WRC | Toyota, hot topic for drivers: only part-time Ogier shines

Toyota Gazoo Racing has spent the most recent seasons listing the best car, which it still has, and the most efficient and fastest crews, both in individual and group ratings. Proof of this are the world titles that arrived in a burst after the two won by Hyundai Motorsport in 2019 and 2020.

Once the 2023 season ended, the team directed by Jari-Matti Latvala found itself dealing with a complicated situation. Having already lost Sébastien Ogier as a starter – but remained part time – he had to take note of the semi-sabbatical year of Kalle Rovanpera, fresh winner of two WRC world titles at just 22 years old.

So the team leaders could not help but rely on Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta as drivers called upon to hunt for titles, racing in all 12 events scheduled in the 2024 calendar, entrusting the third GR Yaris Rally1 to Ogier and Rovanpera, usable occasionally.

Those who thought that having the best car was enough to make up for the lack of a true leader in terms of driving and talent among the drivers had to think again.

Hyundai Motorsport won the first two events, the Rallye Monte-Carlo and the Rally Sweden, with Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi. Toyota triumphed in the next three, therefore in Kenya, Croatia and Portugal, but with its own part-time drivers.

Kalle Rovanpera won the Safari, Sébastien Ogier in Croatia and Portugal. Toyota’s two starting drivers are still without victories and it is no coincidence that Elfyn Evans is 24 points behind Thierry Neuville, leader of the World Championship, and still without victories. However, it is not surprising to see Takamoto Katsuta have the current performance: we can expect this from the Japanese, but no more.

Having the best car is not enough if you don’t have two of the four strongest crews racing in the WRC today at the wheel (the other two, those made up of Neuville-Wydaeghe and Tanak-Jarveoja, are fielded by Hyundai).

Furthermore, having Rovanpera and Ogier part time offers advantages, but also has some obvious disadvantages. Of the latter, the 2-time reigning world champion highlighted above all, who in the three rallies held this year won in Africa, but also had two retirements which in previous years were not part of his wealth of experience.

Rovanpera, at the end of the race weekend in Portugal, thus explained the mistake made on the 8.69 kilometer SS11 Montim which forced him to retire.

“In Sweden it was totally my mistake, while what I did in Portugal came about due to a bit of confusion with the notes we had with Jonne a few turns before. Jonne misread the notes. But that wasn’t the reason for the accident. On the straight after the mistake I perhaps thought about what had happened again and I made a mistake in the braking point.”

In short, not racing consistently on Rally1 is anything but easy. Speaking with a long-time engineer with a lot of experience in motorsport, it was explained to us that the cars which today are the technical reference of the WRC are very heavy and this causes them to have greater inertia than lighter cars.

A very simple and perhaps banal basic concept, but it explains well how it is very difficult to recover the car from a possible loss of grip, having greater inertia. Those who don’t drive Rally1 frequently may encounter a certain type of error, having less confidence in its reactions.

In this Sébastien Ogier is distinguishing himself with mastery and intelligence. Where he understands that he cannot make the most of the car, he prefers not to take risks. And that’s also how he won in Croatia. In Portugal, however, when he was able to push he made a gap and brought home a deserved victory, derived from his performances. Rovanpera, however, made his second mistake in three rallies.

In short, this is not an easy situation for Toyota, also because it hasn’t experienced something comparable for some time. Numbers often need to be put into context, but this is perhaps one of the occasions when they speak for themselves: Elfyn Evans, second in the World Championship, has 86 points. Sébastien Ogier, who has contested 2 fewer rallies, has just 16 fewer than his teammate.