Rally | Jari-Matti Latvala threw the ax into the well – a new world champion coming to the rally

Toyota’s The WRC team’s dreams of a brand championship in the 2024 rally season were practically crushed in Greece over the weekend.

The final nail was seen on Sunday at the last Power Stage special stage of the race, after the second one Sebastien Ogier crashed his Toyota. Of course, the multi-champion got the points of the long race that ended on Saturday, but on Super Sunday he was left with zero points due to the elimination.

Hyundai finally took the triple win and is already 38 points ahead of Toyota with only three rallies left.

“Yes, it’s over. You have to be realistic. With this points system, Hyundai will no longer make such mistakes that both of those championships are gone”, Toyota’s team manager Jari-Matti Latvala admitted.

“We’ve had three top seasons in a row and we knew that sometimes the worse season would have to come. The peak cannot go on forever,” Latvala added.

Toyota’s ability to strike has also been taxed by the fact that it won the previous two drivers’ world championships Kalle Rovanperä drive just short of the World Series.

Rough The Akropolis rally was won by the number one man in the World Championship Thierry Neuville before his teammates Dani Sordoa and Ott Tänakia. At the same time, Neuville stretched his World Championship lead to 34 points ahead of Tänak. Ogier, on the other hand, fell 38 points behind Neuville.

In his long career, 36-year-old Neuville has finished second in the World Series no less than five times and third three times, but he is still chasing his first championship.

Toyota’s Competing in a Rally2 car Sami Pajari drove his third first place of the season in the WRC2 class and was handsomely fourth in the general competition colored by interruptions. However, the first place came with the smallest possible difference.

On the last special stage of the rally, Pajari suffered a flat tire, and so did Skoda Robert Virves finished in the same time as Pajar.

Pajari was crowned the winner because he was faster than the two on the opening stretch of the rally. At the same time, Pajar from Lahti retained the opportunity to become the champion of the WRC2 class.

“I guessed that it would be tight when the tire went flat five kilometers before the finish line. In this sport, all the tenths are decisive, so it was quite a relief when the matter was resolved”, sighed Pajari.

“We hung around for probably three minutes and wondered how this would be resolved. When it turned into a win, the feeling is pretty good. The championship is not in our hands, but it has still been a good season.”