Toyota’s GAZOO Racing (GR) World Rally Team (WRT) claimed a historic clean sweep of the podium places at the recent Rallye Deutschland in Germany. Ott Tänak secured victory in the No. 8 Toyota Yaris WRC to increase his lead in the drivers’ championship to 33 points, with team-mates Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala also joining him on the podium. The result represents the first time in four years that a single manufacturer has filled all spots on the podium on a WRC round, and brings the team to within eight points of the lead in the manufacturers’ championship.
The three crews protected their positions on the fourth and final day, with Tänak ultimately winning by 20.8 seconds in the No. 8 Toyota Yaris WRC as he clinched his fifth victory of the year. Meeke and co-driver Seb Marshall claimed second place in the No. 5 Toyota Yaris WRC, their first podium finish for GR, while third for Latvala and Miikka Anttila in the No. 10 Toyota Yaris WRC represented a repeat of their strong results during the previous round in Finland. Together, they produced a perfect result at the home event of Toyota Motorsport GmbH, which is based nearby in Cologne and was responsible for developing the engine of the Toyota Yaris WRC.
Commenting on the victory, Team Chairman, Akio Toyoda, said: “Thank you very much to the drivers, co-drivers, team members, and all of the fans who are pleased with this result. Let’s keep fighting for the remaining four events this season, and let’s do our best to keep delivering the best sights for the fans! To all the fans, I thank you for your continuous support for GAZOO Racing WRT.”
Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GAZOO Racing (GR), to consolidate all of its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people, and the people build the cars,’ GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to making ‘ever-better’ cars.
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