Toyota snatching the World Rally Championship manufacturers’ crown on the final stage of the season was a great advert for rallying, according to team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.
The Japanese brand overhauled an unlikely 15-point deficit to Hyundai coming into the Japan season finale, culminating in an extraordinary final stage showdown.
They were tied on points heading into the Power Stage after Hyundai’s Ott Tanak crashed from the lead in dramatic circumstances, which also handed team-mate Thierry Neuville a maiden drivers’ title.
However, Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier delivered a stunning drive to win the 13.98km Lake Mikawako test while team-mate Elfyn Evans (rally winner) was third fastest and Takamoto Katsuta fifth, which was enough to clinch the championship by three points.
Despite winning eight rallies to Hyundai’s five, Toyota’s triumph comes after a challenging season that led to Latvala almost writing off the team’s title chances following September’s Acropolis Rally.
“It has been an amazing story and I don’t think I have seen a story like this in terms of how close the fight can go over a season,” Latvala, whose squad has won every manufacturers’ crown since 2021, told Motorsport.com.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“If you think about what has happened this weekend, and you follow the sport, I would say this is the best story you can build up and for me, it shows how great rally is and the drama that has been happening. We just need to keep the stories going.
“We were fighting on the last stage and the last metres. It has probably been the most difficult day of my career as a team principal because it was so nerve-wracking to follow.
“My feeling all the time was every corner I saw, I felt like our drivers were going to go off the road. I was scared all the time, but they did a really nice job.
“Coming into today we didn’t think the chances were so high but we had the desire to fight until the very end. When Ott went off things did change. It shows that you should never lose the faith.
“We have won more rallies but we have had bad Sundays and that has been costing us quite a lot. We had three bad Sundays and Hyundai has clearly been better on the Sundays, but it has happened to them now.
“Overall I think as a team we have been very strong over the year but there has been incidents and we have paid the price for those.”
Photos from Rally Japan Day 4
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