In difficult conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the team won for the fourth time this season to secure its eighth manufacturers’ World Championship, in its first year as TOYOTA RACING.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa were victorious in the #8 TR010 HYBRID, extending their lead in the drivers’ standings.

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries completed a perfect day for the team by finishing second in the #7 TR010 HYBRID. With one race to go, they are 17 points behind their team-mates in the fight for the drivers’ title, which is now a two-way contest between the TR010 HYBRID crews.

TOYOTA RACING has now completed a clean sweep of both World Championships and victories in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the team’s home race, the 6 Hours of Fuji, in the debut season of the TR010 HYBRID.

A spectacular performance in Spain was built on a strong opening hour when the drivers took advantage of changing conditions on wet tyres. After starting second, Sébastien quickly took the lead in his 100th WEC race. From ninth on the grid, Nyck rapidly moved up the field and into second late in the opening hour.

Sébastien served a five-second penalty for a starting procedure offence at his second pit stop, without any long-term impact on the race. At half-distance, Brendon led Kamui by 10 seconds, with the chasing pack over 20 seconds behind.

Despite a safety car closing the field with two hours to go, the two TR010 HYBRIDs set new fastest laps and rebuilt their advantage. They safely negotiated lapped traffic through the closing stages whilst preserving their comfortable gap. Ryō crossed the line just 0.583secs ahead of Nyck to earn the team’s first one-two since Bahrain last season.

The close fight between the TR010 HYBRIDs will resume in the eighth and final round of the season, the 6 Hours of Monza on 8 November, when the drivers’ title battle will be decided.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Congratulations to the whole team for winning the race and the manufacturers’ World Championship here already. I’m very proud of all the team members involved in this, in Cologne and at Higashi-Fuji, as well as the Toyota family, our partners and of course, Morizo-san and Nakajima-san. It’s a huge achievement to win Le Mans and now the manufacturers’ title, especially after we were struggling last year. We introduced the TR010 HYBRID and that has brought us to the top again. The drivers’ title is now between car #7 and car #8, so I think we can enjoy the last race.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “On our car, we challenged for the win and didn’t quite make it. But it’s great to get a one-two finish and wrap up the manufacturers’ title. Against such a competitive field, it’s really impressive to do that with one race to go, so big congratulations to everyone. The drivers’ title is still open, so for the #7 car, we will just try to regroup and improve for the next race.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It’s a great result for the team. I think we executed well, very cleanly, with no mistakes, so it was a really strong performance from everyone. Obviously, it’s very important to secure the manufacturers' World Championship and to know that a TOYOTA RACING car crew will win the drivers' title as well. That’s a nice feeling going into the final round.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It’s obviously an amazing day for the whole team. There was a lot of stress and I'm still a bit mad at myself for the penalty at the start, but my team-mates made up for it. I’m really happy to celebrate the title with the whole team with a one-two. After a difficult season last year, it shows how hard the team worked over the winter to introduce the TR010 HYBRID and win Le Mans and both titles. Now hopefully Brendon, Ryō and me can win the drivers’ title in Monza.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It’s a fantastic day for the team with a one-two and the manufacturers’ title. I enjoyed the whole weekend. Actually, we hadn’t tested here, and we didn't expect to be so strong, but our crew worked very well, and we had a great car in the race. Today I'm not thinking about the drivers’ championship, it's all about celebrating the title with the team. Congratulations to everyone involved, it's been a massive effort to fight back and take the manufacturers’ World Championship. It's a huge deal for everyone involved and I'm proud to be part of it.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “We were really motivated after our Fuji victory, and we came here with a lot of momentum. There were a lot of things to explore because we never tested here, but everyone did a good job, the car was flying, and everything went well. This victory is something we worked very hard for. There was no luck, we just grabbed it. It’s good to secure the manufacturers’ title but the drivers’ is still open. We’ll keep pushing and hopefully we can win that with car #8.”

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A strong race result could secure the manufacturers’ World Championship for TOYOTA RACING with one race still to go, and qualifying at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya laid the foundations for its challenge in Sunday’s race.

Ryō Hirakawa earned second place in the #8 TR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, just 0.170secs away from the pole-sitting Genesis. The #8 crew currently lead the drivers’ standings and could seal the title on Sunday if results go their way.

The #7 TR010 HYBRID crew of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries are also in the drivers’ title battle, just 10 points behind their team-mates. They will start from ninth on the grid.

Qualifying took place in warm, dry conditions in contrast to the weather forecast for Sunday, when rain is predicted. Nyck and Ryō were at the wheel for the first 12-minute session, aiming to progress to Hyperpole. On medium Michelin tyres, Nyck set one flying lap time and progressed in eighth place while Ryō improved on his second lap, ending the session in second.

In Hyperpole, the fastest 10 Hypercars battled for the top grid positions, again on medium tyres, and both TR010 HYBRIDs set their best laps on their first efforts. Ryō was again among the fastest on track and scored the team’s second front-row start of the season. Meanwhile, Nyck missed out on the top six by just over a tenth of a second.

That qualifying performance gives TOYOTA RACING the platform to challenge at the front and take important steps towards both World Championships when the 6 Hours of Barcelona begins at midday local time on Sunday.

Quotes:

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It was a positive day for the team. Ryō did a great job qualifying on the front row of the grid. It was a little bit more challenging for our car. Still, it’s a good basis and tomorrow there is the potential for rain, so a lot of things can happen. We'll do our best, try to execute a clean race and gain some positions.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “The car was really fast today, the team did a great job. Potentially I could have been even faster but there were double yellow flags on my second push lap in Hyperpole. That was a pity, but being on the front row is good and I’m happy with the result. From there we can have a nice race tomorrow, hopefully.”

6 Hours of Barcelona – Hyperpole

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After winning at Fuji Speedway in the last race, TOYOTA RACING leads the manufacturers’ and drivers’ World Championships, with the possibility of securing both titles this weekend. To do so, it must overcome a closely-matched Hypercar field on a track hosting its first WEC race.

The TR010 HYBRID recorded its first laps of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in two 90-minute sessions and a busy day ended with both cars in the top 10. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries were fifth fastest in the #7, while Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa – who lead the drivers’ standings – were eighth in the #8.

The WEC’s only previous visit to Barcelona was the pre-season Prologue test in 2019, while the team tested on the track in 2021. Engineers and drivers therefore worked intensively during Friday’s two sessions to analyse the behaviour of the Michelin tyres and adjust set-ups for the 4.657km circuit, which features a slightly different layout compared to the team’s previous visits.

Work got underway late on a warm, dry morning with a productive first session without interruptions. Sébastien’s lap put the #8 TR010 HYBRID in sixth place at the end, while Nyck’s best time earned 11th for the #7.

Engineers used the three-and-a-half hours before second practice to analyse tyre data and optimise set-ups. Another trouble-free session brought more experience with the tyres and progress on car balance. Nyck’s lap earned fifth place for the #7 and Ryō recorded the best time in the #8 for eighth.

The team has a final opportunity to fine-tune the performance of its TR010 HYBRIDs in third practice, which takes place for Hypercars on Saturday lunchtime. Hypercar qualifying takes place at 3.40pm CEST on Saturday, while the 6 Hours of Barcelona begins at midday on Sunday.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “It’s nice to be back in Barcelona. We’ve not been here since we tested in 2021, so it’s our first time here with the TR010 HYBRID. The track is a bit different since then, so it was a bit like learning a new track. We saw that there is quite a lot of tyre degradation, so we are trying to figure out how to manage that and have a good car balance. We’re still working on this and hopefully we will find improvements.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s good to be back here in Barcelona. It’s been a while. Today we were just trying to learn as much as we can about the tyres and how to manage them in the race. The target was to complete a lot of laps and we achieved that. We tried some set-up things as well and I think it was a productive day.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I think it's been a decent day overall. Tyre degradation will be a hot topic here this weekend, unless it rains for the race. We made a positive start, but we still have some performance to find, especially when it comes to tyre and race strategy, but we are getting there.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It was a good first day. I’m happy to start my 100th WEC race weekend with a lot of laps. As always, it's a very tight field, so it's going to be important to optimise our car and adapt to the conditions. We know how hard it is to pass here, so hopefully we can have a strong qualifying. It's been a positive start. Now we will analyse the data for tomorrow.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a clean and positive day. Some teams have tested here but we haven’t, so we had a bit of catching up to do. I think we're all up to speed now. We're a bit behind a couple of our competitors, but we’ve learned a lot about the tyres, so I think there's everything to play for on Sunday.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was a very busy day as it’s obviously a new track for us with the TR010 HYBRID. We explored different set-ups and focused mainly on the longer runs. It seems like we made a good start, which is encouraging for the rest of the weekend. So far, given the experience we have at this track with our car, we had a very productive day. Now it’s about fine-tuning for tomorrow.”

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After an exciting victory on home ground at Fuji Speedway in the previous race, the team travels to Spain for the penultimate round of the season at the top of both World Championships. Its third win of the season extended the gap in the manufacturers’ standings to 23 points, while in the drivers’ championship, the two TR010 HYBRID crews are first and second.

A second win of the season for the #8 TR010 HYBRID crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa elevated them to the top of the standings. The #7 TR010 HYBRID drivers, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, are just 10 points behind.

Barcelona represents a significant landmark for Sébastien, who will become the first driver to reach 100 WEC race starts. Sébastien is the only active driver to have been with the team since its first race, at Le Mans in 2012. In that time, he has won 28 times – including four times at Le Mans – on his way to four World Championship titles so far.

Meanwhile, Mike is preparing for the penultimate race in his illustrious racing career, having announced earlier this month that he will retire from full-time competition at the end of the WEC season.

The 6 Hours of Barcelona is a new addition to the WEC calendar, replacing – along with November’s race in Monza – the races originally scheduled in the Middle East. The 4.657km circuit, located around 30km north of Barcelona in the town of Montmeló, has been a regular feature on the calendar of many championships since it opened in 1991.

Although this will be WEC’s first race in Spain, it is not the series’ first visit to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. It hosted the pre-season Prologue test in July 2019, when Mike, Kamui, Sébastien and Brendon were among the team’s line-up at the wheel of the TS050 HYBRID. Ryō has the most recent experience of the track via his Formula 1 testing and free practice roles.

The TR010 HYBRIDs will complete their first laps in Barcelona during two free practice sessions on Friday 16 October. Saturday hosts final practice and qualifying (3.40pm CEST), before Sunday’s race, which begins at midday CEST.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “This is another important race for the World Championship. With only two races left, there’s no room for mistakes – we need to maximise our results with both cars to stay in a strong position for the final race. We’re entering the unknown to a certain extent because we don’t have much experience of Barcelona, although it’s a track all drivers know well from earlier in our careers. It means we need to work particularly hard in free practice to find the right set-up direction for the race. We’ll be pushing hard to have the best chance on race day.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “This is obviously my first race since announcing my retirement at the end of the season. I am determined to create more happy memories over the rest of the season, starting in Barcelona. Racing there again is like going back to my younger days, because I drove there regularly in my junior career. I’m looking forward to being there again and seeing what our TR010 HYBRID can do.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I’m looking forward to Barcelona. It’s a track where I have had some success in the past, winning in Formula 2 and junior series, so I know it well. It’s a big weekend for the team, and also for our car, in terms of the championship. We’ve been a bit unfortunate on our side of the garage in the last two races, so we want to reverse that trend.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “A hundred races is a cool milestone and a nice opportunity to think again about all those races, the ones we have won, as well as the ones we have lost together as a team. I can’t believe we have done so many races together. We’re always looking to the future and the next race, so I don’t really think about being with the team since the comeback in 2012. I feel proud and honoured to reach 100 WEC races and I hope to be around for a bit longer still. It’s fitting to reach this number on the back of the win at Fuji, which was one of our best because of the great job we all did as a team. I have so many good memories of winning championships and Le Mans, but that’s the past. We want to focus on the next races and obviously I hope we will be able to score some decent points in Barcelona to help us in the World Championship.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “As drivers, I think we all know Barcelona pretty well from earlier in our careers, but as a team there’s a lot to learn about how our TR010 HYBRID works on this track. Barcelona was actually my first official appearance for TOYOTA, back at the Prologue in 2019. It’s nice to think back and consider how much we’ve experienced together since then. I hope we can add some more good memories this weekend. We’ll be doing our best.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It’s great to be racing again so soon after our victory at Fuji. That put us in a strong position in the World Championship and gives us positive momentum for the last two races. It will be a tough weekend, I’m sure, because we haven’t tested our TR010 HYBRID at Barcelona before, unlike some of our rivals. But we showed at Fuji what is possible with strong teamwork and good strategy so I’m optimistic we can fight at the front again.”

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The British driver has played a significant role in the team’s development and success since joining in 2014, helping TOYOTA to seven manufacturers’ World Championships. In that time, Mike has won 20 WEC races, including the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2021 and 2026, and two drivers’ titles (2019-20 and 2021).

Alongside #7 TR010 HYBRID team-mates Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, Mike is currently second in this season’s drivers’ standings, just 10 points behind team-mates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa with two races remaining.

TOYOTA RACING expresses its genuine appreciation to Mike for his unending dedication and strong team spirit over 12 seasons. His last race for the team – his 94th in total for TOYOTA – will be the 6 Hours of Monza on 8 November.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal): “It has been a pleasure to race the #7 car with Mike for so many years. We have shared so many emotional moments together, particularly at Le Mans. Some of my most incredible memories in racing have come alongside Mike. He has been an incredible team-mate, not only in terms of speed and consistency, but on a human level as well. He has become a friend to many of us, and we will miss having him in the team. But nothing lasts forever in motorsports, and we all want to wish Mike a deserved, and very happy, retirement with his family.”

Evans went head-to-head with his team-mates Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg in the deciding rally with all three vying to be crowned world champion for the first time.

Playing host to the season finale for the first time, the sandy and rough gravel roads of the Italian island proved as demanding as usual. Following a hot and dry summer, the loose and sandy surface would produce a significant road cleaning effect for the three contenders to deal with during the first full day on Friday.

While Evans entered the final round with a lead of 17 points over Pajari and 21 over Solberg, he also faced the toughest task opening the road and finished Friday in sixth overall. While Pajari was just one position ahead in fifth, Solberg took advantage of his more advantageous position to end Friday in third and within striking distance of the rally lead, which he then seized on Saturday morning.

With Solberg comfortably leading the rally into the final day and Evans in fifth overall, and the virtual gap between them reduced to six points, the battle would be decided by the 10 bonus points available across the Super Sunday and Power Stage classifications.

Continuing to show impressive pace, Solberg established an early lead in the Sunday standings with a strong stage win in the opening Osilo – Tergu test, but the subsequent Sassari – Argentiera beach – noted for its sandy downhill finish – would provide a different dynamic with conditions deteriorating for later runners.

A major twist followed in the second pass of Osilo – Tergu when Evans stopped to change a punctured tyre, conceding close to two minutes. While he held on to fifth overall, he dropped out of contention for Sunday points and headed into the rally-ending Power Stage with a virtual lead of just one point over Solberg.

The final stage of the season therefore effectively became a straight shootout between the two in the knowledge that whoever set the quicker time would be world champion. Knowing the time of Evans that he had to beat, Solberg was faster on the split times during a committed run but ran off the road in the final stretch. While Solberg managed to get back on the road and still secure the rally victory, he finished the stage 8.9s down on Evans.

Evans and Martin’s first world title represents a hard-earned reward after seven seasons consistently fighting at the front of the field with TGR-WRT, during which they finished as championship runners-up in five of the previous six years. Their 2026 campaign has been built on typically strong consistency, as well as two impressive victories in Sweden and Japan and calculated pace when required to score well on Sundays even when opening the road through a string of consecutive gravel rallies.

Evans is the first Welsh driver to ever win the title, and follows in the footsteps of Scotland’s Colin McRae and England’s Richard Burns as a World Rally Champion from the United Kingdom. Martin is the first English co-driver to win the title, joining fellow Britons David Richards, Derek Ringer, Robert Reid and Phil Mills on that honour list.

It is the seventh time in eight years that a TGR-WRT crew has been crowned world champions, and the fifth time in six years that the team has swept all three championships having already secured the manufacturers’ crown at the previous round in Chile.

Solberg finishes just five points behind in the championship along with co-driver Elliott Edmondson in their first full season competing at the highest level. They began the season with an epic victory at Rallye Monte-Carlo, and their speed was never in doubt, winning more stages than anybody else through the season. After a character-building mid-season period, they have bounced back from being 59 points adrift to end the year with back-to-back victories in Chile and Sardinia.

Their win is a record-equalling 12th from 13 rallies this season – and record-extending 48th in total – for the GR YARIS Rally1 car in its fifth and final season of the current homologation cycle before new technical regulations are introduced for 2027.

Pajari finishes third in the championship, six points behind, together with co-driver Marko Salminen after a breakthrough season of their own – just their second full campaign at the top level. Their Sardinia podium is their ninth of the season – more than anybody else – and Pajari matches Solberg in taking three victories.

Sébastien Ogier finished second in the rally to claim a record 121st WRC podium, moving ahead of fellow nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb, on the very same event that he made a record 214th start, surpassing his Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala. Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais finish the year fourth in the standings with six podiums from 11 rallies entered.

Takamoto Katsuta made it five GR YARIS Rally1 drivers in the top six of the rally and the points standings at the end of a breakout year with co-driver Aaron Johnston that included their first wins in Kenya and Croatia, Katsuta becoming the first Japanese driver to lead the championship in the process.

Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka secured their second WRC2 victory of the year by just 0.7s driving their GR Yaris Rally2 car entered by Rautio Motorsport and run by Printsport, a result that allows them to finish second in the championship standings.

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“I'd like to send three messages to Elfyn and Scott, who have finally become world champions: congratulations, thank you, and sorry.

Since joining the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing family in 2020, Elfyn has finished just one place short of the championship five times, including three consecutive seasons from 2023 onward. After so many seasons of coming painfully close, he has finally achieved the title he has worked so hard for. Congratulations, Elfyn. You really deserve it!

Of course, I can’t really say that out loud. Publicly, I have to say that I want all our drivers to win. But if I’m being honest, this year I was cheering for Elfyn. Sorry, Sami and Oliver, but I simply couldn’t let Elfyn and Scott end up second again. Elfyn, congratulations. Truly, truly congratulations!

The “thank you” is for everything Elfyn and Scott have done for the team over the years. Those five second-place championship finishes are proof of how consistently they have delivered points. Thanks to the points they contributed season after season, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has been able to keep winning manufacturers’ titles.

Their contribution goes far beyond points. At the final round of the 2021 season, with the drivers’ championship on the line, Elfyn and Scott went off the road. Afterwards, they shared information with the team about sections where grip was particularly low. Thanks to that information, Seb was able to secure the championship. They are the kind of drivers who always think not only about themselves, but about the team as well. Thank you both, truly! (And I think everyone can now understand why I was cheering for Elfyn.)

The “sorry” is because I couldn’t be there with them during the fight for the championship. Whenever I was there, Elfyn has almost always delivered a strong result: four victories and three second-place finishes. That's why I wanted to be there for the rally where he could become champion. Sorry to the other drivers, but I was planning to go to Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, my schedule didn't allow me to attend Sardinia, so I'm relieved that he was able to clinch the title there.

Oliver and Elliott also fought incredibly hard right to the very end. Let's keep pushing together next year!

This rally marks the end of the GR YARIS Rally1's journey. It is a car that has continued to win championships throughout the five seasons since 2022. This year, it became a car that any one of our five drivers could win with. I would like to sincerely thank everyone in the team for pursuing an ever-better, driver-first car.

I am sure the team is already hard at work preparing the next generation of cars. There will be many new challenges ahead. Things may not go perfectly from the start, and that’s okay. Let’s enjoy taking on a new challenge of making ever-better cars together once again!

To Jari-Matti, Juha, everyone in the team, our partners, and all our fans: thank you very much for your support throughout this season.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“This was an incredible finish to what has been a very exciting season. All year we have tried to give all of our drivers an even chance to win and we saw a great fight this weekend. Elfyn and Scott have been working really hard and trying for so many years and now they could finally get the titles that they deserve, so we are really happy for them. Oliver has been so fast and spectacular and gave it everything, and he nearly made it right to the end. It’s an unfortunate finish for him but he and Sami are both young drivers who have had really good seasons, and they can be proud of what they have achieved, as we are of them, and I’m sure they will have more chances to win championships in the future.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s still not really sinking in yet that we’ve managed to get the championship across the line after such a wild final day. We came into it knowing it would be tight and tried what we could today, but there was massive cleaning on the first stage. We managed to pull back some time on the second, but then at the start of the third there were rocks everywhere and we tried to pull our way through, but immediately we punctured. Then we had to lay it all on the line for the Power Stage. It was a messy run so I was pretty sure I hadn’t done enough and Oliver was coming quicker until he had that moment near the end. I feel sorry for him and Elliott because they drove an incredible weekend. But we didn’t only win it there, it was a whole year’s worth of work and I think it’s a championship to be proud of. It’s a bit of a relief after coming close so many times, and I’ve got a lot of people to thank for backing me through the years, especially Scott and the team.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“You could not have scripted a more dramatic finish than what we saw today. In rallying we all know that it’s never over until it’s over. Congratulations to Elfyn and Scott: they have worked so hard over so many years and nobody deserves it more than them. I know that it’s hard for Oliver and Elliott right now after getting so close, but they have impressed all of us with their speed this season and I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before they are also world champions. Thank you to everyone in the team for this season and the last five years with this car. It’s amazing to work with you and to always be able to count on a fast and reliable car.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“First of all, I want to say congratulations to Elfyn and Scott. They deserve this for sure, they have been very consistent all season. That I even had a shot with my rollercoaster of a season feels incredible. I started to believe more and more through the weekend, and to get so close, it’s tough. In the Power Stage I knew I had to push hard to beat Elfyn, but I wasn’t sure I was doing enough, so I tried pushing even more. Then I made a small mistake at the end, couldn’t save the car and we went off. For my first season with this team I’m still proud of what we could achieve. I’ve given my heart and tried everything until the very end, and hopefully I have a few more chances to try again.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“A big thank you to the whole team that we managed to finish this tough rally. It was such a difficult start with punctures on Friday, but at the end we could finish P6 and have some fun in the last rally with this car, which has been so successful with so much effort behind it from the whole team. Our season started well with two wins and even if we couldn’t keep up the fight in the championship, it was great to see such a fight between my team-mates right until the last corners. Big congratulations to Elfyn and Scott, and also to Oliver and Elliott and Sami and Marko; they have all done a fantastic job and I hope to keep fighting with them in future.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This was a really dramatic end to the season, and even if I didn’t have my best rally here, I’m super happy for Elfyn and Scott: they really deserve this. For my second year at this level, I think I can be very happy with our season, and with our nine podiums and three wins. After an extremely difficult start in Monte Carlo, we took stage wins in almost every rally, got closer and closer in the title fight and in the end we were only six points away. We’re still young, so hopefully we have the chance to chase titles again in the future. I gave everything on the last stage with this car: a big thank you to the whole team and everyone supporting us.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY ITALIA SARDEGNA
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3h24m57.0s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +57.6s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m37.4s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m38.6s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +4m48.1s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6m02.4s
7 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +7m32.2s
8 Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +12m10.4s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +12m11.1s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +13m02.2s
(Results as of 16:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 13:
1 Elfyn Evans 243 points
2 Oliver Solberg 238
3 Sami Pajari 237
4 Sébastien Ogier 189
5 Adrien Fourmaux 183
6 Takamoto Katsuta 175
7 Thierry Neuville 134
8 Hayden Paddon 38
9 Josh McErlean 35
10 Esapekka Lappi 33

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 13:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 662 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 440
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 251
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 168

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Saturday was the longest day of the rally with 123.66 competitive kilometres to be driven across two loops of three stages.

After a strong performance during the rally’s first full day on Friday, Solberg began the morning in third overall, just 12.3s from the lead. He gained one place already in the day’s opening stage when Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) was slowed by a loss of tyre pressure, then claimed a pair of stage wins to catch and pass Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) for the lead – a valuable position in his bid to close the 21-point deficit he had to Evans entering the final round.

Solberg started the afternoon with his lead at just 2.7s, but this grew to 36.6s after Neuville stopped with damage in the first stage of the loop. With team-mate Sébastien Ogier now up into second overall and taking two stage wins of his own during the afternoon, Solberg’s advantage at the top stands at 33.6s going into the final day.

With Neuville’s exit and Fourmaux stopping to change a wheel in SS12, Pajari and Evans benefitted to move up to third and fourth overall. Fourmaux did reclaim fourth overall in the day’s last stage, 6.4s ahead of Evans. Takamoto Katsuta has moved up to sixth overall after a trouble-free day.

Based on current overall positions, Evans remains in the lead of the virtual championship standings, six points ahead of Solberg and 12 ahead of Pajari with up to 10 additional bonus points available from the final day; five for the fastest drivers in the rally-ending Power Stage and five more for the quickest drivers across the day in the Super Sunday classification.

There is now a GR Yaris Rally2 1-2-3-4 in the WRC2 class with Roope Korhonen leading Gus Greensmith, Teemu Suninen and Kajetan Kajetanowicz.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“It’s very exciting that the fight for the championship is going right down to the final day of the season between our drivers. With just one day to go, it’s now very close between Elfyn and Oliver. So far, Oliver has driven very well to get into the lead of the rally, which is where he really needs to be, and he needs to keep up that performance tomorrow as well and keep taking risks to go for the maximum Sunday points, as he has done many times this year. Elfyn has understandably been on the cautious side so far and has to raise his performance level tomorrow to score the points he needs to hold Oliver off. Sami has been driving consistently and that’s got him up into the podium places, but realistically will need something else to happen tomorrow to have a chance. It’s not all about our drivers because others will be pushing too, so it promises to be a real Super Sunday to end the season.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“We were in a tricky position today. The feeling was OK behind the wheel and we were driving cleanly, but the road was evolving and the grip improving a lot with every car, so with fast drivers starting behind us, it was difficult to try to close the gaps to them. The second pass was quite rough and perhaps we were a bit too conservative in the first two stages, but when Adrien got a puncture and dropped a few seconds behind us, we gave it everything in the last stage to try to keep him behind. One more position would have helped us for tomorrow, but with many cars between us, we didn’t stand much chance. Oliver has been driving very well and put himself in a strong position, but tomorrow is still a long day and we just need to go all in.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“This has been a more positive day for us than yesterday. We managed to climb some positions and I enjoyed this afternoon, especially this first stage of the loop which has the nicest profile of the weekend and was not so rough, and it was good to win two stages. It feels like anything can still happen in this rally, as tomorrow is a long day with some rough sections to drive through. Oliver has done a great job so far and I would not want to wish bad luck on anyone, but it can happen to any of us, myself included, so we just have to keep trying until the end.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I think this has been one of the toughest days but one of the best also. The feeling in the car has been really good and this morning was quite flat-out to try to get ourselves into the lead, which we were able to do. This afternoon I tried to be a bit more clever and look after the tyres, while a lot of things were happening around us on every stage. On one hand, those incidents for others gave us more of a lead, but they also benefitted our rivals for the championship. But we can’t control anyone else and we just have to keep doing the best we can. Tomorrow the objective is clear and the target will be the full 10 bonus points, as it has been on most Sundays this year.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Today was quite OK for us and better than yesterday, with no problems. It wasn’t easy as we were second on the road, and then we had to open the road this afternoon, but I just tried to drive cleanly and as well as possible. We managed to gain some positions and now our road position should be better for tomorrow with a few cars in front of us. It’s going to be an exciting final day for all the fans to follow and we will just try to enjoy the last day driving this car.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“We had high hopes that today could be stronger than yesterday but it seemed that the road order was unfortunately still playing quite a role and it just wasn’t really possible to be faster than the guys who were starting behind us. We haven’t been giving up and we’ve still been trying to do all that we can. We were anticipating that some drama could happen this afternoon, and that allowed us to gain a couple of positions. The situation is not in our hands but I don’t think that anybody will be cruising around tomorrow, so many things can still happen and we just need to keep pushing to the end.”

End of day three (Saturday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h42m33.2s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +33.6s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m39.9s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m32.0s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m38.4s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5m43.9s
7 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +6m01.2s
8 Roope Korhonen/Anssi Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m23.0s
9 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m42.6s
10 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +9m46.6s
(Results as of 20:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
The final day of the season consists of two returning stages in the north-west of the island each run twice. A final tyre-fitting zone will be held before the second pass of Sassari-Argentiera serves as the season-ending Power Stage.

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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) overcame the harsh desert environment to take victory in Rallye du Maroc, the penultimate round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

The new-for-2026 DKR GR Hilux demonstrated its improved performance and durability over a variety of difficult terrain on a rally which tested drivers, navigators and vehicles to their limits.

The 1,508 km of timed action featured rocky tracks and spectacular sand dunes – including a section in the Sahara Desert – on a route which created drama and excitement. TGR W2RC started the final day in first and second overall but faced a high-speed final stage over 259 km to secure a double podium finish.

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short delivered another composed drive to earn their second consecutive W2RC victory. Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings also stood on the podium thanks to their third place. Hilux crews swept the top three, with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa’s João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro finishing second.

Quintero and Short had established a strong foundation for a victory challenge over the opening days before asserting themselves at the front as their rivals fell away. The #203 DKR GR Hilux took the overall lead on the penultimate day and safely navigated Saturday’s finale. Sixth place on Stage 5 confirmed victory by 4 mins 23 secs and elevated the pair into the lead of their respective World Championships.

Lategan and Cummings finished a rollercoaster rally on the podium. The #202 DKR GR Hilux overcame technical issues on Monday to win Stage 2, before losing time as the first car on the road during the following stage. However, they showed strong pace in the final days to move back into podium contention. They held second overall until late in Stage 5 but dropped to third after finishing the day 10th.

Akira Miura and Armand Monleón displayed speed and consistency despite the demanding desert terrain but were denied an overall top-10 finish by technical issues for their #204 DKR GR Hilux on Stage 3. They responded well and recovered positions in the final two stages and ended the rally strongly with 11th place on Stage 5. That left them in 30th overall.

Heading into the final event of the W2RC season, Quintero and Cummings lead their respective World Championships by 14 points. Meanwhile, TGR W2RC is now 46 points behind World Championship leaders Dacia Sandriders, setting up a grandstand finish in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on 22-27 November.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “It was a great race for the team, to get a one-three is awesome for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and I’m really happy about that. We had a tough start and day one put us out of position, so we were a bit on the backfoot from there. We opened the stage on a couple of difficult days, but we tried to recover as much as we could and to get a podium is a great result. Well done Seth and Andrew for taking the win.”

Seth Quintero: “It feels absolutely amazing to win, and to get back-to-back wins is simply incredible. Coming away with the World Championship lead means it’s been a great week. Rallye du Maroc was brutal, but the team worked so hard to give me the car I needed every single day. I couldn’t be happier to be part of this awesome TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC family. Now I’m looking forward to the last round where there is everything to fight for.”

Akira Miura: “Firstly, congratulations to Seth and Andrew for their victory, and to Henk and Brett for finishing on the podium. It’s a great result for the team. These five days have been a good experience for me and Armand. We tried many things with the team and built up our confidence. Of course I was aiming for a better overall result, but we will keep pushing until the end of the season. Thanks to the team and all the TGR fans for their support.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 5 result*

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional result*

*Correct at time of publication

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) delivered a powerful team performance on Stage 4 to take a one-two lead into the final day of Rallye du Maroc, the fourth round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

Friday’s action consisted of a high-speed 319 km timed section, which featured challenging navigation and a demanding variety of surfaces. The loop north-east of Zagora started on fast-flowing tracks before passing through picturesque valleys, canyons and mountain paths. The two lead DKR GR Hilux enjoyed a trouble-free day as the team took control with just one stage to run.

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short took the overall lead after around 100 km of Stage 4 and extended their advantage over the remainder of the day. The #203 DKR GR Hilux finished sixth on the stage but more importantly, established a 2 min 45 secs lead at the top of the overall standings. They have the chance to take the lead in the drivers’ World Championship with a clean run on Stage 5.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings completed a perfect day for TGR W2RC in the overall results by moving into second place. After losing time opening Thursday’s stage, they made a rapid start today and quickly regained positions. They briefly took the stage lead within the first 100 km and were in the podium positions throughout, finishing Stage 4 in second place in the #202 DKR GR Hilux.

Akira Miura and Armand Monleón responded to their Stage 3 disappointment with a consistent day to add to their experience of desert conditions. Their challenge for the top 10 was derailed by a mechanical issue for the #204 DKR GR Hilux on Thursday, but they resumed at a competitive pace on Stage 4. Despite running in the dust of competitors ahead of them on the stage, they finished 17th, leaving them 35th overall.

After completing more than 1,000 km of timed sections so far, competitors must conquer one final stage to determine the finishing positions in this year’s Rallye du Maroc. Saturday’s Stage 5 includes a 259 km competitive section, taking crews south of Zagora and back again for the podium ceremony.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “We had a good day. We started 12th on the road and ended up eighth over the finish line so we overtook a few cars along the way. We had a little bit of dust but actually we caught the cars in good places. It was a really fast stage. I was hoping for more corners and tricky bits so we could make up more time, but most of the day was flat-out at top speed. But I’m happy, today feels like redemption after the time we lost yesterday. Now we’re ready to go out and fight on Stage 5.”

Seth Quintero: “It was another amazing day for us. I really feel like we’ve been managing this race well; we’ve pushed when we needed to and turned it down when we needed to. The DKR GR Hilux is performing brilliantly, and the team is doing a great job too. So now we’re in the lead by over two minutes and it’s incredible. There’s one more big day ahead of us and I’m sure our competitors will throw everything they’ve got at us.”

Akira Miura: “It was a nice stage and I enjoyed it. The route and the conditions felt a lot like the Dakar. Just like yesterday we tried to push, but we were running in dust for long periods, so it was difficult to keep up a good pace. Tomorrow we should have a better starting position and that should help. The target is to get to the end of this tough rally.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 4 result*

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional standings after Stage 4*

*Correct at time of publication

After Thursday’s short opening super special stage, crews now faced two loops of demanding gravel stages in the north-east of the island. Although the rally is taking place four months later than usual, the conditions have so far remained dry, dusty and rocky as usual.

As the top three in the championship coming into the deciding round, GR YARIS Rally1 drivers Elfyn Evans, Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg faced some of the toughest conditions running at the front of the road order, each one cleaning a line through the loose sandy gravel for everyone else behind to follow.

Solberg, with a 21-point gap to close to Evans, led the rally coming into the day but dropped to seventh after the morning’s first stage having sustained a loss of tyre pressure near the end. He fought back strongly, winning the morning’s final test to move back up to third place ahead of Pajari, who enjoyed a consistently strong morning. Sébastien Ogier also lost time with tyre damage in SS3 but ended the morning fifth, with Evans rounding out the top six.

Continuing to push in the afternoon, Solberg came close to another stage win on the second pass of the loop’s final test and finished the day in third overall, 12.3 seconds away from leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).

Ogier moved ahead of Pajari for fourth in the day’s final stage by 2.8s, while Evans ended the day just over a minute back from the lead in sixth and still leading the virtual championship standings.

Takamoto Katsuta is ninth overall having stopped to change a wheel and tyre in SS4 and conceded more time with further loss of tyre pressure later in the day.

Gus Greensmith leads Roope Korhonen in a GR Yaris Rally2 one-two in the WRC2 category, with Teemu Suninen slipping from first to seventh after he had to stop and change a tyre in the day’s final stage.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“This was a demanding day as expected, especially for our drivers who were running at the front of the road order and sweeping a line through the loose gravel. Compared to Elfyn and Sami in front of him, Oliver had more chance to attack from third on the road and he used that really well, keeping himself within striking distance of the two Hyundai drivers, Neuville and Fourmaux. That certainly keeps the championship fight interesting with two days to go, but I think that Elfyn and Sami also did what they could today and avoided any problems, so nobody’s chances are over and it will be exciting to follow again tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a tough day, like we anticipated in our position. We didn’t make a bad start this morning, and generally everything has felt quite OK in the car, but the stage times were just not where we would have wanted them to be, especially this afternoon. We at least managed to avoid trouble, which is important, and our position overall is not far off what we could have hoped for today. Tomorrow our road position will be much better, and although it might be tricky to try and close any gaps ahead, we just need to keep doing what we can and keep ourselves in a good position.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“We didn’t have the best day today; we would have hoped to be higher than fourth tonight. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way this morning and most of our time loss came with this puncture. After that I was probably a bit too cautious, trying to avoid every stone and stay out of trouble, and so we weren’t especially fast. It wasn’t an ideal day but we will try to be better tomorrow, hope we can focus on enjoying the driving, and see what happens.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s been a great day for us. I think we can be happy with the job we’ve done considering our road position. We were unfortunate to lose about six seconds with the puncture in the first stage this morning, but lucky on the other hand not to lose more time. I was a bit cautious on the second pass of that stage to avoid another issue, but on the other two stages we pushed quite hard and had a good feeling in the car. We will just continue with the same strategy tomorrow, trying to avoid trouble but also see if we can close the gaps in front with more equal road positions.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s been a frustrating day for us. The conditions on the stages were pretty rough, and we were trying to get through without any problems. Unfortunately we had to stop and change a tyre in the third stage of the loop – it seems that we were not the only ones to have issues in that one. Going into the afternoon we were hoping to avoid any further issues, but still we lost some time with some punctures. Hopefully tomorrow we can have a cleaner day and find a good feeling.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s been a tricky day but I feel like we probably did all that we could. It’s difficult to judge our performance given the road positions, as we were quicker than Elfyn in all the stages but not as fast as Oliver. I was quite happy with the job that we did in the morning, and we were not too far away, but the afternoon seemed to be more difficult and unfortunately we just lost one position at the end. At least we have avoided any issues, so we are still in the fight and nothing is lost. Tomorrow our road position should be better and let’s see if our pace can also be stronger and we can keep up the fight.”

End of day two (Friday):
1 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1h25m04.9s
2 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +0.4s
3 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +12.3s
4 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +37.4s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +40.2s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m08.9s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m21.1s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m26.5s
9 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m27.2s
10 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m39.9s
(Results as of 18:00 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Saturday’s route follows a similar format to Friday with two loops of stages run either side of service, although it is slightly longer at 123.66 competitive kilometres and includes a completely new test – Salorche – to round out each loop.

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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) overcame a demanding Stage 3 of the Rallye du Maroc to strengthen its chances in the fourth round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

Harsh conditions and changing surfaces put the crews to the test on an incident-filled day in the Moroccan desert, which ended with two DKR GR Hilux pickups in the top five.

The 363 km timed section of Stage 3 took crews on a loop north-east towards Errachidia, initially on treacherous rocky tracks. The route then passed through sand dunes on the northern edge of the Sahara Desert during a fast final section on the return to Zagora.

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short stayed on course to close the gap to the World Championship leaders. They lost three minutes very early on Stage 3 but responded well with consistent pace to regain ground. The #203 DKR GR Hilux took third place in the final kilometres and is now second overall, just 3 mins 20 secs behind the new leaders, Carlos Sainz and David Oliveras (Ford Racing)

After winning Stage 2, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings faced the additional difficulty of being the first car on stage today. They ran in the podium positions early on but slipped back due to a combination of a puncture, a one-minute penalty and navigational challenges. Despite finishing the stage in 12th, the #202 DKR GR Hilux remains well placed in the overall standings in fifth, just over two minutes off the podium with two stages and 643 km of timed action remaining.

Akira Miura and Armand Monleón initially continued their strong form in Morocco and ran inside the top 10 for much of Stage 3. However, their good progress ended in the final 100 km when their #204 DKR GR Hilux stopped with a mechanical issue. They resumed after a long delay, and are now 44th overall.

Only two stages remain in this year’s Rallye du Maroc. Friday’s action features the longest timed stage of the event, at 384 km, which heads north-east of Zagora on a loop. The rally concludes on Saturday with a 259 km competitive section.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “It wasn’t a good day for us. We had to open the road, which is always tricky, especially today in the dunes. We were going well, and the times were looking good, until just after 100 km. Then it started to go wrong. It was tricky opening the dunes because there were no lines and it was very difficult to see the route. We made it safely through, but then we missed the road in one spot, then had a puncture, then got lost again. We lost a lot of time, and it wasn’t our cleanest day, but we’re still in it and we’ll push flat-out tomorrow.”

Seth Quintero: “It was a decent day for us, but it was very difficult. There were a lot of dangers that were not well marked. The team did an amazing job to get the car to the end without problems on a stage like this. It’s very impressive and shows the durability of the DKR GR Hilux. We managed as best we could and ended up third on stage and second overall. So, everything is still to play for, and the championship is looking better every day. I’ll keep working hard to keep this going.”

Akira Miura: “We had some bad luck today, unfortunately. We were pushing a bit more than yesterday and we were looking good, with some strong pace. But we suffered a technical problem with less than 100 km left in the stage, which was a pity. But we are still in the rally and we’ll keep pushing tomorrow.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 3 result*

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional standings after Stage 3*

*Correct at time of publication

Solberg is one of three GR YARIS Rally1 drivers competing to be crowned world champion for the first time this weekend, along with Elfyn Evans and Sami Pajari. Evans has a lead of 17 points over Pajari and 21 over Solberg.

Fresh from a victory in the last rally in Chile, Solberg also set the fastest time during the morning’s pre-event shakedown as teams and drivers made final checks and tweaks before the competitive action got underway.

In the afternoon’s 2.21-kilometre Ittiri Arena super special, Solberg led a 1-2-3-4 for TGR-WRT. He was quickest by 0.8 seconds over Sébastien Ogier, who set a new record as he started his 214th WRC event, surpassing the tally of his Team Principal, Jari-Matti Latvala.

Evans and Pajari raced side-by-side through the stage and were also among the frontrunners on the leaderboard in third and fourth, 1.1s and 1.5s from the lead respectively.

GR Yaris Rally2 driver Teemu Suninen claimed an early lead in the WRC2 category in 10th overall.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“It’s exciting to be here in Sardinia, which hosts the final rally of the season for the first time and what I’m sure will be an epic battle between three of our crews; the first time that three are all fighting to become world champion for the first time in the deciding event. This is always a tough rally and it seems unlikely that anything will be settled before the end of the last stage on Sunday. The most important thing for all three contenders in this first stage was to get through it cleanly, but they all set good times as well, so we can see they are up for the fight before the real challenge begins tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s good to get this final rally started. Everything’s feeling alright and this first stage went fine for us, but we know that the real challenge will start tomorrow morning. The later date for the rally this year hasn’t changed the demands of this rally: after a long and hot summer it’s still looking very dry and loose, so it could be tough tomorrow running first on the road. We’re not in a position to just cruise around, so the target like normal needs to be to drive well from the start, try to stay in touch and see how things play out.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“It was a great way to start the weekend with this arena show stage and very nice to see so many fans there; we always feel the passion for motorsport when we’re on Italian soil. Tomorrow the real business will start, and it can be a tough weekend for the cars and the tyres. We’ll do our best to stay out of trouble, try to enjoy it and fight for a last win with this car. I’m proud to have been able to be competitive for so long, and hopefully we can achieve a strong result to match this record start.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s always nice to start the rally with a stage win, but there’s a long and tough rally ahead. Even though it’s the last rally and we have a gap to close, it’s not as straightforward as just driving flat out. Sardinia is always challenging and the stages are surprisingly dry, so it won’t be easy. We’ve still got to get to the end without trouble to stay in the fight, so the plan is to have a clean weekend, try our very best and hopefully still be in with a chance on Sunday. If everything goes well and with maybe a bit of luck on my side, everything is possible.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s nice to see so many fans already watching this first stage of the rally; it seems like a lot of people have arrived on the island to watch this last rally of the year! It’s always nice to be here and we’ll try to make a good rally. It seems like it’s going to be very challenging like always with the conditions. Everybody will want to attack and enjoy this last rally, but I think we need to be clever and find the right balance.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“Stage one was quite an exciting first taste for this weekend, with lots of fans and a bit of sliding here and there, but from tomorrow onwards I think everyone can expect quite a wild ride. The championship is not fully in our hands and we will most likely need a bit of luck, but at the same time we have to go for it, because if we are slow, it won’t just come our way. The risk of an issue can be higher if you try to push, but hopefully we find a good pace from tomorrow morning and can put up a good challenge.”

End of day one (Thursday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2m01.4s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +0.8s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.1s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.5s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2.3s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2.7s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3.0s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3.7s
9 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +4.2s
10 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4.6s
(Results as of 17:00 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
The first full day of the rally consists of two loops of three stages using familiar roads in new configurations in the north-east of the island, separated by mid-day service in Alghero and totalling 119.66 competitive kilometres.

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TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) won Stage 2 of the Rallye du Maroc and moved into contention for overall victory after a gruelling day of action across harsh terrain in the penultimate round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

In temperatures of more than 30°C, the 300 km timed section of Stage 2 was particularly challenging with regularly changing conditions testing both crews and their DKR GR Hilux pickups.  

Starting at more than 1,000 metres above sea level, the route began south-west of Zagora and descended sharply on rocky tracks before the first sandy section, through dried riverbeds. Sand dunes followed before the stage looped eastwards and the terrain alternated between slow, rocky surfaces and soft sand through to the finish. Despite the difficulties, TGR W2RC made progress and has the podium in its sights, with two cars in the top 10.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings – 10th after Stage 1 – fought for victory from the beginning. They took the lead inside the opening half of the stage, before dropping to second going into the final kilometres. However, they reclaimed top spot shortly before the end and earned a stage win which moves the #202 DKR GR Hilux into second overall, just 28 seconds behind leaders Lucas Moraes and Pablo Moreno (Dacia Sandriders).

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short started the day in seventh and initially lost ground early in Stage 2. However, they worked hard to minimise the damage and stay on course to earn valuable World Championship points after finishing Stage 2 in seventh. The #203 DKR GR Hilux remains seventh overall, within three minutes of the podium positions.

Akira Miura and Armand Monleón built on their strong performance in the opening stage by continuing to gain positions in the overall standings in the #204 DKR GR Hilux. They finished the stage in 15th place and have climbed to 14th overall.

The crews have three days and more than 1,000 km of competition remaining, continuing on Thursday with Stage 3. It consists of another loop around Zagora, this time touching the northern edge of the Sahara Desert on a 591 km route which includes a 363 km timed section.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “It was a really nice day, much better than yesterday. The car was performing really well, mechanically sound all day. The goal this morning was not to get out of the car and we managed that. Brett did a great job on the navigation. I just managed the pace and tried to make sure we didn’t get punctures or other trouble. I’m really happy with how it went. It has been a big day for us, and we’ve pulled ourselves back into contention. Now we have to open the road, which is always difficult, but we’ll keep pushing.”

Seth Quintero: “It was a decent day for us, just unfortunate that we had some navigation errors which cost us a few minutes. We are five minutes off the overall lead, which is not the best position, but we will push to improve it. It was an amazing job for Henk to get the win. It’s awesome for the team, and brings good points, so I’m super happy for him. For us, we are in front of our championship rivals and hopefully we can keep it that way. There are three long days to go.”

Akira Miura: “It was a difficult stage because we had to change our pace depending on the terrain to manage the risks. It was not easy, but we made it without trouble. The dune section was great fun. We pushed and really felt the sand surfing. Navigation was tricky today, but Armand helped a lot and allowed us to continue at a good pace. We’ll try to keep this going consistently and get more experience over the rest of the rally.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 2 result*

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional standings after Stage 2*

*Correct at time of publication

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing W2RC (TGR W2RC) overcame adversity to stay in the fight after the opening day of Rallye du Maroc, the penultimate round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

Three DKR GR Hilux pickups took the start in North Africa as the team looked to maintain the positive momentum from victory in the previous round in Argentina in May. Challenging terrain and gruelling conditions made life difficult for the crews, but TGR W2RC ended the opening day with two cars in the top 10.

In temperatures exceeding 30°C, Stage 1 took crews eastwards from the coastal city of Agadir to Zagora, near the Algerian border. Competitors faced a stony surface on a steep descent during the opening section before a gradual climb as the route became faster and passed through large sand dunes.

The stage began with an extremely close fight and just 10 seconds separated the top five, including two DKR GR Hilux, after 100 km of competition. However, soon after, both the leading DKR GR Hilux hit trouble which compromised their performance on the remainder of their stage.

Seth Quintero and navigator Andrew Short – who are just 13 points off the World Championship lead after victory in Argentina – started third on the road and were in podium contention in the early stages. The #203 DKR GR Hilux lost time with a puncture, but they nevertheless ended the day in a promising seventh, 3mins 28secs off the lead.

Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings were running as high as third after 100 km before dropping back, also due to a puncture and other issues. Despite that, the #202 DKR GR Hilux crew was 10th, 5mins 17secs behind the stage-winning TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa duo of Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro.

Akira Miura completed another productive day alongside his experienced navigator Armand Monleón. Multiple Dakar Rally class winner Miura is in his first season of top-level W2RC competition and gained more experience of desert conditions during Stage 1. Consistent, strong pace saw the #204 DKR GR Hilux move up the order during the day, and they were running in 15th before a late puncture dropped them to 18th place.

The challenge continues on Wednesday’s Stage 2. The 423 km route travels into the desert on a loop south-west of Zagora, and includes 300 km of competitive action on a mix of rocky tracks and sand dunes.

Quotes:

Henk Lategan: “It was not the day we were hoping for because we had to do damage limitation. It was going okay for the first 100 km; we were running a good pace. Then we were in the dust of a bike and hit a rock, which gave us a puncture. Shortly after that, we experienced a technical issue. We had a long way to go, so we were just nursing the car to the finish. I’m a bit frustrated, but that can happen when you try new things. It’s not over. We have plenty of time to catch up, we have a nice road position, and this race will have more things to say.”

Seth Quintero: “The car was working really well early in the stage, and we were moving up the rankings. Being third on the road wasn’t easy but we did a very good job in the first 100 km. Unfortunately, we got a puncture and the jack wouldn’t come down, so we lost some time. Then we had to manage a technical issue and just make sure we got the car to the finish line. Despite that, I’m happy with the result considering we were among the first cars on stage. Our championship rivals are behind us, so it was a good day.”

Akira Miura: “It was tough stage, because we were running in the dust a lot of the time. But both Armand and I stayed concentrated, and we could keep up a steady pace. The result could have been even better if it wasn’t for the puncture 30 km before the end. Despite that, it was a good day overall and we have a decent starting position for Stage 2. We’ll keep pushing together with the team to get the best possible result.”

Rallye du Maroc – Provisional Stage 1 result*

   *Correct at time of publication

We achieved victory at our home race, the 6 Hours of Fuji.

To all the fans who fought alongside us.

To everyone who came to the circuit and continued supporting us until the very end.

And to everyone around the world who cheered for us.

Thank you very much.

First, I would like to say something to our drivers and to everyone in the team.

Congratulations on this victory. And thank you, truly.

Winning our home race is never easy.

With so many fans watching, you turned expectations into strength, overcame immense pressure, and delivered the result. I am truly proud of what you achieved.

Of course, I am happy that we won.

But what makes me even happier, and prouder, is the process that led to this result.

With "For the Engineering Race" in our hearts, every individual continued to refine their skills, learn from past failures, communicate openly, support one another, and build a stronger team.

The engineers continued racking their brains until the very end.

The mechanics continued believing in the car and maintaining it in the best possible condition.

The strategy team made courageous decisions in rapidly changing circumstances.

And the drivers continued pushing beyond their limits, believing in both their team-mates and the car.

No one wins a race alone.

Each person fulfilled their role, trusted one another, supported each other, and fought until the very end. That is why we were able to achieve this victory.

This was not a victory earned through speed alone.

It was a victory earned through human effort.

And today, we stood on the top step of the podium for the third time this season.

Rather than being a one-off success, it feels like everything we have built together is beginning to turn into genuine strength.

After Le Mans, I said that "the team has changed".

Morizo-san has continued to pursue ever-better car-making through motorsports, nurtured team-mates who embrace challenges, and created an environment where those team-mates can fully demonstrate their abilities.

Because of that, we have been able to believe in our own path and move forward with confidence.

Presenting the Le Mans winner's trophy to Morizo-san was the moment we fulfilled a promise.

However, that trophy was never the finish line.

It represents the resolve of our engineers.

The hard work of the team-mates who sweated on the front lines.

And the passion of every team member who believed in our potential and continued to take on challenges.

To refine our technology.

To trust our team-mates.

And to continue challenging ourselves in the pursuit of becoming the best in the world.

That is TOYOTA RACING.

Thank you for your continued support of TOYOTA RACING.

With just an hour remaining, the TR010 HYBRIDs were out of podium contention after experiencing different setbacks against strong Hypercar competition. But, in front of a 72,326-strong weekend crowd, a bold strategy turned the race on its head, and determined driving earned a tense win.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa won the race in their #8 TR010 HYBRID and took the lead in the drivers’ standings with two races remaining in the season. The team’s 10th victory at Fuji stretches its advantage in the manufacturers’ championship to 23 points.

Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries recovered from their own setbacks to finish eighth and stay in the title battle, in second, 10 points behind their team-mates.

After poor weather caused qualifying to be cancelled, the TR010 HYBRIDs had ground to make up to challenge at the front. The #8 started from eighth with the #7 in 13th when the race began on a damp track. Sébastien quickly made up two positions while Nyck’s race was disrupted by a puncture inside the first half-hour. A promising fightback was then interrupted by a spin due to contact with the #35 Alpine early in the second hour.

The TR010 HYBRIDs battled their way into top six contention during the opening three hours, but the second half started with frustration. Early in the fifth hour, Brendon was pushed into a spin by the #007 Aston Martin at turn one. At the next pit stops soon after, Ryō took the wheel in sixth. Kamui was seventh until a drive-through penalty for speeding under a full course yellow dropped the #7 to 12th.

However, a safety car with 55 minutes to go enabled a bold strategic call from the #8 crew. Engineers correctly anticipated a longer interruption due to barrier repairs, so the #8 was refuelled accordingly, and did not change tyres. Ryō therefore led the race when it resumed with 20 minutes remaining. As the rain fell and under intense pressure, he held off the #36 Alpine and crossed the line 0.591secs ahead. Kamui made up two positions in the final minutes to finish eighth.

The World Championship battle now returns to Europe for the penultimate round of the season, the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona on 18 October at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Winning at Fuji is very important for us so congratulations to the whole team for this victory, and particularly the car #8 crew who did such a strong race. Everyone worked so hard for this, and we all kept fighting until the very end. For our car, it was a bit of a difficult day and I don’t think we had a clean enough race. We were a little bit off the pace generally, so we were always chasing and that defined our day.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “A great result in the end for car #8. They deserved that one after a great call on the last stop to jump everyone in the pits. So well done to them. As a team we scored good points today and won in front of our home fans, which always feels great. On our car, the penalty took us out of contention. Unfortunately, that means we lost some ground in the drivers’ championship but there are still two races to go, and we’ll do our best to get back on top.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “This is a great result for the team and I’m super happy that TOYOTA RACING was able to win at home in Japan. I think this makes everyone very, very proud. We scored a few points with our car but of course we hoped for more. I think several things could have gone differently and been done better but that's racing. We need to focus instead on a great team victory and celebrate a very good day for the team.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “This is one of our best wins in a long time. I’m really proud of this one, especially because it was completely unexpected going into the last part of the race. The team made a great call on the last pit stop and it was enough to jump ahead of everyone. An amazing strategy move. And then of course, Ryō kept everyone behind and didn’t make any mistakes in difficult conditions. All in all, it was an amazing win.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “What an incredible race and home win. I’m so happy for Ryō to take the flag at his home race. It's a really nice feeling that we're going to enjoy for a while. We didn't have the ultimate pace but with good execution, no mistakes on track, and an amazing strategy at the end, we came away with the home win. Massive thanks for everyone on the team.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It’s amazing to be on the top step of the podium in front of our fans. Of course, we always pushed to get a victory but until the last safety car, it didn’t look possible. The team did a great job on strategy. This win is for them. The last few laps were really stressful. The track conditions were quite tricky, and the Alpine was closing quite fast. I was able to manage it, so I’m really happy, especially in Fuji. It’s a really special feeling and also good for the World Championship.”

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Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa will line up eighth in their #8 TR010 HYBRID while Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries start from 13th in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

The fastest laps of the weekend so far were recorded in Friday’s dry practice sessions. Saturday morning’s final session took place in wet conditions before the rain intensified.

Fans can follow the race – starting at 11am local time (4am CEST) via the onboard camera streams at www.toyota-racing.com/fuji-special-2026.

Away from the track action, a press conference at Fuji Speedway today announced TOYOTA RACING’s expanded partnership with MissionH24, an initiative to decarbonise motorsports supported by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest. TOYOTA RACING will supply a 3.5-litre, V6 hydrogen combustion engine to MissionH24 for use in its future prototype. Hydrogen engines retain the sounds and sensations of a traditional engine but create zero CO2 emissions during driving.

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The team aims to extend its lead in the World Championship by winning in front of its home supporters for the 10th time. To do so, it must overcome a 17-car Hypercar field and Friday’s two 90-minute free practice sessions showed the intensity of the competition. Less than a second separated the top 15 cars after a day of dry running on the foothills of Mount Fuji.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa were fastest in the opening session before ending the day eighth in their #8 TR010 HYBRID. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings were 13th fastest in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

With its long straight and mix of high- and low-speed corners, Fuji Speedway is challenging for drivers and engineers alike. Both crews, therefore, had a comprehensive programme of mechanical and aerodynamic set-up comparisons, to optimise their cars for the demands of Sunday’s race.

The TR010 HYBRIDs hit the track for the first time in the morning, in warm and dry conditions. A trouble-free session allowed engineers and drivers to make progress on set-ups and strategies. Ryō set the fastest lap of the session in the opening minutes, while Nyck’s best time earned eighth place for the #7.

Despite an initial forecast of rain for the afternoon, the weather stayed dry for second practice. This allowed the team to analyse the soft and medium Michelin tyres whilst also adjusting set-ups to improve balance over long stints. Ryō again recorded the #8 car’s best lap, with Kamui doing so in the #7.

With rain forecast on Saturday, third practice will be an important chance to adjust the TR010 HYBRIDs before qualifying. Qualifying begins at 2.40pm local time (7.40am CEST) and fans can follow it – as well as the race – live via the onboard camera streams at www.toyota-racing.com/fuji-special-2026.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Of course, it's nice to be back in front of our Japanese fans and it’s always fun to drive here. In terms of the car set-up, we still need to work on some things for the race. We had dry conditions today but unfortunately, we expect some rain tomorrow, so we need to prepare for that as well. We will do our best whatever the weather.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “We spent the two sessions just trying to find a bit more pace in the car and I think we did okay. The lap times look pretty close, so every small improvement can have a big impact. Let’s see what the weather brings because that can change the picture. Either way, we’re trying to get most out of our car in all conditions.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I think it was a decent day. It was nice to get some dry running in and get prepared in case we have a dry race. We don’t know exactly what the weather will do on Sunday, so it's good to have covered that today. We’re looking forward to welcoming all our Japanese friends and colleagues to the track this weekend. We'll do our best for them.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “We've been here since Sunday so it's nice to finally get to drive the car. These sessions could be the driest day of the weekend. Nevertheless, we tried to learn as much as we could. We drove both specifications of tyre, and I think we have a good picture now. We tested a few things, so we have a lot of data to analyse. Hopefully we’ll improve our overall package for the weekend.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was an okay day, and we’ve ended up with a balance that we're pretty happy with. After FP1 we made changes for FP2 which actually went in the wrong direction, but this is still important learning, and it helped us to understand where we are in dry conditions. There could be rain tomorrow, but who knows for the race, so it was important to go through our programme today.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “The main target today was to prepare for the race. But at the same time, knowing the risk of rain tomorrow, we also tried a qualifying simulation at the start of each session before focusing on race set-ups. It’s very close in Hypercar and we are in the mix, looking at the lap times. We just need to fine-tune and find a little bit more lap time.”

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The intense Italian island event will decide the winners of the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles after the FIA and WRC Promoter confirmed that Rally Saudi Arabia, scheduled for November, will not form part of the 2026 WRC season.

Sardinia will therefore also host the end of an era and the farewell WRC event for the highly successful GR YARIS Rally1 car before new technical regulations are introduced for 2027. Across five seasons, the GR YARIS Rally1 has established itself as one of the most successful cars in WRC history with 47 victories – more than any other model under any previous set of regulations.

TGR-WRT will arrive in Sardinia having already secured a record-equalling sixth successive manufacturers’ title on the last round in Chile, and knowing that one of its crews will win the drivers’ and co-drivers’ crowns for the seventh time in eight years.

With 35 points available from the final round, Elfyn Evans leads the drivers’ standings by 17 points over Sami Pajari and 21 over Oliver Solberg, with one of these three drivers now guaranteed to achieve the dream of becoming world champion.

Welsh driver Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin will look to crown another strong and consistent campaign, in which they have taken impressive victories in Sweden and Japan and led the championship since round five in the Canary Islands in April, continuing to score highly while opening the road on mostly loose gravel rallies.

While a title for Evans would be the culmination of seven seasons spent fighting for victories and championship honours with TGR-WRT, his two young challengers have the opportunity to crown breakthrough seasons of their own.

Finnish driver Pajari, 24, has shone in his second full season driving Rally1 machinery and surged firmly into championship contention along with co-driver Marko Salminen when the pair achieved their first three WRC victories back-to-back in Estonia, Finland and Paraguay – something nobody had ever done before.

Swedish driver Solberg, who turned 25 on September 23, started his first full season with TGR-WRT with a victory on the legendary Rallye Monte-Carlo in January, before he and co-driver Elliott Edmondson boosted their title hopes with a second win in Chile earlier this month.

While nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, fourth in the standings, can no longer claim a record 10th title this year, he will set a new benchmark for the number of WRC starts in Sardinia when he begins his 214th event – surpassing the tally reached by Team Principal, Jari-Matti Latvala, on his one-off appearance at Rally Finland earlier this year. Ogier is the most successful driver in the history of the Sardinian event, claiming his fifth win there in 2025 alongside co-driver Vincent Landais.

Takamoto Katsuta is another driver to have achieved a breakout year with his first two WRC victories in Kenya and Croatia, in the process becoming the first Japanese driver to lead the drivers’ standings. He is set to reunite in Sardinia with regular co-driver Aaron Johnston, who missed Chile while recovering from a collarbone injury.

In WRC2, GR Yaris Rally2 drivers Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen are among those competing in Sardinia with a chance to finish as championship runner-up. Joining them in the class are Gus Greensmith, Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Fabio Schwarz and Johannes Keferböck, while Italian driver Matteo Fontana, the 2025 champion and 2026 champion-elect in the WRC3 category, makes his WRC2 debut. Luis Arceluz and Martin Grigg also enter the rally in GR Yaris Rally2 cars.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto will not take part in Sardinia, a decision taken jointly to provide him with the best opportunity to reset and focus on his continued development. Yamamoto has shown progress with his pace and performances this season, securing a maiden WRC2 podium at Rally Japan, and the Program continues to support him in his training and preparation to return stronger in the future.

Usually run in June, Rally Italia Sardegna moves to an October date for the first time since 2020. Even if temperatures may not be quite as high as in summer, they could still combine with the rocky and abrasive base – which gets exposed as each passing car sweeps away the sandy surface – to test tyres and cars. At the same time, the change in season could increase the chances of changeable weather conditions blowing in off the Mediterranean Sea.

For this year the rally’s base alternates once more from Olbia to the historic city of Alghero on the northwest coast, and the event begins with an opening super special stage at the nearby Ittiri rallycross circuit on Thursday evening. Friday features two loops of three stages on familiar roads to the north-east, separated by mid-day service. Saturday has a similar format in a similar area but includes a completely new stage to round out each loop: Solorche. Sunday consists of two returning stages in the north-west run twice, with a final tyre-fitting zone before the second pass of Sassari-Argentiera serves as the season-ending Power Stage.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“This has been another amazing season for our team, with all five of our crews winning multiple rounds of the WRC, and a record-equalling manufacturers’ championship under our belt. It’s going to be very special to go to Sardinia with three of our crews fighting to become world champion for the first time. For our team, the most important thing is to provide them all with a strong and reliable car so that they can have an even fight. We know that Sardinia can be a rough rally with a lot of rocks, so it can be hard for the tyres and the drivers will need to calculate the risks they take. Elfyn has driven another great season as we have come to expect from him, and while he may have the most difficult position opening the road in Sardinia, he also has a lot of experience he can rely on in this situation. Sami has grown a lot during this year, and Oliver has bounced back strongly to stay in the fight, and it’s an exciting opportunity for both of them to challenge for a title for the first time. We’re looking forward to a fair fight and a fitting finale for our GR YARIS Rally1 car.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Our approach for Sardinia doesn’t change just because it’s the last rally of the season: we have to go there and have the best rally that we can. We’ve worked hard to put ourselves in this position, holding on to the lead through a difficult run of gravel rallies. Sami and Oliver have been driving well, and with so many points still available, especially on Sunday, we know things will most likely remain open until the end. We just need to drive it like a normal rally and focus on doing the best job we can. Sardinia is usually not an easy rally to open the road on, and although we might be more likely to see some rain at this time of year, which could help reduce the cleaning effect for us, we have to prepare for a demanding event like usual.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Sardinia is a rally that I have always enjoyed going to during my career. While the island itself is beautiful, the rally is really demanding and it took me a few years to master it, but it was very satisfying to win there again last year after a close fight right until the end. I also remember driving there in October a couple of times before, and it can still be really challenging at this time of year, especially with weather that can change very quickly when you’re on an island. Now that the team has secured another manufacturers’ title, and that we officially no longer have a chance in the drivers’ championship, our target will be to enjoy driving this great car one last time and, of course, try to achieve one more victory to end the season.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“The championship has looked like a long shot for us at times this year but we never gave up. It was great to get back into the fight with our result in Chile and go into this last rally with a shot at the title. It’s a big gap to Elfyn to try to close in one rally, but we will give it everything of course, and in a rally like Sardinia, anything can still happen. The stages are challenging, with fast sections where you need good commitment, as well as more technical parts where you have to be more patient. I don’t have so much experience there, especially in the top category, but we had a good run to win the Rally2 class last year and we just have to aim for the top step once more and see what happens.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“I’m looking forward to Sardinia. The rally is really demanding but it’s one that I always enjoy going to with a nice atmosphere around it, and it will be interesting to drive there this time as the final round of the season. We’ve had some really good moments this year, as well as some tougher ones more recently, but the team is really supporting me a lot and now I’m just focused on coming back stronger and having a positive end to the season – and enjoying the last event with this Rally1 car. Our road position, being sixth on the road, should be better for us – if it doesn’t rain – and hopefully it can be a good opportunity for us.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s really nice to be in the fight for the championship with only one rally to go, and I’m looking forward to it. I just need to do the best that I can, like in every single rally, so nothing really changes on my side. The gaps closed up between the top three in Chile but Elfyn still has the advantage in the points; anything is still possible and we’ll focus on doing what we can. Sardinia is a rally that I normally like a lot. The stages are quite twisty and most of them are pretty narrow, but I’ve been able to do quite well there in the past. Now we’re going at a different time of year but I don’t expect it to affect the nature of the rally too much, even if the temperatures may not be quite as high as usual.”

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The team is ready to respond following a cruel finish to the last race in Austin earlier this month, when a technical issue snatched victory from its grasp with just 11 minutes remaining. Despite that, TOYOTA RACING extended its advantage in the manufacturers’ World Championship to nine points going into the sixth race of the season.

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who came so close to victory in Austin in their #7 TR010 HYBRID, are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa recovered from misfortunes in Austin to finish a battling sixth in their #8 TR010 HYBRID and close the gap to just 11 points with three races remaining.

Victory at Fuji Speedway to complement its Le Mans win in June is the target for the team’s home event, at a venue with particular significance. The Higashi-Fuji Technical Center – where the TR010 HYBRID’s powertrain is designed, developed and built – is just a short drive from the circuit.

Every year, many team members from Higashi-Fuji, as well as TOYOTA colleagues and team partners, visit Fuji Speedway to show their strong support. Since the start of its hybrid WEC project in 2012, the team has rewarded its home fans with results to celebrate, with nine wins from 12 races – including six one-twos.

Fuji Speedway is also a demanding circuit for car and driver. The 1.475km start-finish straight – on which cars exceed 315km/h – contrasts with the tight third sector, which requires aerodynamic and mechanical grip, as well as strong traction out of the corners. To optimise set-ups, engineers and drivers have worked intensively on the driving simulator at the team’s base in Cologne, Germany.

Away from the on-track action, a range of activities are offered to visitors in the fan zone, including vehicle displays and interactive attractions. At the ‘Mechanic Experience’ area, visitors can experience the pressure and excitement of a WEC pit stop via a tyre-change challenge on an actual Hypercar. Other highlights include photo opportunities with the Le Mans winner's trophy, driver appearances, and official merchandise sales, helping fans enjoy their time at the circuit even away from on-track sessions. For more information, visit the dedicated website: https://toyota-racing.com/jp/fuji-special-2026/

Live onboard camera streams will also be available during qualifying and the race via the website. Hypercar qualifying begins at 2.40pm local time (7.40am CEST) on Saturday 26 September, while the race starts at 11am (4am CEST) the following day.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We are expecting a lot of Japanese fans supporting us and we are very much looking forward to coming home. It’s an important race, not only for the World Championship, but because it’s our home race and the second most important of the season, after Le Mans. Obviously, we want to fight for the win, particularly in front of all our TOYOTA colleagues, partners and fans. It’s always a big target for us at the start of every season and we’ll give everything to achieve it.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “We all look forward to Fuji because it’s our home race and being in Japan is so cool. It's always a lot of fun to catch up with our partners and our colleagues at TOYOTA. Driving a TR010 HYBRID around Fuji will be a lot of fun too because it's a very technical circuit, not easy to get right. We've had great results there in the past, and I hope we can do so again this year.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It's a special week for us because it’s a true home race. We obviously have a lot of colleagues, friends and support in Japan and it's an opportunity to share time with them and hopefully make them proud. I like the track, it’s fun to drive around, and the location is fantastic. So, I'm excited about this race, when hopefully we can put Austin behind us.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “Fuji is a big race for us, and winning there is always one of our priorities. It’s an amazing week with the support we get, and the different activities we do. Driving a Hypercar there is fun too, because you have a mix of high-speed and low-speed corners, with the long, wide straight. Traffic is tricky, and it’s not easy on the tyres, so it’s a challenging circuit.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “Fuji is a unique race for us. It's a week that I really enjoy and cherish. We have the home crowd and our colleagues there, so we feel the pride of Japan behind us. It’s a great motivation to perform well. I also enjoy the track. It's quite quirky with a nice high-speed section at the start, then the last sector with connecting long corners.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “I grew up as a racing driver at Fuji. Since my first year in Formula Challenge Japan in 2010 I have driven there, so I really know and like the track. It's just an important event for us and for me personally. It’s my only race of the year in Japan, and it’s very special to compete in front of the Japanese fans. I'm really excited and looking forward to it.”

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The team’s latest title success equals two long-standing WRC records, matching the six successive championships achieved by Lancia between 1987 and 1992, and bringing Toyota level with the Italian marque on 10 titles in total.

The result in Chile is the 11th win from 12 rallies so far this season for the GR YARIS Rally1 as well as an eighth one-two finish.

A second victory of 2026 for Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson – after their season-opening triumph at Rallye Monte-Carlo – means all five of the team’s crews have now won multiple rallies this year.

The young Swedish driver excelled in wet and muddy conditions in the opening stages on Friday morning to establish an early lead over team-mate Elfyn Evans, which he then gradually extended with smart driving across drier and more abrasive stages. Solberg ultimately secured victory by 16.6 seconds with the fastest time in the rally-ending Power Stage. 

Championship leader Evans and co-driver Scott Martin also capitalised on the wet weather at the start of the event which negated the disadvantage they have faced sweeping loose gravel roads across recent rallies. After fending off a charging Sébastien Ogier to retain second place on Saturday evening, Evans started the final day strongly with a stage win and was leading the Super Sunday classification until a cruel blow in the penultimate stage, where he stopped to change a tyre and lost two minutes, dropping to fifth position.

In the rally where he matched his Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala’s all-time record of 213 WRC starts, Ogier also equalled Sébastien Loeb’s record tally of 120 podium finishes. Sixth after Friday morning’s first stage, Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais fought back strongly thereafter to finish second overall and topped the Super Sunday classification by 3.8s over Solberg.

Evans recovered from his penultimate stage setback to take second in the Power Stage, half a second behind Solberg and 0.1s ahead of nearest championship rival Sami Pajari, who saw his unprecedented streak of three successive maiden victories come to an end but still secured a solid fourth place finish alongside co-driver Marko Salminen. 

Evans continues to lead the drivers’ championship by 17 points over Pajari and 21 over Solberg with two rounds remaining on the schedule.

After getting stuck on the edge of the road in Friday’s opening stage, Takamoto Katsuta restarted on Saturday and set strong top-six times despite running first on the gravel road together with stand-in co-driver James Fulton.

*subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“Oliver, Elliott, congratulations on your victory!

This season, Takamoto won back-to-back rallies in the first half of the year, and then both Elfyn and Seb claimed their second victories of the season. Sami even went on a streak of three consecutive wins. Since their victory at the season opener, Oliver and Elliott had been unable to return to the top step of the podium, and I imagine it has not been an easy season for them. That is why I am genuinely delighted that they were finally able to secure their second win of the year here in Chile.

And thanks to that victory, the manufacturers’ championship has now been secured for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team! Congratulations to Jari-Matti, Juha, and every member of the team. Thank you all for your incredible efforts.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to our fans who continue to support us, and to all of our partners who fight alongside us throughout the season. Thank you very much.

In previous years, this was the time of year when everyone would come to Japan. Being able to celebrate our successes together and see everyone in person was always something I looked forward to. Unfortunately, we will not have that opportunity this year, and I honestly wish we could.

However, there is still plenty to look forward to this season. The battle for the drivers’ championship remains incredibly intense, and all five drivers in our team still have a chance of becoming champion.

We are a team that believes in letting our drivers compete on equal terms and decide the outcome on the stages. To everyone in the team, for the remaining two rallies, please continue to provide the drivers with cars that allow them to push to the absolute limit with confidence.

For the final two rounds, good luck to Elfyn, Sami, Oliver, Seb, and Takamoto. Give it everything you've got!”

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It’s a fantastic feeling to secure another manufacturers’ championship with this team. I was involved in some of Lancia’s championships as a driver, and some of the first titles won by Toyota, but I’m so happy to be part of this team now too. The atmosphere in the team and the way that everyone works together is fantastic, also with our drivers: when they are on the stages they are fighting each other hard and pushing for the best results, but they also get on and help each other and the team very well. This victory is very good for Oliver after a difficult period; we always knew that the talent was there and now he put a great rally together. Elfyn was very unfortunate today after a really good drive, but it will keep the drivers’ championship interesting with Sami and Oliver also up there in contention.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone in the team and thank you for their efforts this year: it’s a privilege to be part of this team and to have now won these six straight titles together. We were having a pretty solid rally here with a good start in the rain on Friday and after that we tried to keep fighting as best as we could even if we dropped away from Oliver, who did a great job. I had a good feeling in the car today and was pleased with how the first two stages went, but then we got this puncture without warning in the penultimate stage. It was very costly in terms of points but we took what we could from the Power Stage and we just have to keep pushing in what’s now a full three-way fight in the championship.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Congratulations to the whole team: one more time we are world champions altogether! Hats off to everybody at the factory and every single member of our team because winning so many years in a row is a special achievement and it’s never easy. Nobody in the team takes anything for granted and we are always trying to improve, which is the mentality I’ve always tried to have in my career, and it has been great fun driving this car. This weekend after the time we lost in the first stage it was a big fight to try and come back towards the top positions. We couldn’t quite get the win – congratulations to Oliver and Elliott who did a great job – but it’s still a podium so we have many reasons to smile.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It was always my dream to drive for Toyota and for me to be able to play a small part for the first time in winning a manufacturers’ title feels very special. It also feels incredible to be back on the top step of the podium. It has been an up-and-down season for me but the team always supported and believed in me, along with Elliott who’s been doing an amazing job, and things have really been coming together well in the last few rallies. Today it was tricky to find the right feeling on this demanding first stage, but we were able to keep a good gap and then push on the Power Stage. It’s great to also come back a bit in the championship and hopefully we can carry this momentum into the final rallies.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“I’m very proud to be part of this team and of another manufacturers’ title. At least in the two rallies this year when the team needed me to score manufacturers’ points, in Sweden and Croatia, I could achieve good results so I’m proud to feel like I could contribute as well. But this title is mainly because every single person in the team is working so hard and pushing all the time. Thank you to them for that and for supporting me in the more difficult moments. I had a difficult start to this weekend but at least I could come back strongly and take two points from the Power Stage. A big thank you to James who did an amazing job, and to Aaron who was also helping us remotely.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This was a tricky rally for us. It wasn’t the result we would have wanted and the pace was not as good as we hoped for, but today we tried to maximise what we could and we were able to gain a few important points. In the end we didn’t lose anything because Elfyn was unfortunate today, and the championship fight is getting really interesting with Oliver doing a very good job here and scoring lots of points. Congratulations to everyone in the team for securing this manufacturers’ championship. Even if we have been scoring points for TGR-WRT2 instead, it’s nice to be part of this family and I’m super happy for everyone involved.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“We had a tricky start to this rally with a half-spin in the muddy conditions of the first stage, but after that our pace was good and we could climb up the order. Unfortunately we got caught out in the last stage of Friday in a very tricky place; a fast, narrow and twisty section with a blind crest. I jumped a bit too far to the left over the crest and we landed into the bank, which bounced us across the road with a heavy impact. Thank you to everyone who took care of us and sent us messages. I’m very happy that Topi’s surgery went well and that he should return home in the coming days. This was an unfortunate finish to this South American trip and I can only say sorry to the team, thank everyone for their support and look to come back stronger.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY CHILE
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h57m08.2s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +16.6s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +33.3s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m33.9s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m22.3s
6 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +5m07.0s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +7m31.5s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +9m31.0s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m24.0s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +10m58.2s
36 Takamoto Katsuta/James Fulton (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h02m18.2s
(Results as of 15:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
 

WRC2 class
1 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) 3h06m39.2s
2 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +53.0s
3 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +1m27.2s
4 Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +1m50.2s
5 Jorge Martínez/Rubén García (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +4m17.1s
6 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4m24.2s
Retired Yuki Yamamoto/Topi Luhtinen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)
 

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 12:
1 Elfyn Evans 230 points
2 Sami Pajari 213
3 Oliver Solberg 209
4 Sébastien Ogier 171
5 Adrien Fourmaux 167
6 Takamoto Katsuta 163
7 Thierry Neuville 129
8 Hayden Paddon 38
9 Josh McErlean 35
10 Esapekka Lappi 33

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 12:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 614 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 410
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 227
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 152

What's next? 
Rally Italia Sardegna takes place on October 1-4, switching to an autumn date for the first time since 2020. The demanding island event features fast but narrow gravel stages and a rocky, abrasive surface.

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Saturday was the longest day of the rally, featuring 139.2 competitive kilometres across two loops of three familiar stages to the south of Concepción across the Biobío River and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. These roads are known for being more abrasive and punishing for tyres, and teams were allowed to provide crews with up to two additional tyres in exchange for two used ones before the third stage of each loop – María las Cruces – the longest of the rally at 28.31 km.

Solberg started the day with a lead of 10.1s over team-mate Elfyn Evans, and although he saw his advantage reduced in the first two stages, a stage win in María las Cruces meant the gap upon returning to mid-day service in Concepción was exactly what it had been at the beginning of the morning.

By the time Solberg repeated the feat by winning the second pass of María las Cruces at the end of the day, he had almost doubled his lead to 19.1s.

Championship leader Evans still had a strong afternoon, going second fastest in the final stage to fend off a charging Sébastien Ogier by 1.3s at the end of the day. Ogier had won the first two stages of the morning as he moved ahead of Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) for third, only for Fourmaux to take the place back in María las Cruces. In the afternoon, Ogier was again quickest in the first two stages before a stronger second pass through María las Cruces created a margin of 10.7s to Fourmaux.

Sami Pajari continues to run in fifth overall after a solid and consistent day, while Takamoto Katsuta was frequently inside the top six stage times despite running first on the loose gravel roads as he restarted following his first day retirement.

Following their accident in Friday’s final stage and subsequent medical examinations, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto was released without injury. Co-driver Topi Luhtinen sustained two fractured vertebrae and a broken sternum and underwent successful surgery on Saturday. The team wishes him a full and fast recovery.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“This was a really good day for us. It was very close between the top four guys for most of the day, but at the end we are in a stronger position than when we started this morning. All of our guys did a good job today. Oliver could respond to the pressure from Elfyn this morning and ultimately extend his lead, and Elfyn also drove really well this afternoon to stay ahead of Seb, who was really fast today. Sami has been maybe missing a little bit here but is still driving smart, and we are very happy to see Taka setting good times today even though he was first on the road.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been quite an OK day for us, but I feel it could have been better. It was a clean day but we were perhaps not quite on the edge enough to keep Oliver honest and keep the gap where we might have wanted it to be tonight. In some stages our rhythm was not the best or we were perhaps too cautious in how we were managing the tyres on these abrasive stages. We just need to keep fighting and try to take as many points as we can from the final day like always.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Overall I have to be happy with my day. We gave everything and we managed to win both passes of the first two stages. The last stage was the driest and loosest and after a couple of retirements ahead we didn’t have enough cars in front of us to make a clean enough line. I think we maximised our tyre choices by being a bit more aggressive, and I enjoyed the driving today, it was good fun. We’re still in a fight for these podium places; tomorrow is a long day and we will keep pushing.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s been a great day. I think we’ve found a good balance so far this weekend between risk and reward and taking care of the tyres and choosing when we need to push. I was maybe a little bit careful in the first two stages this morning, but could take the time back in the third one, and this afternoon I’m glad we could extend our gap. Tomorrow will still be a tricky day. We just need to prepare well, do a good job and try to have the best Sunday that we can.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Thanks to the team for getting us back on the road today and for their support and advice after what happened yesterday. The main focus is just getting the feeling back with the driving. It’s not easy to be the first car on the road and cleaning the gravel, but I think our times were quite OK today. There’s still some room to improve and find a better feeling, but so far so good and we try to continue like this tomorrow.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This was quite a tricky day for us. Our target was to try and catch the guys in front and the gap was only a few seconds this morning, but for some reason we just didn’t have the pace for that this time. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it goes sometimes in this sport. We need to try to understand why we’re losing time, and otherwise just keep pushing tomorrow and hope that we can take some good points.”

End of day two (Saturday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h17m09.5s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +19.1s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +20.4s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +31.1s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m15.5s
6 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4m10.1s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +5m18.2s
8 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +6m54.6s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m52.6s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m20.7s
38 Takamoto Katsuta/James Fulton (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h01m40.8s
(Results as of 20:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
The final day’s action takes place in a similar region to Saturday’s, where two stages will be run twice to form 71.2 competitive kilometres. The Carampangue test is almost entirely new to the WRC and is followed by Biobío – the second pass of which serves as the rally-ending Power Stage. Although there is no service between the two loops, another tyre exchange will be permitted.

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The second leg of the FIA World Rally Championship’s South American adventure started on dry and dusty roads in Thursday’s pre-event shakedown, but overnight rain fell as forecast on the narrow and technical forest tracks and farmland roads that formed Friday’s three repeated stages.

Now without the usual disadvantage of sweeping loose gravel running first on the road, championship leader Evans capitalised during the morning loop together with Solberg. The pair took a stage win each and twice traded the lead before Solberg finished the morning with an advantage of 2.3 seconds. As conditions dried out in the afternoon and Evans encountered more loose gravel, the gap grew to 10.1s once Solberg had won the day’s final stage.

Sébastien Ogier and Sami Pajari were fifth and sixth respectively after the morning but found stronger performance in the afternoon, claiming a stage win each and finishing the day fourth and fifth overall. Ogier is 1.7s behind third-placed Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) with Pajari 2s further back.

Takamoto Katsuta ran wide in the slippery opening stage and got his car stuck on a bank and was unable to continue, but will restart tomorrow.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto was running as high as sixth place in WRC2 on his first Rally Chile appearance until an accident in SS6. He and co-driver Topi Luhtinen have been transported to hospital for further medical examinations.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It has been a good start to the rally for us overall. We were happy to see that the rain that was in the forecast did indeed arrive last night and that’s probably helped us a bit with most of our cars running at the front of the road. Oliver and Elfyn both drove very well in the slippery conditions this morning, and continued in that way this afternoon even as it was drying out a bit. Seb and Sami lost a bit of time this morning, but they were much stronger in the afternoon and are in a good fight with Fourmaux. Taka was a bit unfortunate to get stuck this morning, but the car is good to restart tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“For us it was nice to see the rain come overnight, even though it made the conditions quite tricky for everyone to start with this morning. The grip levels were changing quite a bit, so I was happy to get through without issues and also benefit a little bit from not having to sweep the road. We had drier conditions this afternoon; the grip was more consistent in a way and the feeling was OK, but we were maybe not quite as fast as we would have liked. Anyway, second is a decent position to be in overnight and gives us a good road postion for tomorrow, so we have to take the positives from today and try to keep fighting forward tomorrow.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“For us the rain was maybe not ideal given our start position a bit further back, but it’s also a deserved break for the championship leaders not to always be cleaning the road. We struggled in the first stage for grip and confidence with the balance of the car, and that’s where we lost most of our time today, but after that I think we reacted well and had a better rhythm over the rest of the day. Tomorrow has a different style of stage with some different challenges and there’s still a lot to play for, so we’ll keep trying.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I’m very happy with my day. It helped us in our position relatively early on the road to get that rain; I think it made things more equal and I always enjoy those kinds of conditions. It was very tricky and changing all the time, and we just tried to have a good flow and I think we did quite a good job. There was no point to take big risks and I was just trying to drive efficiently. It was similar this afternoon even as the conditions dried out; I just tried to keep it clean and steady. It’s nice to have a good, clean Friday behind us. Strategy will be important tomorrow, but I feel good and I’m looking forward to it.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“After the rain overnight, the roads were quite muddy in places this morning and the grip levels were changing a lot along with the different gravel types. Unfortunately, in one downhill corner which was quite muddy, I just wasn’t able to slow down enough and we went wide to the outside and got stuck on the bank. The car was not really damaged, but we weren’t able to get back on the road and continue in the stage. It’s not an easy moment, but I will just try to focus on coming back stronger.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It was quite a tricky morning for us. Clearly, the conditions were tricky and slippery but others around us made better use of them in the first stage especially and somehow our pace was not the best. It was getting better stage-by-stage during the morning, and then the afternoon was clearly better again for us. I was enjoying the driving and managed to take a stage win, so we were back on the level where we want to be. We’re only three seconds away from the podium positions and there’s still a very long rally ahead, so anything can happen and we just need to keep pushing.”

End of day one (Friday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 52m42.1s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +10.1s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +18.0s
4 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +19.7s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +21.7s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +27.4s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m54.5s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m56.9s
9 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m06.0s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +3m08.7s
TBC Takamoto Katsuta/James Fulton (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 17:30 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Saturday is the longest day of the rally, with 139.2 km to be driven across two loops of three familiar stages to the south of Concepción across the Biobío River and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Compared to Friday, these stages are typically wider and more abrasive.

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Brave overtaking, bold strategy and strong teamwork saw Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries comfortably lead the race, when a hydraulic issue forced the #7 TR010 HYBRID into retirement with just 11 minutes to go.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa fought for much of the race for a podium in their #8 TR010 HYBRID before suffering their own misfortune, prior to an exciting fightback which earned sixth.

Despite missing out on a better result, TOYOTA RACING nevertheless extended its lead in the manufacturers’ World Championship to nine points. The #7 crew remains tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings with three races remaining, while the #8 crew has closed to within 11 points.

From seventh and ninth on the grid, Nyck and Sébastien moved into the top six in the early laps before adopting different fuel strategies. The #8 made its first pit stop early to gain time on a clear track, and both ran in the top three in the first two hours.

A safety car at the midway point reset the strategies and reduced the gaps. After the restart, Nyck made three bold overtakes into turn one to battle into the lead. Kamui took over and held the lead under pressure from the two Alpines approaching the last hour.

The #8 was a strong podium contender and Ryō ran third with 90 minutes remaining, until a drive-through penalty for pit lane speeding dropped him to seventh. Further misfortune was created by a virtual safety car (VSC) soon after. Having taken a fuel stop under racing conditions moments earlier, the #8 dropped to 14th when its rivals gained time by pitting under the VSC.

A safety car automatically followed and, when the race resumed with 45 minutes to go, Nyck set new fastest laps to build a gap at the front. He was within touching distance of victory when a hydraulic issue affected his power steering and forced the #7 into the garage with just 11 minutes to go.

Sébastien recovered some points for the team with a determined final stint. He delivered an overtaking masterclass, passing multiple rivals to move back into the points and finish sixth.

TOYOTA RACING will aim to bounce back from the disappointment at its home race in three weeks. The 6 Hours of Fuji takes place on 27 September.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “It was a very unfortunate race for us. We had been strong all the way through. For almost six hours we had a great race. Obviously when you lose the hydraulics, there is nothing you can do. We had to retire the car. It was a big opportunity for us to score a lot of points, so obviously it’s tough to take. But this is endurance racing. We need to learn and improve so we can come back stronger for our home race.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “That was not the way we envisioned the end of the race. Everything was looking good until those last few minutes. We’re all gutted because everyone did a great job and I think we deserved the win. Luckily our competition for the World Championship didn't score well either, so that's the only small consolation.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “Obviously that was a very sad end to a great day. We really gave it our all and the team executed extremely well. We had a great car, with strong pace and we were in a perfect position going into the last few minutes. Unfortunately, this is a technical sport and that let us down today.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It was a really sad day for us because the speed was there. We did the best we could in the end and salvaged a few points, but it's really a big opportunity missed. The positive thing is that the car was very fast, but it's always frustrating when you lose a good result like that. We'll work hard and hopefully have a better race in Fuji.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “That was a brutal finish for the team. We definitely had the pace to have two cars on the podium today, so it hurts to give it away. Séb did a great last stint to bring our car back to sixth but I’m massively disappointed for the team that car #7 had the issue when it was in a dominant position to take the victory.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “We had the pace, but it wasn’t our day. Unfortunately, when I got in the car for my stint, there was a system issue which cost time to pull away, then caused an over-speed in the pit lane so we got a drive-through. I feel really sorry for what happened to car #7. This was not our race, but also, we need to work hard to improve so we don’t experience this again. The next race is Fuji, where we want to be back on the podium.”

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An intense engineering effort throughout free practice helped both TR010 HYBRIDs maximise their performance in qualifying and Hyperpole. This delivered a solid foundation for TOYOTA RACING to extend its advantage in the manufacturers’ World Championship and fight for a first win in Austin.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa will start from seventh on the grid in the #8 TR010 HYBRID. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings, were ninth in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

Qualifying took place in the hottest conditions of the event so far, with temperatures hitting 38°C. The competition on track soon heated up as well.

With low fuel and on new medium Michelin tyres, Ryō left the pits immediately when the 12-minute qualifying began, while Kamui waited a few minutes to begin. The two TR010 HYBRIDs set best times just 0.058secs apart to reach Hyperpole, with Ryō in eighth and Kamui ninth.

In Hyperpole, the TR010 HYBRIDs bided their time in the pits before heading on track. An intense session saw Kamui earn ninth place with his only flying lap, while Ryō completed two flying laps, improving slightly on his second to move up to seventh.

With hot conditions likely to continue for Sunday’s race, the team’s engineers and drivers will now work to optimise strategies for the demanding COTA track, which exposes tyres to the highest energy levels of the whole WEC season. The race begins at 1pm local time (8pm CEST).

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We wanted a bit more, but I think we are still in a good position for the race. We have higher expectations for tomorrow, when I think the heat here in Austin could help us. There were a lot of true racing fans here and I am sure even more will be here tomorrow, so we’re all looking forward to an exciting race. Hopefully we will finish it with smiles on our faces.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was really hot out there, really difficult conditions. The temperature was much higher than this morning, and the tyres were overheating. I had to adjust many things, but the team did a good job. We expected qualifying to be a bit tricky, but seventh and ninth is not bad. I think we have strong race pace, so hopefully we fight for another win tomorrow.”

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The team leads the manufacturers’ World Championship going into round five of the season, when it aims for its first victory at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa ended the opening day 12th fastest in their #8 TR010 HYBRID, 1.091secs behind the pace-setting Aston Martin, although the final standings did not reflect the progress made during two encouraging practice sessions on Friday.

Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings, were 15th in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

First practice began late in the morning, with temperatures already hitting 30°C. The team built on the set-up work done during its July test at COTA by focusing on control settings and mechanical adjustments. The session, which was briefly interrupted by a full-course yellow, ended with both TR010 HYBRIDs in the top six. Nyck and Ryō set the fastest laps of the session for their respective cars.

Conditions were even hotter for second practice. However, action was delayed by a red flag in the opening moments before both cars could continue a programme of race preparation. This included further analysis of the Michelin tyres, which experience the highest energy levels of the season at COTA. A productive session saw Kamui and Ryō recorded the best laps for their cars.

With data from two busy sessions to analyse, the team’s engineers will work hard to find improvements for performance and balance before Saturday morning’s third practice, the final preparation before qualifying at 3.40pm local time (10.40pm CEST).

Visitors to the track can meet some of TOYOTA RACING’s drivers later in the day, during an autograph session at 5pm in the fan zone. Sunday’s six-hour race starts at 1pm (8pm CEST).

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We’re happy to be back here in Austin, although it’s not long since we were here for our test. It’s quite hot in the car, as expected, but we are well prepared for this and ready for the challenge. After the first two free practice sessions, we need to work on a few things, but it’s been a decent start. Hopefully we can pull off a good qualifying tomorrow and prepare well for the race.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s good to be back on track, particularly here in Austin. The car felt pretty good. We worked hard to prepare for the race with some long runs in both sessions. We’ll look at the set-up options to work out where we need to be. Hopefully we can get it right overnight and then we’ll be in strong shape tomorrow.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “We obviously benefited from a test here at the end of July, which definitely helped us get a head start and hit the ground running. We need to just focus on ourselves and preparing for qualifying and the race. Hopefully we can keep this momentum going and be competitive when it matters in the race.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It’s been a good day overall. Our performance has clearly made a good step compared to Brazil. We spent a lot of time doing long runs and it looks like we have a decent base. It's going to be important to obviously do a good job and make no mistakes. All in all, I’m quite happy with how things went and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a pretty smooth day and we’re all quite happy with the car. It looks like one lap pace is a bit tricky, but on the long runs we seem to be in the mix and more competitive than São Paulo. Now we're trying to find some extra performance overnight to ensure we're in a good position to fight at the front on Sunday.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “The track was cooler than when we tested so there were some new things to explore. Our focus was to prepare for the race, so we worked to assess the tyres and balance. So far, the car feels good. Qualifying is going to be a bit tight, but I think we have a good base for the race. I feel more positive about our race pace.”

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Following a demanding Rally del Paraguay last week, the team’s five GR YARIS Rally1 cars have been rebuilt and transported across the Andes mountains in readiness for round 12 of 14 in the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship.

While Sami Pajari completed a historic hat-trick of victories in Paraguay, TGR-WRT took another step towards securing the manufacturers’ championship. With a lead of 173 points and just 180 left up for grabs, the team can guarantee the title in Chile if it scores at least seven points.

Meanwhile, the team’s contenders continue an exciting battle over the drivers’ crown with three rounds remaining. Championship leader Elfyn Evans has 20 points in hand over his closest rival Pajari after the latter’s three consecutive wins. Oliver Solberg is the next closest challenger in third, 41 points from the lead, with Takamoto Katsuta a further 15 points back in fourth. Nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, 68 points from the lead, will target a repeat of his 2025 win in Chile.

Katsuta will compete in Chile alongside James Fulton, who will stand in for regular co-driver Aaron Johnston. Following further examinations upon returning home after a high-speed accident on the final day in Paraguay, Johnston was found to have sustained a fracture to his collarbone, and will miss Rally Chile to allow more time to recover before returning to competition. The team wishes Johnston a speedy recovery and looks forward to welcoming him back to action soon.

With Fulton stepping up to partner Katsuta, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto will be joined by Topi Luhtinen for Chile as he continues his maiden South American adventure in WRC2.

Yamamoto drives one of eight GR Yaris Rally2 cars on the entry list: Diego Domínguez and Gus Greensmith, who finished first and second in the class in Paraguay, are joined by fellow series regulars Alejandro Cachón, Andrea Lafarja and Adrien Mosca, while Chilean brothers Alberto and Pedro Heller have made the switch to the GR Yaris Rally2 for this edition of their home event.

This will be the WRC’s fifth visit to Chile and the gravel roads in the forests of the Biobío region surrounding the Pacific port city of Concepción, located about 500 kilometres to the south of capital city Santiago. The stages combine fast and technical sections with a mix of smooth and abrasive surfaces, while rain and fog can create challenging conditions.

The rally route has been significantly revised for 2026 with around 40 per cent of the 311.18 competitive kilometres being new to the WRC. After shakedown and a ceremonial start in Concepción on Thursday, the opening leg on Friday consists of three heavily reworked stages to the south-east each run twice either side of mid-day service. Saturday is the longest day of the rally offering 139.2 km across two loops of three familiar stages to the south of Concepción across the Biobío River. Sunday takes place in a similar area where the new Carampangue is paired with the returning Biobío Power Stage.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“After an eventful rally in Paraguay, we’re looking forward to continuing this South American adventure in Chile. Our team has been hard at work this week to rebuild the cars so that they are like new again for Chile. On paper, Chile can be a more straightforward rally with fast and flowing roads that the drivers enjoy, but we know that the weather there can still bring some surprises. The manufacturers’ title is close now and we have pretty strong chances to secure that, while the drivers’ championship is getting more exciting as we near the end of the season and we will keep giving all our crews the same chances to win.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“After Paraguay we know that we can look forward to a similarly warm welcome from the fans in Chile. The rally is generally quite a fast one with flowing stages that are usually good to drive, but the challenge depends a lot on the weather which can change quite dramatically during the weekend. When it’s dry, the surface can be very loose for the early cars and it can also get extremely abrasive to the point that you really have to consider tyre management carefully. When it’s wet, it can get pretty muddy, similar to what you might find in Wales, and the fog can also make things extremely difficult.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Paraguay was a tough event, as it was for most, and now we just need to look forward to Chile. It’s a rally where the conditions can hopefully be more consistent and it can be a fair fight between everyone, even if we know that the weather can also change quite quickly there. It’s another event that we have great memories of winning last year, and we will of course be trying to repeat that this time. The roads are pretty good fun to drive and the atmosphere is always nice, so it should be an enjoyable one.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Rally Chile should be another fantastic South American experience. The rally culture is really big there with a lot of passion, and there’s some great stages. They can seem pretty straightforward but the character varies quite a lot: Friday has normally been quite narrow and cambered, a bit like New Zealand, and then the other days are a bit wider, more like Wales – and it can get pretty muddy when it rains. The road can also evolve a lot from first to second pass and become really abrasive for the tyres. I have good memories from Chile last year when we won both the rally and the title in WRC2, and we’ll try our best for another good result now in Rally1.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Like in Paraguay, the fans in Chile have always been really excited for the rally and supporting us as drivers. The stages can be quite tricky. Some of the roads – particularly those we’ve driven on Friday in recent years – are quite cambered and narrow and there’s not so much margin. If they stay dry, the roads can get abrasive so you need to manage the tyres, especially on the second pass, but the weather can also make things difficult if there’s low cloud or fog. I want to wish Aaron a speedy recovery and I’m grateful to James and to the team for their support and making it possible for us to drive together in Chile.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“We have been on a really nice run lately and I hope Rally Chile can be good for us as well. It is a rally I know quite well now, as I’ve done it twice already in the Rally1 car, and it’s one of my favourites because of the profile of the stages. Some of them are pretty similar to Finland: really fast and flowing with some really nice camber that helps you take more speed through the corners. It can also be pretty challenging, with high tyre wear, and the weather can change really quickly. Like in Paraguay, the fans are very passionate and I’m looking forward to it.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“I’m looking forward to continuing this South American adventure in Chile. Paraguay was a very challenging rally, but it was nice to finish it with some good pace and a good feeling which we can carry forward to Chile. This will be another new rally for me, and I know that the character of the stages will be different again to Paraguay, but it looks like they can be quite nice and flowing to drive, and maybe a bit more like those in Finland that I’m familiar with. I’ll try to take what we learned from Paraguay and do my best.”

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The young Finnish star and his co-driver Marko Salminen have achieved something nobody ever has before by recording their first three wins in consecutive rounds of the WRC.

While recent victories on fast roads in Estonia and Finland showcased his speed, Pajari’s success in South America was built on avoiding major difficulties during a demanding second visit to Paraguayan roads by the WRC.

The many bumps and compressions and sharp rocks hidden in the clay-like surface combined with higher temperatures to test tyres as well as the cars and their drivers. A near-constant threat of heavy rain kept teams on their toes – with the GR YARIS Rally1 cars being fitted mid-rally with snorkel systems usually seen only on Safari Rally Kenya.

Pajari sat as low as seventh overall on the opening Friday morning after developing a water leak in the first stage, and having managed the issue until it could be fully fixed in mid-day service, he went on to finish the day in the lead as others encountered more significant delays. He was able to gradually open his advantage to 24.1 seconds during Saturday and ultimately secured victory by 25.8s.

Elfyn Evans also drove a typically well-managed rally together with co-driver Scott Martin to finish fourth overall and ensure they continue to lead the championship. Evans was another driver to lead during Friday after avoiding early chaos, only to then concede around a minute with tyre damage. He ultimately finished just 5.1s shy of a podium place and picked up valuable extra points by finishing fourth in the Power Stage and fifth on Super Sunday to lead Pajari by 20 points with three rounds remaining.

Oliver Solberg was the rally’s first leader on Friday until losing four minutes with a stall and a tyre change in the third stage. He recovered to finish fifth overall with co-driver Elliott Edmondson and win the Power Stage, as well as sharing the winning time on Super Sunday with team-mate Sébastien Ogier. Running under restart rules after stopping with suspension damage on Friday, Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais came second on the Power Stage and claimed the full five points on Super Sunday courtesy of their win in the day’s first stage.

With those points, TGR-WRT’s lead in the manufacturers’ championship now stands at 173 points with 180 still available.

Also running under restart rules, Takamoto Katsuta’s rally ultimately came to an end with a high-speed accident in the penultimate stage. He and co-driver Aaron Johnston were taken to hospital for precautionary checks and released the same afternoon.

In the WRC2 category there was a first ever 1-2-3 finish for the GR Yaris Rally2 car, with Paraguayan driver Diego Domínguez achieving his maiden victory on home roads together with co-driver Rogelio Peñate and the MSi Racing Team. Gus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson were second in their RaceSeven-run car with Alejandro Galanti and Marcelo Toyotoshi third for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Paraguay.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto experienced the event’s demands for the first time on his maiden rally on South American soil, restarting to gather valuable mileage after stopping on Friday following technical issues.

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“To everyone on the team who competed in Rally del Paraguay, and to everyone who worked so hard to make the event happen, thank you and congratulations on getting through such a challenging rally week.

I saw the photos of the service park after it had been battered by strong winds. Rally del Paraguay is already a tough rally under normal conditions, so I am very relieved that the event was completed safely. Thank you all for your hard work.

And in the middle of all that, Sami and Marko gave us a fantastic victory. Three wins in a row after Estonia and Finland. Congratulations, Sami and Marko!

The way the two of you have been fighting back has made the championship battle even more exciting. Sami and Marko, and Elfyn and Scott as well, there are still three rallies to go. Keep pushing, enjoy the fight, and go all out for the championship. I’ll be cheering for all of you.

P.S.
Ever since last year, I have been receiving very enthusiastic invitations from people in Paraguay, asking me to come and experience Rally del Paraguay for myself.
As I am still recovering from surgery, I decided not to make the trip this year.
Some people say I have a knack for bringing good weather with me, and after hearing about the conditions during the rally week, I have to admit I found myself thinking, “Maybe I should have gone after all!”
Hopefully, I will get the chance to visit Paraguay next year.”

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“We’re very happy to see Sami achieve this incredible result by taking his first three victories in a row like this. Estonia and Finland were more familiar rallies for him but this event in Paraguay is still very new for everybody with very different challenges. The conditions were not easy, especially on Friday when there was a lot of drama happening, but Sami managed without major problems. He drove consistently without taking too much risk and did a very good job. Elfyn also drove a very smart rally even if he was a bit unlucky on Friday. Oliver and Seb both got the most out of the final day, while for Taka it has been a difficult rally but the most important thing is that he and Aaron are both fine and well. Our competition was strong here but we are another step closer to the manufacturers’ title and we’re looking forward to Chile.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“This weekend started pretty well on Friday until we had the issue with the tyre in the afternoon, and after that we didn’t really settle into a good enough rhythm and were missing some pace to hold off Adrien who was really strong. We were maybe a bit too conservative after all the drama of Friday when conditions were perhaps more extreme, but it’s not easy to find the right balance between risk and reward. I can’t be completely happy with the weekend but others fared worse and we still come away with some decent points.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“We had a good battle with Oliver today trying to recover as many points as we could from a tough weekend. I was happy with how our day was going up until the Power Stage, where we had a half-spin in a muddy section where I think a lot of people were struggling. Still we could take nine points from the day which isn’t bad, even if it’s not making a big difference for us in the championship anymore. We didn’t get the result we wanted here but we still had fun behind the wheel and enjoyed our time with the fans.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“This morning we lost a bit of time on the first stage which was getting more muddy with each car, but after that we won every stage we drove so we can be happy with that. A big thanks to the team; the mechanics have done an amazing job to keep the car running all weekend on such an incredibly rough event. I feel we were a bit unlucky with some small details on Friday which cost us time, but it’s still been a great weekend feeling so much passion and support from the fans who have really put a smile on my face.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“The impact in this accident was quite big and that Aaron and I are both OK shows how well the cars are built to keep us safe. Thank you to the team and the FIA for the regulations and thank you also to everyone who helped us afterwards and supported us. I’m not sure exactly what happened but I lost the rear of the car, I tried to correct it and we hit a small bank on the inside that lifted the car onto two wheels. I still tried to save it but we rolled. It was my mistake and I’m sorry for the team and grateful for their ongoing support. This weekend didn’t go well but highs and lows are part of the game and I just need to come back stronger.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I’m really happy and it’s a very proud moment; to realise that we’ve done something that nobody ever has before is really special. A big thank you to the team once again. It was not an easy rally for the drivers or the team, so building such a reliable car is key to this success. This was a very different rally to Estonia and Finland; it was not about being flat-out all the time. We had to manage many different things and I tried to be clever with my driving. It was a really demanding rally but that just makes it even sweeter to be able to win. We’re also well in the fight for the championship. It’s still quite a few points to catch but I will just keep doing the best job that I can.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“This rally started difficult for me with punctures in the first two stages, which made it hard to find a rhythm. In the afternoon, the feeling and the split times were better but then we had to stop with an issue. Saturday also started pretty difficult with quite a few things happening, but in the afternoon things turned around for the better. I could drive with more of a normal feeling and everything was going smoothly. The final day was really good with no mistakes and good stage times, and it will be good to take that feeling forward to Chile.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY DEL PARAGUAY
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3h13m28.5s
2 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +25.8s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +40.0s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +45.1s
5 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m57.0s
6 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m19.0s
7 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m40.5s
8 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m03.2s
9 Alejandro Galanti/Marcelo Toyotoshi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +10m23.0s
10 Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m36.9s
34 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h03m41.6s
Retired Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 16:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

WRC2 class
1 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 3h21m09.0s
2 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +22.7s
3 Alejandro Galanti/Marcelo Toyotoshi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2m42.5s
4 Taylor Gill/Daniel Brkic (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2m56.4s
5 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +4m16.3s
6 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) +4m26.4s
14 Yuki Yamamoto/James Fulton (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +31m14.7s

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 11:
1 Elfyn Evans 216 points
2 Sami Pajari 196
3 Oliver Solberg 175
4 Takamoto Katsuta 160
5 Adrien Fourmaux 149
6 Sébastien Ogier 148
7 Thierry Neuville 129
8 Hayden Paddon 38
9 Josh McErlean 29
10 Esapekka Lappi 25

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 11:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 554 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 381
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 210
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 138

What's next?
Cars will be rebuilt in Paraguay next week and transported across the Andes mountains for another South American gravel challenge at Rally Chile on September 10-13. Held in the forests of the Bio Bío region overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the stages are technical but largely fast with a mix of smooth and abrasive gravel.

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With rain forecasted to create challenging conditions for the last two days of the rally, the team fitted snorkels – as seen usually on Safari Rally Kenya – to its five GR YARIS Rally1 cars in service on Friday evening to keep them running reliably in case of deep water crossings.

As it turned out, while heavy rain and strong winds would hit the service park in the early hours of Saturday, the day’s nine stages would remain largely dry, with tyre management instead becoming the main consideration once more on the abrasive stages.

Pajari came into the day with a lead of 11.9 seconds over Hayden Paddon of Hyundai, and opened that up to 26s within the first three stages of the day. He did lose part of his rear wing when running wide in SS11, but returned to mid-day service with his margin standing at 22.8s. With a well-managed afternoon loop, Pajari ended the day leading by 24.1s as he looks to secure what would be a third consecutive victory.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans remains in third position overall after a clean and solid day, with a reduced margin of 3.3s over a hard-charging Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai).

Oliver Solberg continued his recovery from time lost on Friday and moved up into fifth overall on the day’s closing super special in Encarnación.

Sébastien Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta both restarted after their cars were repaired following damage sustained on Friday. Ogier claimed stage wins in both passes through the Trinidad stage while Katsuta was quickest in the Encarnación Costanera super special.

Diego Domínguez continues to lead WRC2 on home roads ahead of fellow GR Yaris Rally2 driver Gus Greensmith, with 24.3s between them. TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto restarted after being stopped by a technical issue on Friday, gathering valuable experience on his first appearance in Paraguay.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“In the end, today was a much calmer day than yesterday, which I think was welcome. Everybody had gone out with wet weather setups expecting the rain, but it remained pretty dry on the stages. Still, it was not easy out there and you needed to take care with the tyres but all our drivers did a good job. Sami has been able to increase the lead and Elfyn is doing what he needs to do, even if Adrien is pushing very hard behind. Let’s see if the rain now comes for tomorrow, because we know that can make things very challenging, so nothing is decided yet.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Our day started pretty well with the fastest time in the first stage. Then in the second stage there were already some huge rocks around so I played it safe, and it was a similar story in the mud later in the loop. This afternoon we took some hard tyres and it’s difficult to know if that was the correct decision or not, but we were concerned about the wear after yesterday. Adrien has been charging hard and had a strong day, and it was a surprise to lose so much time in the super special, but we can expect more difficult conditions tomorrow and just need to keep doing the best we can.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Today wasn’t the easiest one with nothing to really fight for, but we just focused on trying to enjoy the driving with this car as much as we could and I think we had a decent rhythm. The rain didn’t come as expected but there was some dampness in the last stage of the loop and we managed to take a stage win there, and another one in the afternoon. Tomorrow maybe some rain is still coming, and let’s see what we can do to try to grab some points.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“We were hoping to have some rain today to make things exciting for us. Unfortunately it didn’t come but it still hasn’t been a bad day. The main goal was just to stay clean and try to catch McErlean and we were able to do that, and it’s good to get back up to fifth. It was tricky with the tyres as we didn’t have as many good spares as others to rotate around, but we managed OK. Tomorrow maybe the rain will come and we’ll try our best whatever happens.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Everybody was expecting that it would be quite wet today but the rain never really came. At least with the dry conditions I could just focus on recovering after what happened yesterday. A big thank you to the team for fixing the car so that I could drive again, gain experience on these stages and try to get back the feeling ahead of tomorrow, when I want to try to take some points.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“We can be happy with today. The conditions were still quite tricky, even if they were a lot more straightforward than the heavy rain we were expecting. Still we had some moments, losing part of the rear wing when we ran slightly wide in one corner, which affected the handling in the high-speed sections, but it was not a big drama. Otherwise the car was quick and reliable and we were able to extend our lead over the day. Like in Estonia and Finland, I’m not getting too excited yet because a lot can still happen and the weather could be hard to predict again.”

End of day two (Saturday):
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h48m29.7s
2 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +24.1s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +56.3s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +59.6s
5 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m25.7s
6 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m32.0s
7 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m20.4s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +6m40.0s
9 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m44.7s
10 Fau Zaldivar/Marcelo Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m33.6s
39 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h04m10.3s
45 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1h19m37.5s
(Results as of 20:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Five stages will conclude the rally on Sunday totalling 66.35 competitive kilometres. The day starts and ends with the new Encarnación stage on the edge of the host city with the second pass serving as the Power Stage.

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On the WRC’s second visit to the South American country, the challenging red gravel roads around Encarnación quickly lived up to the reputation they earned in 2025. The first day was also the longest of the rally with 153.78 competitive kilometres to be driven across two loops of four stages – including the longest test of the season so far; the 34.08km of Yerbateras. Across the day, the many bumps and compressions and sharp rocks hidden in the clay-like surface would prove demanding for tyres as well as the cars and their drivers.

There was trouble for some crews already in the opening stage with Takamoto Katsuta going off the road and having to stop with damage, while Sébastien Ogier was showing strong pace until being slowed by tyre damage. In the next stage, Ogier would run wide and hit a bank, sustaining suspension damage and ultimately having to join Katsuta in retiring for the day. Both cars are being prepared to restart on Saturday.

Oliver Solberg made a strong start to the rally, winning the first two stages to build an early lead, but lost power in a chicane in SS3 Yerbateras and required a push from fans to restart, before then stopping later in the stage to change a wheel and tyre, conceding four minutes in total.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans, running first on the road, was seventh overall after the first stage but carefully managed a tyre issue during SS3 to capitalise on the problems for others and climb to third overall at the end of the morning loop. He was one place ahead of team-mate and nearest championship rival Pajari, who was affected by a water leak during the morning loop which the team fixed during mid-day service.

In the afternoon Evans continued to gain places and took the rally lead in SS6 only to be struck by another tyre issue in the following stage, the second pass through Yerbateras, where he lost around one minute.

Pajari went fastest in the same stage to jump from third to first overall, and the winner of the two most recent rallies in Estonia and Finland leads by 11.9 seconds overnight from Hayden Paddon of Hyundai. Evans is third, 56.3s from the lead, while Solberg is sixth among the Rally1 cars and eighth overall.

The GR Yaris Rally2 car occupies the top three places in WRC2 with Paraguayan driver Diego Domínguez in the lead and in sixth overall by 39.4s ahead of Gus Greensmith, with Marco Bulacia third in the class. On his first time competing in South America, TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto’s day came to an early end due to a technical issue after SS6.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It has been quite a crazy day to start this rally with so many things happening so early on. Sami has done well to be leading. He was the only one not to lose significant time; he just had the water pipe come off this morning and had to slow down a little bit to manage the temperatures. We lost two cars from the fight early on, and then Oliver lost time as well. Elfyn was doing well until his tyre issue this afternoon, but he’s still not in a bad position. It’s been a strange day but our rivals haven’t really had it any easier. Everyone is expecting rain tomorrow, which could make things very tricky, but we just have to prepare as well as we can.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a dramatic day for almost everybody, with very few who haven’t had their fair share of trouble already. We’ve been focused on trying to be clean and having a good rhythm, and everything’s been working fine in the car. It has been challenging for the tyres and we had to manage some issues through both long stages and unfortunately lost quite a bit of time. Others have fared even worse than us so the overall position isn’t bad, and the rain might bring a very different set of challenges for tomorrow.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Unfortunately this rally quickly turned out to be very challenging for us. In the first stage we got a puncture on a landing from a jump, and we also had a bit of an electronic issue going into the next stage. I maybe lost concentration a bit, came a bit too fast over a crest and hit the bank on the outside; it was my mistake and we damaged the front-left suspension. We tried to fix it and continue, but eventually we had to stop for the day.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Today was definitely trickier than expected. I had a good feeling this morning and the first two stages were nice. Then we were a bit unfortunate; going into a junction I lost the engine and needed help from the fans to restart, and then we got a slow puncture and stopped to change it. It’s a pity so much time was lost but that’s rallying. After that we just tried to be clean and nothing is over; there could be crazy weather over the weekend so anything can still happen.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“At the beginning of the first stage there was a very high-speed approach down into the forest and I probably just came too fast into this corner; it was my mistake. I lost the rear of the car and wasn’t able to recover it and we rolled. Initially we tried to continue but we stopped to prevent any further damage. I’m really sorry for the team and it’s a tough moment but we will try to regroup.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s been a crazy day with many stories to tell for us and for everybody else. Our day didn’t start great as we got a water leak on the first stage, but thankfully we could make a fix to get through the morning and get back to service. After that, the car was working to its full potential and we could enjoy it as much as possible, but today was still more about survival than we expected. It’s nice to be in the lead but I think on this rally it’s not meaning so much; with the weather forecast, the most demanding days might still be to come.”

End of day one (Friday):
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1h28m28.7s
2 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +11.9s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +56.3s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m51.3s
5 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m23.1s
6 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +2m36.0s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3m15.4s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +3m33.3s
9 Marco Bulacia/José Murado (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +4m01.4s
10 Romet Jürgenson/Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +4m36.9s
TBC Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
TBC Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 18:30 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
On Saturday another loop of four gravel stages will be run twice either side of mid-day service, before a new super special stage in Encarnación completes a total of 135.74 competitive kilometres.

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With two wins so far this season – including the Le Mans 24 Hours – TOYOTA RACING leads the manufacturers’ World Championship going into round five of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

At the halfway point in the season, the #7 TR010 HYBRID crew of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries are tied on points at the top of the drivers’ standings. Team-mates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa are still in the title fight in their #8 TR010 HYBRID, 19 points behind.

TOYOTA RACING is determined to improve on the previous round, when neither TR010 HYBRID scored points in São Paulo.

The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is, like the previous round at Interlagos, an anti-clockwise track. One of its most striking features is the steep climb to Turn 1, followed by a sequence of fast, sweeping corners. The demanding 5.513km track also includes one of the heaviest braking zones of the season, when cars decelerate from over 300km/h to around 60km/h for Turn 12. From eight races at COTA, the team has recorded seven podium finishes and one pole position, however it is yet to taste victory there.

To accelerate preparations for this year’s race, TOYOTA RACING conducted a two-day test – featuring all six race drivers – in Austin in late July. Data gathered during the test will help engineers and drivers optimise set-ups and strategies for the race week, which begins with free practice on Friday 4 September. Qualifying takes place at 3.40pm local time (10.40pm CEST) on Saturday, while the six-hour race starts at 1pm (8pm CEST) on Sunday.

Alongside the track action, visitors to COTA will have the opportunity to meet some of TOYOTA RACING’s drivers at an autograph session on Saturday at 5.10pm in the fan zone. Meanwhile, TOYOTA’s hydrogen technology will be on show at the University of Texas at Austin display in the fan zone.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We’ve had some great moments in the first half of the season, particularly winning at Le Mans and Imola, but also a few tough ones too. The last race in São Paulo was disappointing, and we’ve learned from that experience. It’s great to be in such a strong position in both World Championships but the competition is intense so we can’t afford any mistakes over the second half of the season, starting in Austin.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s been a long break since the last race so we’re all eager to get racing again, especially at the Circuit of the Americas. It’s a fun track to drive, with a bit of everything; high-speed corners and a technical final sector. We need to work hard on car set-up early in the week to make sure we’re strong over the complete lap, and in race trim.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “I really enjoy racing in the United States, and COTA is a fantastic track. It’s great fun to drive a Hypercar around there, but also a big challenge to get everything right with the set-ups. So, it won’t be an easy weekend, but we want to bounce back from São Paulo with a good result to keep us at the front in both World Championships.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “I’m really looking forward to racing in Austin again. The first half of the season has been a bit of a rollercoaster for our car, and São Paulo was particularly tough. But I know the team has worked really hard to come back stronger, and the test at COTA went well. We’ll be giving everything to fight at the front and hopefully stand on the podium again.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “Austin is a great place for a race, we all really enjoy being there. It was particularly good to test there a few weeks ago, especially because our car has evolved since last year’s race. Hopefully that gives us a useful head start in terms of set-ups and tyres. São Paulo wasn’t an easy week for us but we’re working hard to maximise our car and get a better result at COTA.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “I’m happy to be racing again after the long summer break. Austin was a challenging race for us last year, but we’re working hard to have a better weekend this time. After this, it’s our home race at Fuji Speedway so everyone in the team wants to be in a strong position in the World Championship when we meet our Japanese fans and colleagues. That gives us extra motivation to maximise our package and get a good result in Austin.”

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With strong results on the two most recent events on the high-speed stages of Estonia and Finland, TGR-WRT extended its lead of the manufacturers’ championship to 174 points and will have its first opportunity to clinch a sixth successive crown in Paraguay if it can grow its advantage by at least six more points.

The team also continues to have all five of its drivers occupying the top five places in the championship standings. Elfyn Evans remains the championship leader with an increased advantage of 30 points, with his nearest challenger now Sami Pajari after he achieved his first two WRC victories back-to-back in Estonia and Finland.

Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg also remain in contention, 41 and 45 points from the lead respectively. Nine-time and reigning world champion Sébastien Ogier is now 62 points from the lead after an accident in Finland but ready to make a welcome return to action with regular co-driver Vincent Landais in Paraguay, where they won the country’s inaugural WRC event in 2025.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto continues his WRC2 campaign with his first ever rallies in South America. The GR Yaris Rally2 car is the most popular car in the entire Paraguay field, with a total of 12 entered. Other WRC2 regulars competing with one include Alejandro Cachón and Gus Greensmith, along with no fewer than nine Paraguayan drivers: Diego Domínguez, Andrea Lafarja, Alejandro Galanti, Gustavo Saba, Fabrizio Galanti, Augusto Bestard, Franco Pappalardo and Miguel María García. Bolivian driver Marco Bulacia also returns to WRC action on his home continent.

On the WRC’s first visit to Paraguay one year ago, the drivers were greeted by passionate rally fans and discovered demanding stages. The fast roads feature a red clay surface that provides changeable grip levels, while significant bumps and sharp rocks can also test cars and tyres. The event is based in Encarnación, situated on the banks of the Paraná river and the border with Argentina, and will be followed just two weeks later by Rally Chile.

Following a ceremonial start in Encarnación on Thursday evening, the rally begins with the longest day of competition on Friday with two loops of four stages totalling 153.78 competitive kilometres. Another two loops of four tests are run on Saturday before a new super special stage in Encarnación rounds out the day. A total of five stages close out the rally on Sunday.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“We’re excited to enter this last part of the season and travel to South America with everything still to be decided. In Paraguay we will have our first opportunity to secure the manufacturers’ title, but we are not expecting that to be easy. We found out last year when we did this rally for the first time just how challenging the roads and the conditions can be there. We saw a lot of passion and support too, like we always seem to do in South America, so we’re looking forward to going back. With our drivers also driving for their own ambitions in the championship and our competitors undoubtedly motivated to try to beat us, I’m sure this will be another exciting edition to follow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Our first time competing in Paraguay last year proved a lot more challenging than everyone had anticipated. On paper the stages looked quite straightforward with many long straights and junctions, but the rally was made far more difficult by the polished clay surface and the changing grip levels. Then, when it rained on the final morning, there was almost no grip available at all. In our position running first on the road on these gravel rallies, some rain can help to level the playing field, but it can also turn quickly into a lottery when the grip is so low. Like always, we’ll just have to do our best in whatever conditions we face when the rally begins.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Rally Finland didn’t turn out the way we hoped after what had been a very good rally until the point that it ended for us, but the most important thing is that Julien and I were both OK. Now we’ve had some time to rest and recover and I’m ready to compete in Paraguay together with Vincent. Even if our championship hopes are more or less over, we still want to aim for the top step in each of the remaining rallies this year, and help the team secure the manufacturers’ title. We experienced a great first rally in Paraguay last year, with an amazing atmosphere as well as challenging stages and conditions, and we will try our best to repeat our victory there.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Paraguay put on an amazing event last year and it was special to experience the atmosphere there and the passion of the people. The roads were also rather unique, with narrow sections and wide sections and jumps and dips, and the surface was quite slippery at times. It was a lot of fun, even if it was pretty difficult. In the faster places it felt like we were on the limit with the Rally2 car; with the Rally1 car and the extra downforce we will be able to carry more speed, but I’ll need to make that adjustment like on almost every rally this year. After two podiums in the last two rallies, I hope we can keep this run going.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“I have very good memories from Paraguay and can’t wait to go back. There were so many fans supporting us and it was a really impressive event. The roads themselves are nice and enjoyable, but we discovered last year that the surface is very unique; very compacted and very polished, and there was very little grip when it rained. With that knowledge from last year, it can be easier to go back, but we can’t know exactly how the conditions will be this time. Anyway we will try to enjoy it once more and hopefully it can be a nice rally for us.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“Since Rally Finland it’s been nice to have some time to really enjoy and appreciate what we’ve achieved recently before we refocus on the coming rallies in South America. It was great to go to Paraguay for the first time last year and see the excitement of all the fans there. It’s quite a nice rally to drive with really fast roads and some big jumps, which I always enjoy. There are also some really twisty sections and if it rains, the surface can become crazy slippery. Our recent results don’t change our approach for this event; we just have to continue trying to do the best job possible and hopefully we can keep achieving good results.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“These next two rallies will be a completely new adventure for me and I’m firstly looking forward to visiting South America for the first time. Last year when I was watching Paraguay from home, it looked quite unique with a massive atmosphere and challenging stages. I’ve been trying to prepare as best I can by watching onboards from last year; the roads look fast but if it’s wet the conditions can be tricky with very slippery surfaces. It will be a big challenge but after the last few rallies I’m hoping that we can change the momentum towards a nice result.”

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It was truly wonderful to see three of our crews standing together on the podium in Jyväskylä. It was the best possible way to thank the local fans for their incredible support. This achievement would not have been possible without the efforts of the mechanics who worked on car 33. After it had rolled three times and sustained significant damage, they brought the car back to life in just 30 minutes and sent Elfyn and Scott back into the fight without any penalty.

Stories of heroic repairs by mechanics are common in the WRC, but when you hear that they replaced the front and rear bumpers, side panel, bonnet, tailgate, left headlight, and right-side door, you cannot help but be amazed by their skill. Thank you to all the mechanics for your incredible work.

I would also like to thank Juha for keeping the team united and for continuing to provide the drivers with clear and valuable advice throughout the rally.

This time, I imagine many team members will have the opportunity to spend some time at home with their families after the rally. There is less than a month until Paraguay, but before we begin the last part of the season, I hope everyone can enjoy at least a little summer holiday.

Oliver, please make sure to get plenty of rest and prepare thoroughly to achieve your second victory of the season. Thank you for helping deliver another one-two-three finish for the team.

P.S.
Jari-Matti and Juho, congratulations on your Rally2 victory as well! Do you like the new livery now? When I first suggested it, I was not sure if everyone shared my enthusiasm. But now I think we can all agree that a winning livery is a good livery!

Akio Toyoda
Chairman, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team

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The 24-year-old’s win alongside co-driver Marko Salminen follows just two weeks after their maiden victory at Rally Estonia. It is the 200th win achieved by a Finnish driver in the WRC, in what was the 75th anniversary edition of Rally Finland.

Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia – reunited in competition for the first time in almost five years in the absence of regular co-driver Vincent Landais – impressively led the rally with a strong performance from the first forest stage on Friday morning until SS17 on Saturday afternoon when they went off the road and crashed heavily.

After staying under observation in hospital overnight, both Ogier and Ingrassia were released on Sunday morning to return home. Both the crew and the team would like to thank everybody – from the medical teams to the fans – for their support and well wishes.

Having also driven a strong and consistent rally – including six stage wins – despite losing time in demanding weather conditions on Friday afternoon, Pajari picked up the lead at the end of Saturday and took an advantage of 46.4 seconds into the final day. Once more appearing to take the magnitude of the potential result in his stride, he adopted a safer approach through Sunday’s two runs of Himos-Jämsa (the longest stage of the rally at 30.02 kilometres) to secure victory by 26.7s.

Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson finished second for the second rally in succession with another well-managed drive after conceding the best part of a minute when they experienced the most extreme of the wet conditions on Friday. Solberg was able to top the Super Sunday classification despite experiencing back pain after a heavy landing during the first pass.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin completed a podium lockout in third to increase their championship lead. They had been second overall when they rolled at the end of Saturday morning, before recovering back into the top three in their repaired car during the afternoon. Evans went on to come second on Super Sunday and win the Power Stage by just 0.025s over Solberg. Evans now leads the drivers’ standings by 30 points over Pajari, who climbs to second.

Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston finished sixth overall. Having lost two minutes with limited visibility in Friday’s rain, they were on course to finish fifth before dropping a place when they made contact with a tree in the rally’s final stage. Katsuta is now third in the championship, 41 points from the lead, with Solberg up to fourth and Ogier fifth.

Even with Pajari scoring under the separate TGR-WRT2 banner, TGR-WRT increases its manufacturers’ championship lead to 174 points.

Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala finished on top in his class and in eighth position overall driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car on his home roads, co-driven by team test driver Juho Hänninen. Fellow GR Yaris Rally2 crew Teemu Suninen and Janni Hussi finished second in WRC2, where TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Jaspar Vaher finished a strong fourth with co-driver Rait Jansen.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“We can be very happy with how this rally ended for us, with our crews on all three steps of the podium again here at home in Finland. I’ve been coming to this rally for over 40 years and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen so much action happening. There was a lot for the fans to follow, and a few heart-in-mouth moments for us, but it’s a good result for us at the end. Sami drove a fantastic rally once again and it makes me proud to see another Finnish winner of Rally Finland. While his focus today was on securing the win, both Oliver and Elfyn were able to be very fast and score good points. We’re glad that Seb and Julien are OK and already back home, and we wish them a good recovery.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“I’m happy to finish on the podium but I owe this one to the team who fixed the car in service yesterday after my mistake. Super Sunday was fast-paced as usual on what was a very quick stage. I maybe wasn’t brave enough on the first pass and tried to do more on the second pass; the grip was much higher and I maybe didn’t use it all but I’m happy with the points we could take away. Congratulations to Sami and Marko; I know how special it feels to win your home rally. There was not a lot between them, us, and Seb and Julien – who I wish a speedy recovery – but they were the ones who didn’t falter and very much deserve this win.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“This was not the way that we wanted to end this weekend especially after everything was going so well. But the most important thing is that we are both OK, so a big thank you to the team for building such a strong car. I also need to thank Julien for taking good care of me immediately after the impact and reassuring my family I am well. We will take some rest now and make sure we are back to full strength soon and thank you for all the messages we received. Congratulations to Sami and Marko for another victory and all the team for locking out the podium at home once again.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It has been a crazy weekend and a crazy day today. I’m very happy to be here at the finish, on the podium again and to win Super Sunday. We just missed out on the Power Stage by a fraction of a second, but I was just happy to be able to drive the last stage as fast as I could, as I was careful in many places. Still, we take many valuable points and it’s a great result for the team once again.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s been a really tough weekend for me. Today I was hoping to try and take some extra points but it didn’t go so well in the end. In the final stage I saw a rock sticking out on the inside and tried to avoid it, but there was so much loose gravel off the line. We went wide and couldn’t make the next right-hander and hit a tree. It was my mistake and I feel very sorry for the team. I just need to reset and do better next time.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It feels simply amazing to win Rally Finland. It’s another dream result for us. It was already a big thing to take the first win in Estonia but to win at home is always something special. Winning at home hasn’t always been easy for Finnish drivers but somehow after a crazy rally we have managed to make it happen. This one was tougher and more intense than Estonia; it was a really close fight with Seb and Elfyn and we were setting very similar times for most of the rally. To be a winner of the ‘1000 Lakes’ is incredible. Marko and I grew up watching legendary drivers win this rally and now we are on top of the podium too; it’s crazy. Big thanks to the team and the fans for all their support.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 40)
“It’s an amazing feeling to achieve this result at Rally Finland. I’ve been dreaming that I could still do something like this since I stopped driving full-time in the WRC in 2019. I know that my time in the top category has passed, but to be able to fight with some really fast young drivers in Rally2 machinery has been fantastic. Our GR Yaris Rally2 is an amazing car, and I’m really proud to do this with Juho, who was coaching me all through the whole rally, just like he normally does as an instructor for our TGR WRC Challenge Program drivers. It was one of the most difficult editions of Rally Finland because of the weather conditions, and it was tough for our Rally1 crews as well, but it’s nice to see Sami and Marko win at home as well as a lockout of the podium places.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY FINLAND
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h27m58.0s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +26.7s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m19.5s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m35.9s
5 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m52.5s
6 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +4m18.2s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m32.7s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +8m25.5s
9 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m46.9s
10 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +9m03.0s
Retired Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 14:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 10:
1 Elfyn Evans 201 points
2 Sami Pajari 171
3 Takamoto Katsuta 160
4 Oliver Solberg 156
5 Sébastien Ogier 139
6 Adrien Fourmaux 129
7 Thierry Neuville 125
8 Esapekka Lappi 25
9 Hayden Paddon 21
10 Josh McErlean 21

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 10:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 514 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 340
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 184
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 130

What's next?
The Rally del Paraguay (August 27-30) joined the WRC in 2025 with demanding stages around Encarnación, close to border with Argentina. The fast roads feature a red clay surface providing changeable grip levels.

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The day’s route took in two loops of four fast forest stages to the south west of the Jyväskylä service park. Sébastien Ogier began the day in the rally lead by 16.3 seconds over team-mate Elfyn Evans. Evans won the morning’s first stage and gradually reduced the gap to 11.6s before he rolled near the end of the fourth and final stage of the loop.

With the help of spectators, Evans managed to return to the road and complete the stage 1m49s down on Ogier, who now led by 22.7s over Pajari. Pajari and Ogier went on to win one stage each at the start of the afternoon, with the overall difference remaining in Ogier’s favour at 20.9s.

In SS17, Ogier went off the road in a fast left-right sequence of corners. He and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were both able to get themselves out of the car unaided and without serious injury. They were transferred to hospital for further examinations, the results of which were positive. Due to the heavy impact during the accident, the crew will remain in hospital under observation overnight.

Pajari therefore completed the day in the lead of his home rally by 46.4s ahead of team-mate Oliver Solberg.

After the team managed to repair the damage to Evans’ car during mid-day service, he performed strongly in the afternoon to move back up to third overall, 49.9s behind Solberg and 3.8s ahead of Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai). Takamoto Katsuta rounds out the top five.

Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala has taken the lead of his category in eighth overall. He is 10.3s ahead of fellow GR Yaris Rally2 driver Teemu Suninen, who leads WRC2 with Latvala not nominated to score points. Jaspar Vaher is the best placed driver from the TGR WRC Challenge Program in fourth in WRC2 after Yuki Yamamoto spun out in SS13.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It has been a very eventful day today. The most important thing is that I have spoken with Seb and Julien and they are both OK and nothing is broken. We need to check the data to understand what happened, because it would be unlike Seb to go off in a place like that; he was doing a fantastic job controlling the rally and wasn’t having to push too hard. Elfyn made a small mistake this morning but the damage looked worse than it was and the team did an incredible job to get him back out this afternoon, when he and the car were clearly very fast. Sami meanwhile has been doing a very good job once again and he just needs to keep driving with his own rhythm tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Today started pretty well with a good feeling in the car. Unfortunately we got caught out in the last stage of the morning, running a bit wide into a ditch and rolling multiple times. A huge thanks to the team who did an incredible job to put the car right in service; it was brilliant all afternoon and that allowed us to fight and gain back positions. The main target was fourth, and that became third after what happened to Seb and Julien; I want to wish all the best to them this evening. Tomorrow we’ll be trying our best like always.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“My feeling was good in the first stage this morning, but I had some issues hearing my pacenotes in the next one. The gap to those in front became a bit too big and I didn’t want to take too much risk, so the plan was to try and preserve our position and see what happens. Then Elfyn had his roll and later Seb and Julien went off – I’m glad that they are both OK. Tomorrow will be a new day and a new fight and we’ll do the best we can to secure some valuable points.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Today’s stages were very challenging and you needed big commitment and confidence. After the time lost yesterday, our main focus was on trying some different things with the car setup. It’s hard to find a big step forward, but the times in the afternoon were not too bad. Hopefully what we found can work well tomorrow and we’ll try to get some more points. I feel sorry for what happened to Seb and Julien and I’m glad to hear they are OK.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It has been a crazy day with a lot of different things happening, and suddenly we find ourselves in the lead tonight. The morning was really enjoyable; I was having maybe the best time that I’ve ever had behind the wheel of a rally car, driving these beautiful stages with the best car in the world. After Elfyn’s roll we moved up to second and thought the gap to Seb was too much to catch, so I just tried to keep enjoying and keep some flow in my driving. Then Seb went off, and the most important thing is that both he and Julien are OK. It shows that things can change very quickly and we still have two stages to do tomorrow, so nothing is decided yet.”

End of day three (Saturday):
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h00m38.0s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +46.4s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m36.3s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m40.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m54.5s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m52.9s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m54.4s
8 Jari-Matti Latvala/Juho Hänninen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m50.8s
9 Teemu Suninen/Janni Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m01.1s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m04.2s
Retired Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1)
(Results as of 21:00 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
The rally finishes on Sunday with two passes of a new-look Himos-Jämsa stage – the longest of the rally at 30.02 kilometres. The second run through serves as the rally-ending Power Stage with up to five bonus points available for the fastest drivers, plus five more for the quickest across the day.

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Following Thursday evening’s opening super special stage on the streets of Jyväskylä, the action moved to the forests north-east where four stages would be run twice.

Ogier, competing alongside his long-time former co-driver Julien Ingrassia for the first time since 2021, made a flying start to the day to claim the rally lead. He set the best time in three of the morning’s four tests and returned to Jyväskylä for mid-day service with an advantage of 5.3 seconds over closest rival Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai.

Finnish favourite Sami Pajari, fresh from a maiden WRC victory two weeks ago in Estonia, was the other driver to win a stage during the morning and ended the loop in third, 8s from the lead. He started the afternoon with another fastest time, moving up to second overall.

Rain storms had been forecast for the afternoon and duly arrived during the second stage of the loop, Saarikas. Running first on the road as championship leader – a distinct disadvantage in dry weather over recent rallies – Elfyn Evans this time benefitted from the best of the conditions to win the stage and climb to third overall. Tables turned in the subsequent Sydänmaa stage, where Oliver Solberg – who conceded a minute in the worst of the conditions in Saarikas – now went quickest.

Ogier had a consistent run through both of those wet stages to grow his lead to 26.1s over Evans. Even with a safer drive in Hoho and the day’s closing run through the Harju super special, he ended the day with an advantage of 16.3s over Evans. Pajari is third, 10.4s further back and 14.6s ahead of Solberg who completes a sweep of the top four positions for the locally built GR YARIS Rally1 car.

Takamoto Katsuta went second quickest to Evans in SS7 to move up to fourth, only to then concede over two minutes in SS8 with limited visibility. He ended the day eighth overall and with a joint fastest time in Harju.

Several GR Yaris Rally2 drivers are involved in a close fight at the front of the class, with Roope Korhonen in second, TGR-WRT Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala third and Teemu Suninen fourth. TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto is sixth in WRC2, one place ahead of the Program’s global driver Jaspar Vaher.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It has been quite a dramatic day, especially with the weather. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen something like that on Rally Finland, with such heavy rain falling on dry roads, which were also already quite rutted, so they just filled with water. We were maybe a bit lucky – thanks to our road positions – on the second stage of the afternoon, when almost all our guys got through in relatively dry conditions, although Oliver did lose a lot of time and in the next two stages our drivers did encounter more rain. I’m quite pleased anyway with what our drivers have been doing; Seb especially has been very good. Tomorrow the conditions should be more normal and it will be flat-out once again.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“We made a decent start this morning; the grip was changing a lot from corner to corner but the driving felt pretty committed. Then the rain arrived this afternoon and we took advantage on the second stage before the conditions deteriorated. On the next stage we got the rain pretty heavily at the start, so that was tricky to navigate, but it’s been a difficult afternoon for many people so we’re happy to get through it in this position. Seb’s had a great day and it’s a big gap to try and catch, but it’s still relatively early days in this rally and we just need to keep doing our best.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“We started this morning with the plan to push because rallies like this are usually fought with very small gaps. It’s important to be in a good rhythm right away and we had a good morning, but it was still very close. This afternoon with the rain that came was a different story: then it was about trying to survive those conditions without losing too much time. It seems we managed it quite well as we increased our lead, so that’s very positive, but I’m sure the others will keep pushing and we will still have a fight on our hands for the rest of the weekend.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“It’s been a pretty crazy day. This morning I never quite found the perfect feeling, but I tried to not over push and to stay in the mix. In the afternoon I felt much more comfortable, and then the heavens opened. I think we were a bit unlucky with exactly when the rain hit and when it was most intense, but we fought back later on with good speed. I’m still quite happy with our day and anything can still happen, so we keep fighting.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It has been a frustrating day. This morning I was struggling for confidence but together with the team we changed quite a lot and in the afternoon the feeling with the car was much better; it was quite a big step. Unfortunately in the third stage of the loop we got a lot of mist on the screen and struggled to see anything. The main priority was to stay on the road and we lost more than two minutes. I think it was quite unlucky but there’s still two days to go and we will keep pushing.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“The morning loop was pretty decent for us but we still had room to improve and we tried to step up our game for the second loop. We won the first stage of the afternoon, and even in the second one when the rain came we could close the gap to Seb to just a few seconds. Then the third stage of the loop changed everything. It was really demanding for everyone, and for some reason visibility was very difficult for us and we lost a lot of time. Anyway, we are still in a podium position and the fight is still on.”

End of day two (Friday):
1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1h03m47.4s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +16.3s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +26.7s
4 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +41.3s
5 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m04.9s
6 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m24.0s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m29.0s
8 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m30.7s
9 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m56.2s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +3m08.7s
(Results as of 20:30 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Saturday features familiar stages to the south-east with Parkkola, Västilä, Päijälä and Leustu all returning from last year – although Västilä and Päijälä are both run in the opposite direction to before.

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The action on the 75th anniversary edition of the event started on Thursday morning when the pre-event shakedown was held over the famous jumps of the Ruuhimäki stage, where Takamoto Katsuta set the fastest time after three runs.

As usual, the rally then began with the mixed-surface Harju stage close to the service park – and a stone’s throw from the TGR-WRT headquarters where the GR YARIS Rally1 cars are built. Elfyn Evans and Sébastien Ogier – both two-time previous winners of Rally Finland – shared the third-fastest time over the 2.58-kilometre stage.

Ogier has been reunited for this event with his long-time former co-driver Julien Ingrassia, with whom he won his first eight world titles. Ingrassia accepted a last-minute call to stand in for Vincent Landais, who was unable to join the team in Finland this week for personal reasons.

Katsuta, Finnish favourite Sami Pajari and Oliver Solberg rounded out the top seven, which was covered by less than three seconds.

TGR WRC Challenge Program driver and Jyväskylä resident Yuki Yamamoto started with the fifth fastest time within WRC2 in Harju, just 0.1s ahead of Team Principal and fellow GR Yaris Rally2 driver Jari-Matti Latvala.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“It’s always a special feeling to be starting Rally Finland. It was particularly the case for me as a Finnish driver during my career, and the feeling is much the same now being part of this local team. There’s been a great atmosphere already around the city in the last few days and so much support for us. This opening Harju stage is also fantastic for this, but the main focus for the drivers is to try to get around it cleanly, because it can be quite tricky. From tomorrow I think we can anticipate a close fight in the forests: all our drivers have the speed to win this rally, but we also expect to be pushed hard by our rivals.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“As always we’ve had a really warm welcome coming here to Jyväskylä. This is a brilliant event and we want to make the most of our last opportunity to drive these roads with this generation of car. We had some rain fall earlier in the week which can hopefully help us a bit tomorrow opening the road. The sun has been back out since to dry the roads but we’ll fight as hard as we can and see what we can do.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“I’m happy to be here in Finland, driving on these amazing roads and with big support for our team, including in this first stage here in the middle of the city. It’s nice to have Julien back alongside me for one last time and I’m glad that he accepted this last-minute call. We’ll try to do our best, with Vincent and his family also in our thoughts. We have a great car and let’s try to enjoy it.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“The atmosphere is amazing being here at Rally Finland for the first time as a TGR-WRT driver. I made a few mistakes in this Harju stage and didn’t have the best feeling with the mixed surface, but we just have to be awake tomorrow morning and be ready to push flat-out. I feel happy in the car, and there’s a lot of new stages which can help me and my lack of experience in this car on these roads.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s always really nice to start Rally Finland with this Harju stage. This city feels like home for me and there’s a lot of people around, including many of my friends. The Finnish fans are supporting me and the team a lot, and that gives me big motivation and energy to try and get a better result than ever before here. It won’t be easy, but I feel good and I will be trying my best.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“This first stage of Rally Finland is a really special one to drive with an amazing reception from the fans: it’s been really cool to see so many people cheering for us already this week. Harju is also quite a tricky stage; we tried to make a good time but it’s never too easy. The main thing is we are through OK and ready for tomorrow. We know that we can fight for the win and we’ll do our best.”

End of day one (Thursday):
1 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 2m06.7s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1.1s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.2s
4 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.2s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.8s
6 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1.9s
7 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2.9s
8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3.0s
9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3.3s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +4.1s
(Results as of 21:30 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
For Friday the action moves into the forests north-east of Jyväskylä where a loop of four stages is run twice. The classic Laukaa test is reversed for this year and paired with returning Saarikas plus the new Sydänmaa and Hoho tests. Another run through Harju completes the longest day of the event at 127.72 competitive kilometres.

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The fastest round of the WRC takes place in the forests of central Finland around the city of Jyväskylä, which are considered the spiritual home of rallying. Their smooth gravel roads containing frequent jumps and crests delight drivers and fans alike.

It is home ground too for TGR-WRT, which has its headquarters in Jyväskylä just three kilometres from the Rally Finland service park. The team has won seven of the eight editions it has contested, including a historic sweep of the top five positions one year ago – a feat achieved only once before in the WRC – led by a long-awaited first victory for hometown hero Kalle Rovanperä.

This year, TGR-WRT arrives home with a fresh new Finnish hero in Sami Pajari, who last week became the 17th driver from his country to win a round of the WRC with an impressive victory on similarly fast roads at Rally Estonia.

It means that all five of the team’s drivers have now won at least one rally this season. The quintet occupies the top five places in the drivers’ standings, covered by 47 points with five rounds remaining, and all five relish competing on the roads of Rally Finland.

Elfyn Evans leads the championship by 25 points and won Rally Finland with TGR-WRT in 2021 and 2023, making the Welshman one of only four foreign drivers to have triumphed on the event multiple times. His closest challenger Takamoto Katsuta learned his trade as a rally driver with the TGR WRC Challenge Program in Jyväskylä after moving from Japan and has twice finished on the podium of Rally Finland, coming third in 2023 and second last year.

Pajari’s Estonia win promoted him to third in the standings, 33 points from the lead. He finished fourth on his GR YARIS Rally1 debut in Finland in 2024 and fifth last year. Five points further back, nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier is another two-time Rally Finland winner, his 2024 win coming 11 years after his first. Oliver Solberg finished a strong second to Pajari in Estonia to sit just nine points behind Ogier and is a previous WRC2 winner in Finland.

Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala will once again drive his home event in a GR Yaris Rally2 car, co-driven by fellow former TGR-WRT driver Juho Hänninen.

A total of 13 GR Yaris Rally2 cars feature on the entry list, including that of the WRC2 championship leader Roope Korhonen (who narrowly beat Latvala to win the class one year ago) and fellow Finn Teemu Suninen, who both finished on the podium in Estonia. Other customer drivers lining up in WRC2 include Briton Gus Greensmith, Finland-based Australian Taylor Gill, young Finn Tuukka Kauppinen, Estonia’s Joosep Ralf Nõgene, Frenchman Adrien Mosca and Austrian Johannes Keferböck.

The TGR WRC Challenge Program will again be well represented in Jyväskylä, where many of its drivers are based. Yuki Yamamoto finished a fine fifth in WRC2 last year, including taking a maiden stage win shared with Latvala. Rally2 rookies Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto will look to build upon solid WRC2 debuts in Estonia, where Jaspar Vaher showed stage-winning speed on home roads. Rio Ogata and Kanta Yanaguida will again drive Rally3 machinery in WRC3 while Tomiya Maekawa co-drives Finnish driver Jarkko Nikara.

The 75th anniversary edition of Rally Finland begins in the heart of Jyväskylä on Thursday evening with the traditional mixed-surface Harju stage, which is run again to close out Friday after two loops of stages in the forests north-east: the classic Laukaa is reversed and paired with returning Saarikas plus new Sydänmaa and Hoho tests. Saturday features familiar roads to the south-east with Parkkola, Västilä, Päijälä and Leustu all returning from last year. A new-look Himos-Jämsa stage – the longest of the rally at 30.02 kilometres – is run twice to form Sunday’s finale.

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“It was fantastic to see Sami score his first win in Estonia and it’s been wonderful to watch his growth this season. It’s also remarkable that all five of our drivers have now won rallies this season, and they all still have chances in the championship. They’re also all capable of winning Rally Finland, our team’s home event, and I think we can expect a tight fight. Elfyn and Seb have won the rally multiple times, while Taka has been on the podium twice. Oliver had a great rally in Estonia, building back his confidence, while Sami has now proven he can win and the excitement will be high for him in Finland. Meanwhile, I’m grateful to have the opportunity – with thanks to Akio Toyoda – to drive my home rally once more in what should be a big battle in WRC2, where the level is also really high.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Rally Finland is one of my favourite events on the calendar. It’s an amazing sensation to drive these Rally1 cars on those roads, and in terms of pure driving thrills, nothing else beats it during the season. You need to be able to find a good rhythm and a good feeling with the car to be competitive, but when everything’s working well, it can give you great confidence and enjoyment behind the wheel. I’m looking forward to it as always and hoping for some conditions that are more in our favour and enable us to be in the fight from the start of the weekend.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Finland is one of the homes of rallying and one of the most enjoyable rallies to drive. It’s also one of the most challenging to win, especially against fast drivers from the north of Europe, and it’s a big honour to have been able to achieve that a couple of times in my career. Rally Estonia was not easy for us driving on those roads for the first time after five years away, but at Rally Finland we will have a higher target in mind as I’ve been there the last two years and been competitive, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Rally Finland is something very special. It’s a rally that every driver wants to win at some point in their career because it’s such a unique challenge. The way that the stages flow, with the speed and the crests and the jumps, feels amazing. I’ve had some good rallies there in the past in Rally2 cars, but I’m sure that my first Rally Finland driving for TGR-WRT as the home team, in such a great car in such a fast rally, will be my most special experience there yet. After a good, consistent rally in Estonia, it would be great if we can finish on the podium again.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Rally Finland is like a second home rally for me. I moved to Finland when I started rallying and learned pretty much everything I know there, and I still have many friends in Jyväskylä. I have many great memories from the rally – I made my WRC debut there 10 years ago – and to finish second to Kalle last year was very special for me. I was very happy that he could win, but I hope I can go one better. It’s a very demanding rally: you have to be fully committed straight away, and you need full trust in your pacenotes and the car. But I have a good feeling and will try my best.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“To win Rally Estonia was amazing, and a feeling that is still sinking in. There was not much time to celebrate or relax, as two days after the rally we were already testing for Rally Finland. Like Estonia, this is one of my favourite rallies, but it’s even more special to be able to compete at home in front of all my family and friends and a lot of fans cheering for us. The stages are beautiful and I really enjoy driving them. Many will be expecting that we can win again; we can’t underestimate the competition, but we of course hope that we can make it happen. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“I’m looking forward to this Rally Finland. It’s always a special rally for me as my second home rally. I’ve been living in Jyväskylä for five years, so the atmosphere feels very familiar, and the roads are the most beautiful in the calendar. I had a bit of a disappointing rally in Estonia, so I really want to bounce back in Finland. Last year, it was a really good rally and a real turning point for me, so I hope to have the same good feeling and keep that strong pace through the whole weekend to fight against top drivers.”

Map Rally Finland 2026
(Please visit www.wrc.com for the latest.)

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GAZOO Racing has released additional visual assets covering the recent appearance of the GR GT and GR GT3 supercars at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

They include high-resolution static shots of the cars – development prototype models – in a studio setting and images and video on the festival’s hill climb course. Some of the pictures and film footage also feature the Lexus LFA Concept and other GR models which took part in this year’s festival.

The new assets, together with other images and a press release that have already been published, can be viewed and downloaded on the official Toyota Europe media website here: https://newsroom.toyota.eu/gr-gt-news/

Two years to the month since he made his debut aboard a GR YARIS Rally1 car during his run to the WRC2 title in 2024, the breakthrough win for Pajari caps an excellent run of form so far this season that had already featured five podiums in the previous eight rallies.

The result means all five of the team’s current Rally1 drivers have tasted victory in 2026, with Pajari joining fellow TGR-WRT drivers Kalle Rovanperä (2021) and Oliver Solberg (2025) in achieving his maiden WRC win in Estonia.

The 24-year-old from neighbouring Finland looked at home on the event’s fast gravel roads from the very start with a calm and composed yet stunningly quick drive. He won all seven stages on Friday, and when nearest rival Solberg halted that streak on Saturday morning, Pajari responded to extend his lead to 25 seconds before the final day. Rain threatened to mix things up on the final day but Pajari was unfazed and ultimately secured victory by 19.5s.

Pajari’s fellow 24-year-old and successor as WRC2 champion Solberg also drove a strong and smart rally to return to the podium alongside co-driver Elliott Edmondson, and scored maximum bonus points from the final day by topping the Super Sunday and Power Stage classifications.

Sébastien Ogier finished fifth overall on his first Rally Estonia start since 2021, securing valuable championship points together with co-driver Vincent Landais.

As championship leader, Elfyn Evans faced a tough start to the rally running first on the road in particularly dry and loose conditions and sweeping a cleaner line for his rivals to follow. He and co-driver Scott Martin used a slightly better position on Saturday to move up from ninth to sixth, and came second on Super Sunday and third in the Power Stage to increase their championship lead to 25 points.

Takamoto Katsuta had been running sixth on Friday from second on the road until he had to stop due to tyre damage. Restarting on Saturday, he and Aaron Johnston had to open the road for the rest of the weekend but scored one point in the Power Stage and remain second in the championship. Pajari is up to third with Ogier fourth and Solberg fifth; the five TGR-WRT drivers covered by 47 points with five rallies remaining.

Even with Pajari scoring under the separate TGR-WRT2 banner, TGR-WRT increases its manufacturers’ championship lead to 156 points.

Two GR Yaris Rally2 crews finished on the podium in a closely fought WRC2 battle, with Teemu Suninen and Janni Hussi finishing second and Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka third – both less than 10s from the winner.

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“Congratulations Sami and Marko on your first WRC victory! After retiring at the season-opening Rallye Monte-Carlo, I heard that you told the team: ‘I want to practice more, even if it’s in a Rally2 car.’ I’m really happy that your determination, positive attitude, and willingness to take action have finally been rewarded with a win.

Seeing you and Oliver – both the same age – standing together on the top two steps of the podium was also a wonderful sight that gave us a glimpse of the future. It’s always satisfying to see experienced drivers win, but this was a different kind of excitement altogether. And with Sami’s victory this weekend, all five of our drivers have now taken wins this season.

At TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team, we do not make cars with the goal of helping just one driver win. Our philosophy is to make a car that gives every driver on the team an equal opportunity to fight for victory. The success achieved by all of our drivers has proven the value of both our car development and our team-building approach. To everyone in the team, let’s keep pushing forward and continue building even better cars together!

P.S.
Thanks to all of you, my recovery after surgery is progressing well. The other day, I was allowed to conduct a test run of my own body. I was relieved to find that I could still drive a car properly. That said, I’m told I should probably take it a little easier for a while longer. So that I can get back behind the wheel of the cars you all have worked so hard to create, I’ll continue my own maintenance program carefully and patiently for a little while longer.”

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“I’m very proud of this result and this first victory for Sami and Marko. Already after shakedown on Friday morning, Sami told me he was happy with the car and that the team didn’t need to touch it, and we didn’t, even though our team is always working as hard as we can to improve and make our drivers as comfortable and competitive as we can. He was very calm from start to finish and did a perfect job; it was very impressive. Now, all of our drivers have won a rally or two this year and that shows that we are doing something right. They are all fighting for the championship and they can all win at Rally Finland, too.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“We faced a tough start to the weekend with the stages being so dry and the cleaning effect so clear. In the end, I think we clawed back as many positions as we could and that sixth was realistically the most that was possible. Then, the final day was quite OK for us. I think the rain helped a bit to even things out and we had a pretty good run through both stages. So we came away with some decent points and now we’ll look forward to Rally Finland.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“It’s been a lot of fun to be back here in Estonia this weekend driving these amazing roads and this fantastic event; it was definitely the right decision. Congratulations to Sami and Marko on their first win: they were clearly the fastest this weekend, so enjoy it! On my side I was not far from the target I set myself. After five years away from these high commitment roads, I was just missing a little bit, and maybe a few tenths on this final day. Still we scored decent points for the championship and we will go to Rally Finland with a higher target.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“This has been a very good weekend. It was very important for me to have a clean weekend and find a good rhythm and get back the feeling and the confidence. Thank you to the team who have supported through a tough time, and I’m very happy to bring back this great result and to be back on the podium. Sami and Marko have done an amazing job with incredible speed and really deserve this result. Today I was able to turn it up just a few percent and take the maximum points from Sunday, so I’m very happy.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“This weekend did not go the way that we had hoped. We knew that Friday could be difficult with our road position but our pace was not bad and I think we were doing our job quite well until we had to stop, and this really affected the rest of our rally, because it was hard to do much from first on the road. It’s very frustrating but nothing is over, and we keep going and keep pushing. We tested some different things with the car for Rally Finland and I hope we have a good rally there.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s simply an amazing feeling. ‘Arigato gozaimasu’ to Morizo-san and everyone at TGR-WRT for your support and for trusting in me. Thanks to all my supporters, family and friends who stood behind me even when we had tricky times. I also want to thank myself for not giving up and for continuing to push. We’ve had a good first part of the season and after being so many times on the podium, there was no doubt this result was coming, but it’s never easy at this level. This is one of my favourite rallies together with Finland, and I was just enjoying the driving and everything felt natural. Let’s now enjoy the moment before our home event at Rally Finland.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY ESTONIA
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h31m16.5s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +19.5s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +53.8s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +59.7s
5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m32.9s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m01.0s
7 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m35.3s
8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m02.3s
9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m28.0s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m33.1s
21 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +13m23.6s
(Results as of 14:15 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 9:
1 Elfyn Evans 177 points
2 Takamoto Katsuta 152
3 Sami Pajari 144
4 Sébastien Ogier 139
5 Oliver Solberg 130
6 Thierry Neuville 111
7 Adrien Fourmaux 111
8 Esapekka Lappi 25
9 Hayden Paddon 21
10 Yohan Rossel 20

2026 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 9:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 464 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 308
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT2 157
4 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 116

What's next?
Rally Finland (July 30-August 2) is the fastest rally on the WRC calendar, run over smooth gravel roads featuring numerous jumps and crests. It’s also a home rally for TGR-WRT, which has its headquarters close to the service park in Jyväskylä.

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Facing a total of nine stages and 149.6 competitive kilometres, Pajari began the day by picking up where he had left off on Friday, when he had been quickest in all seven tests. He went quickest in the first pass through the Peipsiääre and Mustvee stages before Solberg broke his stage-winning streak to be quickest on the second pass of both tests, keeping the gap between them at just over 14 seconds when they returned to Tartu for mid-day service.

In the afternoon, Pajari once more stretched his legs, scoring three consecutive stage wins and moving 25s clear of Solberg by the end of the day as he takes a step closer to securing a maiden FIA World Rally Championship victory.

Solberg’s strong speed in the morning especially enabled him to move over 25s clear of the Hyundai duo of Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville.

Sébastien Ogier continues to hold a solid fifth place overall and has been joined in the top six by Elfyn Evans. No longer tasked with sweeping the loose gravel roads as he was on Friday, championship leader Evans could show stronger pace and gain three positions within the day’s first two stages. After being forced to stop late on Friday due to tyre damage, Takamoto Katsuta restarted running first on the road throughout the day, focusing on testing setup options ahead of the final day and the upcoming Rally Finland.

GR Yaris Rally2 drivers Roope Korhonen and Teemu Suninen remain in a close battle for WRC2 honours and second and third respectively, both only just over 10s from the leader. TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Jaspar Vaher’s impressive category debut at home came to an end when he went off the road in SS8 out of fourth position. Yuki Yamamoto also crashed out in SS15, but Japanese rookies Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto continue to gather valuable experience.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“This was another really impressive day from Sami. He looks really comfortable with the car and the speed has been coming very naturally, without him having to push too hard or take massive risks. Oliver has also been driving really well, but even when he set a couple of fastest times this morning, Sami was able to respond quite easily and go even quicker this afternoon. There’s still two quite long stages to go but I won’t be telling him to change his approach. With 10 points available and the speed that he has, I see no reason to back off.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“We had a good start to the day. With a slightly better road position than yesterday, we had a good feeling behind the wheel and were able to gain back some positions, which was the main target. We then used the afternoon to experiment with a few different setups, which maybe didn’t go in the direction that we had hoped, but at least we have a solid base to fall back on for tomorrow. Even though there’s only one stage run twice, there’s a lot of points on offer and we’ll have to try to be on our best.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“We were able to have a good rhythm and good fun in the car again today. Unfortunately the road was evolving and getting faster with every car, so it was difficult to fight with the guys ahead of us on the leaderboard. I always prefer to have a fight and to be fifth overall is not what we hoped for, but we’re still on for some important points and tomorrow there are quite a few more to catch. The weather is looking uncertain, and some rain could change things and reduce this cleaning effect, so we just have to keep trying our best until the end.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I had a much better feeling this morning; something similar to what we had here last year in terms of the feeling with the car and the speed. Initially I was still lacking a bit of commitment, but then we made another step for the second pass, the balance felt good, and I could push and set some fastest times. This afternoon we were maybe a bit optimistic going with a full set of soft tyres and it didn’t pay off. I didn’t want to force it and just tried to keep driving my own race. Sami has done an incredible performance so hats off to him. There’s still a long day tomorrow which will be very important for the points, and we’ll try to take as many as we can.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It was difficult today to be the first car on the road; it’s been so dry so far this weekend and the cleaning effect is really big. We were just focused on trying to find some positive things for the future and for the next rally in Finland, trying a lot of different things with the car setup in every single stage. Some things were positive, some things not so much, but at least we could gather that information. There’s still one more day to go and it probably won’t be easy but I will keep trying my best, also for all the fans here in Estonia who have been showing such great support for me.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“It’s been another really good day. Again I had a really great feeling with the car and we could start with two stage wins this morning. Then Oliver was having really good pace to bring the gap back down a bit. So we needed to try and step it up for the afternoon and we managed to do that, adding another 10 seconds to our lead. It wasn’t easy with some different stage conditions and difficult tyre choices, but I’m super happy and now we just need to bring it home tomorrow. We don’t know exactly what the weather will be like – the forecast suggests it could be tricky – but I’m looking forward to it.”

End of day two (Saturday):
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h08m34.0s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +25.0s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +52.1s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +54.0s
5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m32.8s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m02.9s
7 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m16.3s
8 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m42.0s
9 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +3m03.2s
10 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +7m07.2s
26 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +13m15.9s
(Results as of 22:30 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Two passes of the Kääriku stage, the longest of the rally at 24.39 kilometres, round out the rally on Sunday. The second pass serves as the Power Stage with up to five bonus points available for the fastest times, alongside five more for the Super Sunday classification.

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One of the fastest rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Estonia is running to a compact schedule this year that packs just over 300 competitive kilometres into little more than 48 hours. The action began with the pre-event shakedown on Friday morning, where Pajari and team-mate Elfyn Evans shared the fastest time.

When the rally began for real in the afternoon, Pajari made a perfect start, setting the fastest time in all three stages on the initial loop to open up a small advantage of 4.1 seconds over team-mate Oliver Solberg.

After a tyre fitting zone between the two loops of stages, Pajari was even more dominant through the second pass of the three forest stages, extending his margin above 14s. He was also fastest in the day’s closing street stage in Elva to finish up 14.7s clear of second-placed Solberg.

Returning to Estonia one year after his debut victory aboard the GR YARIS Rally1, Solberg was consistently in the top-three stage times throughout the day and ended it 1.8s ahead of third-placed Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai).

On his first day competing in Estonia in five years, Sébastien Ogier produced a solid and consistent performance to sit fifth overall, 9.3s behind fourth-placed Thierry Neuville of Hyundai.

Takamoto Katsuta was running sixth overall until he sustained tyre damage in the day’s final forest stage and was forced to retire due to a lack of usable spare rubber. The team will prepare his car to restart tomorrow.

Championship leader Elfyn Evans faced challenging conditions running first on the very dry and loose gravel roads and ended the day ninth overall.

In WRC2, GR Yaris Rally2 drivers Teemu Suninen and Roope Korhonen are second and third overall within five seconds of the lead, while TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Jaspar Vaher is fourth on home soil on his category debut, having scored his first stage win in SS3. Yuki Yamamoto is 14th after a spin in SS1, while two more debutants Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto are 16th and 17th respectively.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“Sami has driven very well today. To be able to set the fastest time on every stage is quite surprising and impressive. Already in shakedown he was very happy with the feeling in the car and didn’t need to change anything. He’s been smiling and relaxed and enjoying himself, and hopefully for him it can continue like this. Oliver and Seb both had solid days and I’m sure they can get stronger tomorrow, and Elfyn too with a slightly better road position. Taka was unfortunate today but he just needs to put that behind him and look forward.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a tough start to the rally for us opening the road today with some very loose conditions. We tried to do all that we can, and it didn’t feel so bad behind the wheel. We just weren’t able to put competitive times on the board, and it could be a bit disheartening to see the guys coming faster behind. Thankfully this afternoon with the ruts forming the time loss wasn’t so bad, and tomorrow should at least be a bit better with a couple of cars in front of us.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“I think it’s been a decent day for us. People know that I will never say I’m happy being in fifth place, but I knew coming here it would be challenging and I think we did a decent job from third on the road after five years not competing here. Sami has been flying today, so well done to him: winning all of the stages is something special. On our side there’s still some work to do to try and improve a bit, work on the car and myself to hopefully be closer to that pace tomorrow and catch some more positions.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“Second place is a pretty good position but I can’t be completely satisfied with the day. This morning it was all pretty close, but the afternoon was a bit more difficult in terms of the times compared to Sami, who has done a great job today. I was struggling a bit with the feeling and to find that sweet spot to be able to push. But we’re not far away and we will keep trying to improve some small things. Tomorrow will be a long day and it will be important to manage the tyres when we’re driving the first and second pass on the same set.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Today didn’t go as expected. It was quite a difficult start already in the morning. We went a bit too much on the soft side with the car setup and it wasn’t working so well in the super high speed sections. We managed it as well as we could and without losing too much time. Unfortunately, we got damage to two tyres during the second loop and couldn’t continue. It’s very disappointing, but I will just keep trying to do my best over the rest of the rally.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I can be very happy at the end of the day. To take a clean sweep of stage wins and be in the lead is really good, and more importantly the feeling behind the wheel has been really great. The driving has just been flowing quite naturally. Of course, we are pushing but I don’t feel like I’m taking big risk and it feels under control. The morning was super tight with our rivals but in the afternoon we managed to make a bit more of a gap. Still, it’s only Friday. There’s two long days still to go, so no chance to relax yet, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow and will just try to keep enjoying it.”

End of day one (Friday):
1 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 49m43.5s
2 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +14.7s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +16.5s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +24.0s
5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +33.3s
6 Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +44.7s
7 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +46.5s
8 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) +46.6s
9 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +49.8s
10 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m04.3s
41 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +11m32.5s
(Results as of 23:00 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Saturday is the longest day of the rally, with a total of nine stages and 149.6 competitive kilometres. Two stages to the north of Tartu are run twice prior to mid-day service, with another two stages to the south run twice in the afternoon before a super special stage adjacent to the service park ends the day.

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GAZOO Racing gave a thrilling taste of its sports car engineering with high-speed demonstrations by the upcoming GR GT and GR GT3* at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the weekend. They were joined by the Lexus LFA Concept*, which delighted the crowds with a surprise appearance on the festival’s hill climb – its dynamic world premiere.

More than 200,000 fans enjoyed the speed, sound and precise handling of the GR GT and GR GT3 over the four days of the festival, an annual celebration of sporting style and performance held in the grounds of Goodwood House in the south of England.

Having appeared a year ago with bodywork heavily camouflaged, the GR cars were presented undisguised in the Supercar Paddock, alongside the Lexus LFA Concept, so visitors could admire up close the fine details of their design.

Together, they represent the latest evolution of the finest sports car design and engineering, with roots that can be traced back to past legends such as the Toyota 2000GT and Lexus LFA. Born from great motor sport rivalry, they have been crafted with the benefit of feedback gained on the some of the world’s most challenging circuits.

The trio further signalled Toyota’s multipath approach to powertrain development, across a spectrum from road-going and circuit-tuned hybrid systems to ultra-high-performance battery electric technology.

The GR GT is a track-inspired road car with racing DNA, powered by a new 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine paired with a single-motor hybrid system. In addition to high power and torque for exceptional performance, the car’s development focused on achieving a low centre of gravity, low weight with high rigidity, and aerodynamic performance.

The GR GT3 shares the GR GT’s core elements but is a track-focused race car, engineered to be highly competitive and deliver accessible performance.

The Lexus LFA Concept is Lexus’ vision for a next-generation electric sports car. It shares technologies and qualities with the GR GT and GR GT3, blending advanced performance with emotional appeal and invoking the spirit of the original V10-powered LFA.

It made its world-first public demonstration speed drives at the festival, leading the GR GT and GR GT3 in a powerful trinity of new machines that opened the supercar action on the Goodwood hill climb. A distinguished team of drivers was on hand to give spectators a taste of the cars’ capabilities. It included Elfyn Evans from TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) ; TOYOTA RACING Vice-Chairman Kazuki Nakajima ; one of the GR GT, GT3 and Lexus LFA Concept development driver Hiroaki Ishiura ; four-time Super GT Champion Sho Tsuboi and Super GT racing driver Yuichi Nakayama and German racing driver and Nürburgring specialist Uwe Kleen.

There was also strong representation from GAZOO Racing’s international motorsport activities, led by the GR YARIS Rally1, the car which has dominated the FIA World Rally Championship so far this year. Its performance was demonstrated to great effect by the drivers who know it best: TGR-WRT’s teammates Elfyn Evans, Takamato Katsuta and Oliver Solberg were all seen in action on the hill climb and rally stage. The rugged, race-winning qualities of the DKR GR Hilux in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship were also displayed, with four-time South African champion Henk Lategan at the wheel.

TOYOTA RACING’s recent Le Mans 24 Hours victory and current leadership in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s driver and manufacturer standings were celebrated with the winning #7 TR010 HYBRID.

Toyota is committed to using the experience, technical skills and insights gained in top-level motorsport to develop ever-better cars for the road. The festival was given a prime example of this philosophy in action by the new GR Yaris Aero Performance. This latest development of the multi-award-winning performance hatchback was included in the “First Glance” category, together with the new RAV4 GR Sport, a version of the plug-in hybrid SUV that has GR-themed styling details inside and out and benefits from a sports-tuned chassis.

The all-new, all-electric Hilux BEV pick-up was also featured at Goodwood. As well as serving as an official support vehicle, it also demonstrated its authentic off-road capabilities, driven on the rally stage by Henk Lategan.

*The GR GT, GR GT3 and Lexus LFA Concept cars taking part in the festival were prototype/development vehicles.

Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries made up positions to finish 12th in their #7 TR010 HYBRID, one lap behind the race-winning #15 BMW. In the #8 TR010 HYBRID, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa lost several minutes due to a suspension change after being hit by a rival, and finished 17th.

Despite the disappointing result, TOYOTA RACING still leads the manufacturers’ World Championship, now by five points over BMW M Team WRT at the halfway point in the season. The #7 TR010 HYBRID crew are tied with the #20 BMW drivers in the lead of the drivers’ standings, while the #8 crew are fifth, 19 points behind.

Mike started from 17th following a grid penalty, and the #7 car’s troubles continued in the opening stages. A five-second penalty for a start infringement was followed by a drive-through for a full course yellow infraction in the second hour. Incidents and penalties elsewhere helped the #7 gain places and move closer to the top 10. However, further progress proved impossible over the remaining hours of a race which ended in fog and falling temperatures.

The #8 TR010 HYBRID took the start from 14th but gained positions – running briefly in the top 10 after the first pit stops – until its push for World Championship points was effectively ended in the second hour. Brendon was hit by another Hypercar, causing right-front suspension damage and requiring a 16-minute stop for repairs. The #8 dropped to the back of the field, but the drivers nevertheless continued pushing until the end, ready to take advantage of any problems ahead.

Following its frustrating week in Brazil, TOYOTA RACING now has an eight-week break to regroup and return stronger for the next round of the WEC season, the Lone Star Le Mans on 6 September, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Obviously it was a very difficult race. It's not what we wanted before coming here, but we lacked performance all week, including in the race. We also made a couple of mistakes during the race and that doesn’t help. We need to learn from this and improve. There is still a long way to go in the World Championship fight, so we will do our homework and come back stronger for Austin.”

 Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “I’m disappointed with my race because I made a couple of mistakes, including the full course yellow penalty. It’s not the performance we wanted so we need to regroup now and bounce back in Austin.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It was a very challenging weekend, and a very challenging day. Ultimately, we lacked performance since the start of the weekend. Of course, we also made some mistakes but, regardless, we were not quick enough. When you don't have the baseline speed, you have little chance to move forward.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “Clearly not the result we were hoping for. We knew it would not be easy after qualifying but we were hopeful that we could score decent points, and it started quite well. But the contact basically ended our race. After that, there was nothing we could do. We just finished the race as cleanly as possible in case of any bad luck for the others, which never came.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It's been a very tough day for both cars. I fought hard for the first two stints, and we were up to ninth after the first pit stop. Unfortunately, we got taken out by a car diving up the inside and locking the rears, which bent our suspension. It's one of those things. Without that, I think we could have fought for points today, but we didn't have the pace for a podium.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was a hard day. The contact just ruined our race, which was a pity. We didn't have the performance to fight at the front, but we had a chance to score points. We need to learn from this and come back stronger. There are still a few races to go, and we are in a big battle for the World Championship.”

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Just 0.739secs covered all 17 Hypercars in a very close qualifying. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa were 14th in the #8 TR010 HYBRID. Le Mans winners and World Championship leaders Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries finished qualifying in 16th place in their #7 TR010 HYBRID.

Preparations for qualifying accelerated in third practice, which gave engineers and drivers the chance to evaluate set-up changes made since Friday’s session. After an hour of practice, the results – with the #8 in 12th and the #7 in 14th – already indicated that qualifying could be tough for the TR010 HYBRIDs.

Kamui and Ryō, who set their car’s fastest laps in third practice early in the session, took the wheel for qualifying and fought hard to achieve the top-10 position required to reach Hyperpole. On a sunny afternoon, with temperatures hitting 27°C, both drivers pushed throughout the 12-minute session and improved their lap times consistently but missed out on Hyperpole by a fraction of a second.

Despite the qualifying result, the team will take on Sunday’s race determined to score more valuable points to defend its advantage in the manufacturers’ World Championship. The 6 Hours of São Paulo begins at 11.30am local time (4.30pm CEST).

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Obviously qualifying was not what we wanted, but we have struggled this week. It's going to be a hard race for tomorrow, but we will do our best to score as many points as we can for the World Championship. Hopefully we can make it an exciting race for all the fans here in Brazil. We will do our best.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was a tough qualifying, but we did everything we could. My best lap was clean, and we maximised our package. I think we have reasonable race pace, but the weather is a big unknown tomorrow. So far this season we have done a good job with strategy, so we need to be very sharp on that side and hopefully we can score good points tomorrow.”

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Two 90-minute free practice sessions gave engineers and drivers a first opportunity to adjust the TR010 HYBRIDs for the 4.309km, anti-clockwise track, notable for its elevation changes and tight, twisty layout. A challenging day leaves the team with work to do to extract more performance from its cars.

Le Mans winners and World Championship leaders Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries were 14th fastest in the #7 TR010 HYBRID. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa, who finished third at La Sarthe, ended the day 15th in their #8 TR010 HYBRID.

First practice began late on a sunny morning, with temperatures around 25°C. Both cars began a busy programme of mechanical and aerodynamic set-up and control setting adjustments, as well as analysing both compounds of Michelin tyres. Mike and Brendon set the best laps for their respective cars.

In the afternoon, the team continued its work in similar weather conditions. Both cars completed an incident-free second session but were slightly behind their Hypercar rivals at the end of a tough day of free practice. Kamui and Ryō recorded the fastest times in their cars.  

After two busy sessions, the team’s engineers will now analyse the data and work closely with the drivers with the target of improving the balance and performance of the TR010 HYBRIDs prior to the final, one-hour practice session on Saturday morning.

Qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon (3.10pm local time, 8.10pm CEST) to set the grid for Sunday’s race, which begins at 11.30am local time (4.30pm CEST).

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We were generally struggling in terms of pace, and the feeling in the car wasn’t great. We couldn’t get into a good rhythm. We need to analyse everything that's going on in the car. We will work on it tonight and try to figure out how to improve.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “We didn’t look so competitive today and we're still trying to find a good balance with the car. There are some areas we can improve, so we will work hard with the engineers to find improvements before qualifying. We will do our best, so let’s see how it develops over the weekend.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “It's nice to be in Brazil again, but it looks like we are struggling a little bit. Obviously, we are still exploring different set-up directions and seeing how we could extract a little bit more performance. It has been challenging so far but we’ll keep pushing.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “I’m happy to be back in São Paulo but it’s been quite a difficult day. We struggled a bit in terms of pace and we’re clearly on the back foot a bit. We now have a lot of data – also on both tyre compounds – so we will work very hard to try to improve. On the other hand, the forecast is for a wet Sunday, which would completely change the picture.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “We tried quite a few different things between our two cars, but right now it looks like it's going to be a tough weekend. It looks like there could be rain on Sunday and that might be good news for us. It was tough going in the dry today, so maybe the weather can help us. But we’ll keep working on it and fighting for every position in qualifying and the race.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It's been a tough day. We tried to assess the tyres and work out which compound is better for the race. We have a different car compared to last year here, so we also worked on optimising the set-up. We went through the programme quite smoothly but we’re missing lap time. There’s a lot of work to do tonight and hopefully we can find some lap time for qualifying.”

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All five TGR-WRT drivers, who currently fill the top five places in the championship, will compete in Estonia. Elfyn Evans is the current championship leader with an advantage of 11 points over Takamoto Katsuta, who is set to reach the milestone of 100 WRC events in Estonia.

Reigning champion Sébastien Ogier climbed to third in the standings, 37 points from the lead, with victory in Greece and returns to compete on Estonian roads for the first time since 2021.

The team’s youngest drivers, Finland’s Sami Pajari and Sweden’s Oliver Solberg, both feel at home on fast gravel stages. Solberg scored a sensational victory in Estonia one year ago on his debut in the GR YARIS Rally1 car.

More up-and-coming talent will be on display in the WRC support categories in Estonia, where seven cars will compete as part of the TGR WRC Challenge Program.

WRC2 regular Yuki Yamamoto – on strong form after a first podium at Rally Japan and Power Stage win in Greece – will be joined by three drivers making their debuts in the category after building experience on a variety of European rallies so far this year aboard GR Yaris Rally2 cars: Japanese prospects Shotaro Goto and Takumi Matsushita and Estonian talent Jaspar Vaher, who takes on his home rally fresh from outright victory in the recent Finnish championship round in Jyväskylä.

Two more Japanese drivers, Rio Ogata and Kanta Yanaguida, make their debuts in the WRC3 category for Rally3 cars, where Japanese co-driver Tomiya Maekawa also lines up alongside Jarkko Nikara.

A total of 14 GR Yaris Rally2 drivers feature on the entry list, including the new WRC2 championship leader Roope Korhonen and fellow Finn Teemu Suninen, who won on his last start in Portugal. They are joined by Gus Greensmith, Bernhard ten Brinke, Tuukka Kauppinen and Johannes Keferböck plus four more Estonian drivers: Egon Kaur, Karl Martin Volver, Joosep Ralf Nõgene and Urmo Aava.

Rally Estonia is known for its wide and flowing roads that feature crests and large jumps, but the route also includes narrow and technical sections where the soft and sandy surface can become heavily rutted by the second pass of each stage. The rally is based in the country’s second largest city, Tartu – around two hours south-east of the capital Tallinn – and runs to a more compact format this year which packs 301.8 competitive kilometres into just over 48 hours.

After shakedown on Friday morning, the rally begins in the afternoon with a trio of gravel stages south of Tartu run twice either side of a tyre-fitting zone in Tehvandi, before a street stage in Elvi rounds out the day. Saturday features two stages to the north run twice prior to mid-day service in Tartu and another two stages to the south run twice in the afternoon, while a super special stage adjacent to the service park ends the day. Two passes of the Kääriku stage, the longest of the rally at 24.39km, round out the rally on Sunday.

Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“As a team we always look forward to this part of the season and these very fast rallies in Estonia and Finland. Of course, Finland is our home rally, but Estonia is also a place where we have a good history and a good record. The Acropolis Rally was all about managing the tyres, but Estonia should be more of a flat-out fight. All of our drivers enjoy driving on fast roads and can be strong there; Oliver took an amazing win there last year, and Taka and Sami are both on very good form. For Elfyn, it should be easier to compete from first on the road, while Seb hasn’t driven this event for many years, but he will be motivated after his win in Greece.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Greece was a challenging event for us but we can look forward to something completely different on much faster roads in Estonia and Finland. It’s important to find a good feeling and prepare the car as well as possible for these events, and it was helpful to drive a national rally in Estonia last week to get used to the highest speeds once again. If it’s very dry in Estonia then there can still be some cleaning for us to do, but we just need to focus on doing our best whatever conditions we face.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“To win in Greece was very important for us. Moving from there to Estonia will be a big contrast, and especially for me as I haven’t driven this rally for five years. I’m looking forward to being back, though. It’s one of the most spectacular rallies of the season, and a well-organised event with a great atmosphere. I enjoyed my test last week, getting back the feeling for high speed, and hopefully we can be competitive. I’m sure that it will not be easy, but I always enjoy a challenge like this and will give it my best shot.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I’m really looking forward to going back to Rally Estonia. It’s a very special place to me after we took our first win there last year. It’s a really cool rally that I’ve always enjoyed: with the high speeds, massive jumps and excited rally fans, it’s a lot of fun. We haven’t had the easiest run of rallies recently, but now I’m going back to a rally where I have experience with this car, and I just want to try my best and see what we can do.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“After a good rally for us in Greece, I’ve got a good feeling to move onto very high-speed stages in Estonia and Finland, which are some of my favourite rallies. You have to be very committed in Estonia, especially on the second pass when the road gets rutted, but the margins are also very small at those speeds. All of my team-mates can also be very strong in these rallies, but I will try my best to achieve good results and take as many points as possible.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I’m really looking forward to these next two rallies in Estonia and Finland: they are my favourite ones on the calendar. I’m pretty happy with how we finished the last rally in Greece after a difficult start, we’re still in a good position in the championship, and at the same time our starting position should not be too bad for the next rallies and should allow us to be in the fight, so let’s see what we can do.”

Yuki Yamamoto (Driver WRC Challenge Program GEN2)
“I’m really happy to be going back onto fast gravel roads again. I had a good feeling at Rally Estonia last year, and I’ve made a lot of progress since then with car handling and rally management. I also already drove a Finnish championship rally recently in preparation, so I’m confident I’m ready. I’m aiming high but there will again be many good drivers in WRC2; I’m excited to fight against them and try my best.”

Map Rally Estonia 2026
(Please visit www.wrc.com for the latest.)

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The project represents a new challenge to demonstrate hydrogen fuel cell technology in the demanding conditions of the Dakar Rally. Based on the DKR GR Hilux, which has already proven itself in Dakar’s top category, the DKR GR FC Hilux replaces its petrol engine with Toyota’s fuel cell system. It emits no CO₂ while driving, with water as its only tailpipe emission.

Read the full press release IN ENGLISH and IN JAPANESE. 

Victory for Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries at La Sarthe elevated the #7 TR010 HYBRID crew to the lead of the drivers’ standings, and they take a four-point advantage into the South American round of the WEC calendar.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa are also in the title fight, just 19 points adrift of their team-mates, after finishing third at Le Mans in the #8 TR010 HYBRID. They travel to Brazil aiming to win for the second time this year, following their victory in the season-opening 6 Hours of Imola.

The 4.309km, anti-clockwise Interlagos circuit presents a unique engineering challenge. The relatively high altitude of over 700 metres negatively impacts engine performance and downforce levels, meaning the free practice sessions are particularly important to adjust car settings prior to the race.

TOYOTA RACING has a positive record from its five races so far in Brazil, with two pole positions and two victories to its name. The team’s challenge to win its third race of the season will begin on Friday 10 July with two free practice sessions. Qualifying takes place on Saturday (3.25pm local time, 8.25pm CEST) to set the grid for Sunday’s race, which begins at 11.30am local time (4.30pm CEST).

Away from the action in Brazil, the Le Mans-winning #7 TR010 HYBRID – in the same condition as it crossed the line in La Sarthe – will be on static display at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in Great Britain.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Le Mans put us in a stronger position in the World Championships so obviously our next target is to reclaim both titles. We’ll be pushing very hard as a team to do that, starting in São Paulo. It’s going to be a challenge, though, because the competition is very close. Everyone could see that in Le Mans, when there were just a few seconds between the leading cars after 24 hours. But we also showed that with a big team effort and good strategy, we can achieve great results, and we’ll push hard to do that again.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s good to be racing again so soon after Le Mans because it gives us a chance to keep the positive momentum going. Le Mans was a long, hard event but we all pulled together as a team and got the win in the end. We’ll bring that same team spirit to this race and hopefully get a similar result.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “The mood of the whole team is still extremely positive after Le Mans so we’re all looking forward to going racing again. With the updated car, we’re definitely hoping for a much better race in São Paulo than last year, which was a really difficult one for us. As always, it will not be easy but we’re ready for it and eager to get started.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “I missed this race last year so I’m looking forward to racing at Interlagos again. It’s a special track with a special atmosphere. It’s quite demanding to race there because it’s an old-school circuit – narrow, lots of changes of elevation and a good mix of corners. Hopefully our TR010 HYBRID will go well there, and we can fight at the front again.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “Aside from last year, we’ve gone well there in the past and it’s a fun circuit to drive. The Brazilian fans are always really enthusiastic, and we get a lot of support from Toyota do Brasil as well, so we all enjoy racing there. After Le Mans, the next phase of the season is starting and it’s exciting to be fighting for World Championships again.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “Le Mans was an amazing result for the whole team, which worked so hard to achieve the victory. Now our focus has switched to the World Championships and São Paulo is another important race for us. There isn’t much time between Le Mans and this race, but I know all the engineers and mechanics are pushing hard to help us challenge for victory again. We need to maximise our package and execute a clean race, but I feel confident we are ready for it.”

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Akio Toyoda
Chairman, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team

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