in stage three, letting Elfyn Evans, who was on fire over the opening day to take the overnight lead before losing time to Rovanperä in the foggy Saturday stages.

Rovanperä took the lead mid-Saturday and never looked back with Evans holding station in second. Ott Tänak took the final podium position ahead of Thierry Neuville, whose championship lead was cut to 29 points.

Adrien Fourmaux brought his M-Sport Ford Puma home in fifth ahead of the ever-impressive Sami Pajari, making his second appearance in the Toyota Yaris Rally1.

After being forced to retire on Saturday, Sebastian Ogier won all four Sunday stages to take the maximum Super Sunday points, which helped Toyota halve its deficit to Hyundai in the Manufacturers’ Championship to 17 points.

In WRC2, there was heartbreak for Oliver Solberg, whose charge to the title was halted by a puncture on Saturday. He has completed his seven nominated rounds so the title, while not over, is not in his hands anymore.

Yohan Rossel took a commanding win from Nikolay Gryazin and Gus Greensmith, who lost second place in the final stage after a half spin.

Read Motorsport Monday tomorrow for a full report

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139km across six stages awaited the crews on what was the longest stage of the rally.

The first casualty was Ogier after clipping a rock 25.1km into the stage which broke a bolt and forced the Frenchman’s retirement.

Neuville, now with a better road position, quickly dispatched Munster while rally leader Evans dropped 9.7 seconds to Rovanperä, the gap now down to 1.8 seconds. The double and defending WRC Champion passed Tänak for second, helped by the Hyundai driver having a quick spin.

In spite of light rain falling and thick mist at the top of the stage, feeling the heat, Evans blitzed SS9, the last of the morning loop to open his lead to 11.3 seconds while Neuville took fourth off Pajari. Down in the M-Sport Ford camp, Fourmaux closed to 0.4 seconds off his teammate Munster.

In the tricky conditions, Gryazin lost his second place in WRC2 to Solberg with Rossel still comfortably ahead. After service, the status quo remained barring Fourmaux demoting Munster in the tussle for fifth.

Stage 11 saw the next change of overall positions, Evans dropping a whopping 24.1 seconds as thick fog swirled about. “I couldn’t see beyond the bonnet, it’s crazy”, reported the Welshman at stage end.

Rovanperä had 15.1 seconds in hand at the end of play, with Evans, Tänak, Neuville and Fourmaux holding station.

In WRC2, by mid day, Solberg had the lead he needed to win the title in South America. Rossel was in second ahead of the Bulgarian Gryazin. Stage 11 was also not kind to the WRC2 runners. Solberg had a lengthy stop to change a tyre, dropping to fifth, 1m23.7 off the lead he’d just held.  Gryazin popped up in the lead from Gus Greensmith and Rossel

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Toyota Gazoo Racing suffered a nightmare Sunday in Finland.

No one expected Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais to win the 2024 WRC Secto Rally Finland, least of all Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais.

But win it they did, 11 years after last taking victory on the World Rally Championship’s fastest rally.

Rovanperä won 11 stages of the 18 he completed, Ogier took just one win. The eight-time WRC Champion’s 61^st victory puts him into second place in the championship standings, not bad for a part-season driver!

“It’s hard to smile right now. A win in Finland is always nice but that is not the way we like to have it. Very sorry for Kalle and Jonne, amazing pace all weekend. We were unlucky in Sardinia and lost in the last stage but we are luck here. That is motorsport. I have to see if we do a full campaign but it looks like I have no other option. It is not my priority anymore but we will see,” said the rally winner.

Until stage 18 out of 20, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen had a three quarter of a minute lead but in stage 19, in all unraveled as he crashed heavily on the last proper corner of the rally. A massive rock on the racing line lifted the front of the car into the air and fired the Yaris into the trees and a huge roll – Rovanperä was a passenger and there was nothing the double world champion could do.

This came on the same stage that Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin crashed out 200m into the stage, their GR Yaris sliding wide, clipping a tree on the right which ricocheted them into the trees on the inside of the corner, leaving a trail of broken Toyota pieces littering the stage.

Thierry Neuville was into second and from a championship point of view, very much in the pound seat, 27 points ahead of Ogier. Adrien Fourmaux claimed his fourth podium of the year while Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen ended their Rally1 debut in fourth overall, banking their first top-tier stage win to boot.

Super Sunday honours – and the points – went to Esapekka Lappi from Takamoto Katsuta and Ogier while Katsuta won the Wolf Power Stage
Hyundai have opened up a 20 point lead in the Manufacturers’ stnadings, adding further to TGR’s misery.

Just four Rally1 cars made it through the 20 stages, leaving WRC2 winner Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson in fifth overall and a perfect drive. Toyota Gazoo Racing Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Juho Hänninen, enjoying a one-off outing in a GR Yaris Rally2, came home in second place ahead of the Skoda Fabia of Lauri Joona and Janni Hussi.

Read the full report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow

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With a lead of 45.8 seconds with two stages to go, Kalle Rovanpera crashed out of Secto Rally Finland on stage 19, the penultimate stage of the event… His elusive home win will have to wait another year.

The on-board footage shows there was a massive rock on the racing line in a fast left hander less than two km from the end of the stage. The front of the car lifted off the ground and from then on, the rally leader was a passenger and there was nothing he could do.

Sebastian Ogier inherits the lead, with Thierry Neuville looking to increase his championship lead moving into second place.

Elfyn Evans also left the road 200m into SS19 the rear of the Yaris got away from him on a fast left hander, hit a tree on the outside of the corner which catapulted Evans across the road and into the trees on the inside of the corner.

Adrien Fourmaux is on the podium again!

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In spite of the wet and muddy stages and intermittent rain showers Rovanpera came out guns blazing on Saturday morning, taking the first of five stage victories en route a commanding overnight lead. Evans was second in the opening stage, dropping 2.2 seconds to the rally leader. Evans though, under pressure from Ogier at the close of business on Friday, opened a small breathing space with Neuville, Fourmaux and Pajari holding station in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Finland bit, though, for 4km into the opening stage, it was game over for Gregoire Munster who rolled his Puma 4km into the first stage of the day.

Stage 12, and Evans’ luck ran out when his Yaris’ right-front driveshaft broke, leaving the luckless Welshman to cruise through 40km of stages, dropping six minutes and plummeting down the order to eighth after stage 13, the final stage of the morning loop.

After service it was back to the now very worn, wet and muddy stages. Rovanpera kept his winning streak intact on stage 14, but one stage later, Esapekka Lappi brought his fellow Finn’s winning streak to an end, pipping the rally leader by half a second.

“I needed to push a bit. I wanted to get a better feeling on this stage than in the morning, the car is working better now. If I remember right, my dad did a really good time on this stage so I needed to do one also so we can both say we did a good time on this stage. In the morning, there was a good fight and we kept pushing today. We did some quite strong times without taking any huge risks, so that is quite positive,” said the rally leader.

It was business as usual after the final stage with Rovanpera heading a Toyota 1-2 by 44.2 seconds up on Ogier. Neuville was in a fine third place, which will do his championship aspirations the world of good. Fourmaux was in a comfortable fourth ahead of Pajari.

In WRC2, there were numerous stage winners: Mikko Heikkila (SS11), Jari-Matti Latvala (SS12), Georg Linnamae (SS13), Oliver Solberg (SS14 and 16) with Robert Virves taking SS15. On the overall leaderboard though, it was Solberg all the way, followed by Latvala and Virves.

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Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen ended Friday’s nine stages of Secto Rally Finland with an eight-second lead over teammate Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin who in turn is  a slender 0.6 seconds ahead of Sébastian Ogier and Vincent Landais in a Toyota 1-2-3.

The morning loop saw Ogier lead after the day’s opening stage before Rovanperä snatched first place on the following stage then Evans took the lead after stage four. Rovanperä re-took first place in the final stage of the loop and held it for the rest of the day.  Evans kept hold of second place ahead of his illustrious teammate but saw his lead whittled away over the course of the afternoon.

What was a Toyota 1-2-3-4  heading into the final stage of the morning loop saw the ‘4’ drop away as Takamoto Katsuta hit a tree which removed the right-rear corner of his car. Despite frantic roadside repairs, the team was unable to get back to the service park in Jyväskylä.

The leading Hyundai – the only surviving i20 N – belongs to championship leader Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe after Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja crashed heavily in stage three. “Basically, we went wide, rolled over and hit a tree”, said Tänak. Järveoja remains in hospital under observation. Hyundai’s statement read: “While competing at Rally Finland, round nine of the FIA World Rally Championship season, Hyundai Motorsport’s Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were involved in a crash on Friday morning during SS3 Saarikas 1.

 Their Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid slid off the road at high speed in tricky and slippery conditions just over 2km in stage. The car subsequently rolled and hit a tree. After the accident, Tänak and Järveoja exited the car themselves without assistance and the stage was immediately red flagged to allow medical services to attend the scene.

Both Tänak and Järveoja were quickly attended to by the medical team, with Järveoja taken to hospital by helicopter for further examination. While both driver and co-driver are well, Järveoja will need to remain in hospital overnight for observation as a precaution. As a result, the #8 crew will not return for the remainder of the Rally Finland weekend.”

Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria were fifth in their M-Sport Ford Puma after a sensible drive in the changeable conditions.

With wet and muddy stages the order of the day, local lad Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Mälkönen made their Rally1 debut in a fifth Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris and in the day’s opening stage, went off the road and removed the rear wing. With limited downforce, Pajari drove sensibly until they returned to service.

In the first stage after service, Pajari set the second fastest time and went on to claim a maiden Rally1 stage win in SS9, beating Ogier’s time by 0.5 seconds. They hold sixth overall, some 20 seconds ahead of the second M-Sport Puma of Gregoire Munster and Louis Louka.

Stage six saw Esapekka Lappi retire his Hyundai after it bounced out of deep ruts and hit a tree, causing terminal damage.

Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson made WRC2 their own, leading in their Toksport-run Skoda Fabia RS from Thursday’s opening Super Special stage until returning to service. The fight over second place raged between Lauri Joona/Janni Hussi and the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Principal Jari Mati Latvala was fierce, with Latvala taking second before the service break and holding his position ahead of the Skoda of Robert Virves

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Saturday was a Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris/Kalle Rovanpera roadshow. The double world champion doubled his overnight lead and claimed his 200^th WRC stage win along the way in his and Haltunnen’s 50^th start for the Toyota brand.

No one (except those living in Latvia) will care that Martins Sesks dropped from second to third by the third stage of the morning. It was a close run affair, for the amazing Latvian’s pace continued unabated with a mere 0.2 between the flying Ford pair and Sebastian Ogier, who was on his own mission to maximize his points haul for his boss.

After the midday service, the gap in the fight for the second step of the podium had grown – to 0.8 seconds.

Ott Tanak had a far better feeling in the car and quickly moved from sixth to fourth, demoting Adrien Fourmaux in the process and catching Sesks at a rapid pace until he clobbered a hay bale in the day’s closing stage through the streets of Leipaja giving Sesks a bit more breathing room. The Estonian Hyundai driver is still in the podium conversation though. “On the jump landing, a driveshaft or gearbox or something broke. I couldn’t slow down at all. It’s been some afternoon.”

He had a bizarre incident on stage 14 as well. An unexpected arch rivalry then came into play, seemingly intent on bursting Tänak’s bubble. In the midst of an impressive run on SS14, the #8 Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid crew collected a deflated sponsor arch that had fallen onto the gravel road, forcing them to stop. However, their efforts were not lost, and duo was awarded a nominal second-fastest time through the stage, which brought the gap to third to just 6.8 seconds.

Katsuta’s strong run came to an end after he went into a ditch, dropping 48.3 seconds while regaining the road, which left him trailing down in seventh place.

Oliver Solberg is comfortably leading WRC2 by 26.6 seconds from Mikko Heikkila with Sami Pajari spoiling for a fight on Sunday, five seconds off his Finnish friend and rival.

Leading positions after Saturday:
1. K Rovanperä / J Halttunen FIN Toyota GR Yaris 1h 58m 55.6s
2. S Ogier / V Landais FRA Toyota GR Yaris +42.5s
3. M Sesks / R Francis LVA Ford Puma +47.2s
4. O Tänak / M Järveoja EST Hyundai i20 N +1m 8.0s
5. A Fourmaux / A Coria FRA Ford Puma +1m 16.4s
6. E Evans / S Martin GBR Toyota GR Yaris +1m 34.3s

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Kalle Rovanperä began the final leg 9.4sec in front of Mikkelsen, but the Hyundai driver’s bid for a second Rally Poland victory was foiled when he crawled to the end of the opening stage with a tyre off the rim. He tumbled to sixth by the finish as M-Sport Ford man Adrien Fourmaux completed the podium 14.4sec behind Evans.

“It’s been quite an amazing week,” smiled Rovanperä. “Definitely I have to say we have been working quite hard and we are really tired now. I think the best thing is we came here, and it was not a bad idea to come. We helped the team a lot and took a lot of points for the manufacturers’ championship, so we didn’t waste our time.”

Mikkelsen was chasing his first victory since 2016 and led through Friday before slipping behind Rovanperä in the penultimate leg. The flailing rubber ripped his i20 N car’s rear wheel arch apart and the Norwegian chose to cruise through the closing stages.

“It was sad what happened today,” he said. “We were really unlucky. The right thing to do [after that] was to bring the car back for the team.”

Barring a tyre delamination on Saturday and a slow puncture in the finale, Evans fared well compared with his main title rivals. The Welshman overtook Ott Tänak to reclaim second in the drivers’ championship and cut Thierry Neuville’s lead to 15 points with six rounds remaining.

M-Sport Ford Puma star Fourmaux, who scored his third podium of the season, ended the rally 28.1sec clear of Belgium’s Neuville while Latvia’s Mārtiņš Sesks delivered a mighty fifth-place finish on his top-flight debut. Sesks, who ran as high as second early in the event, was driving a non-hybrid Puma but will upgrade to a full-spec car for his home round next month.

Mikkelsen limped home over two minutes back from Rovanperä in sixth ahead of Grégoire Munster and Takamoto Katsuta. Ninth place went to Sami Pajari, winner of the WRC2 category, while Oliver Solberg capitalised on a puncture for Robert Virves to sneak into the top 10.

Read the full rally report in Motorsport Monday tomorrow

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