Akio Toyoda comment for Rally Poland
Due to a traffic accident during the reconnaissance, the crew of car #17, Ogier and Landais, were suddenly forced to withdraw from this rally. I would like to inform once again that all those involved in the accident including Ogier and Landais have already been discharged from the hospital. I deeply apologize to all the fans who were looking forward to watching their performance.
This was the first event in Poland since 2017 when Toyota came back to WRC. I was really looking forward to seeing Seb drive on the Polish roads in a Toyota car, so the news of their withdrawal was truly disappointing. I hope that they will show us an exciting performance on a different road in the near future.
On the other hand, I sincerely appreciate Kalle and Jonne for accepting the team's sudden request and driving with the strong intention of supporting the team. Jari-Matti told them that the team was not asking them to win and just wanted them to help us in any way possible, but they ended up winning. They surprised us by achieving such a great result, doing the maximum preparation possible in a very short amount of time. Thank you, Kalle and Jonne for this delightful surprise! I believe that the sudden switch from car #17 to #69 was not an easy task, so I am also grateful to the team members who made it happen.
Lastly, I am really thankful to Elfyn and Scott for securing the valuable second place! Thanks to them, TGR was able to achieve a one-two finish. I believe that achieving a one-two finish in this rally, which marks the halfway point of the season, is very meaningful towards the manufacturers' title. And it must have been a meaningful achievement for Elfyn and Scott as well. They have been strong in our home rallies, so I am expecting their strong performance in the second half of the season, which includes our home rallies in Finland and Japan! The team will continue to fight together in the second half of the season.
Akio Toyoda
Chairman, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team
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