“The work done before the Safari paid off.” In one sentence, a simple comment at the end of the rally, the Toyota Racing team principal made the perfect picture that allowed the Japanese manufacturer to take home a sensational poker at Safari, the sixth round of WRC 2022.
A poker, for Toyota, had been missing for 19 years. The last was caught in 1993 at the Rally Safari, with Juha Kankkunen leading the platoon of Japanese cars in an event that remained unmatched for almost two decades.
Beyond the single result, what leaves you speechless is the journey made up to here by the team based in Finland. 4 victories out of 6 rallies disputed so far (it would have been 5 out of 6 if Sébastien Ogier had not been held back by a puncture in the penultimate stage of the Rallye Monte-Carlo), 62 points ahead of Hyundai Motorsport in the Constructors’ World Championship are a calling card eloquent.
To make everything even more embarrassing – for the opponents – is the gap created brick by brick, win by win, by Kalle Rovanpera. The leader of the World Championship has a 65-point advantage over the first of his rivals, Thierry Neuville. The ranking reads 145 points against 80. A dominance difficult to predict at the beginning of the season, at least in this size.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
The Safari Rally has further brought to light the differences that currently exist between Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport. The team headed by Jari-Matti Latvala, already in possession of the best machine both in terms of performance and reliability, carried out a pre-event test before the Safari. The goal was to find a solution to the performance problems that emerged at the beginning of the month at the Rally Italia Sardegna.
Between the Italian and Kenyan races there were few weeks, but the team managed not only to find the problems, but also to solve them thanks to the prompt intervention of the engineers and mechanics, who translated the ideas in substance just before the away from the sixth round of the World Cup.
“It is clear that our car is the most reliable and the fastest at the moment. Of course in events like the Safari it is not necessary to always be the fastest, but we have been very strong. It is really amazing that all of our cars they didn’t have big problems. The team did a great job “, declared at the end of the race the winner of Safari 2022, Kalle Rovanpera.
Takamoto Katsuta, third at the finish, added: “The team did a great job developing the car after Sardinia, more so in such a short time. They created a very robust car, so we didn’t have any major problems.”
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala also underlined the great work done by the team. Toyota has looked for detail, has claimed to fix a situation that in any case could have allowed it to win again this season, managing the great advantage already accumulated. Instead she was not satisfied and she was right.
“We had problems and in Sardinia we didn’t have the right performance. The tests that were done before the Safari were very important for us. But also during the Shakedown we tried some things and we learned others that helped us to making changes on the car and getting even stronger for this event. The best thing is how the engineers managed to react, and how they did it to prevent future problems. “
The devil is in the detail, and what we saw at the Safari is yet another proof. Especially in a world like that of motorsport, where few changes can decide so much, if not everything, in one way or another. The attention to the little things that Toyota is putting into everything deserves what it has achieved so far.
Among the key moments that decided the ranking of the Safari, there were some probably irrelevant, but which gave a very precise picture of the current situation. While Neuville was battling Takamoto Katsuta for third place on Saturday afternoon, the Belgian in the first special of the second lap landed violently on the ground after a jolt and damaged the cosmetics and aerodynamics (the splitter, to be precise) of his i20. N Rally1, with the air that tended to go under the car and raise it. At that point, although the Belgian was 7 “behind the Japanese, he began to lose ground relentlessly before he was forced to retire.
Sebastien Ogier, Benjamin Veillas, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Tomek Kaliński
The most surprising thing is that all 4 Toyota drivers have been the protagonists of similar actions, however, coming out of extreme landings and jolts of high entity with not even a scratch on the car. Hyundai drivers, but also M-Sport drivers (ask Loeb …) have seen their cars gutted. The Yaris no, as if they were doing a separate race, on a less bumpy, much easier path.
The truth is that Toyota’s solidity and reliability have often been a key feature of Japanese cars since the House returned to racing in the WRC, that is to say in 2017. Already in the first year they came 2 victories. From that moment on it was a crescendo of successes, of world titles (1 with Tanak and 2 with Ogier). All transferred from one team principal to another – from Tommi Makinen to Jari-Matti Latvala – from one car to another, or from the Toyota Yaris WRC Plus to the GR Yaris Rally1.
“Legacy”, they would say in the United States. Legacy, which has been handed down and which is treated in detail. Which, at least at the moment, rivals cannot afford to do. However, they will have to react quickly, who can do it, because otherwise the WRC will face total and undisputed domination for years to come.
Kalle Rovanpera, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Tomek Kaliński
#WRC #Toyota #devil #details #dominated #Safari