Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website The Yaris WRC finishes with a flourish in Sweden
february 19, 2018 - Toyota

The Yaris WRC finishes with a flourish in Sweden

A challenging #Rally Sweden ended on a high note for the TOYOTA GAZOO #racing World #Rally Team with three stage wins out of three on the final day. This included victory in the Power Stage for #esapekkalappi, who also gained two places in the overall classification to finish fourth.

An unfavourable position in the running order had prevented the team from showing the true performance of the Toyota #yarisWRC for the entire duration of the #Rally, but a total of eight stage wins showed the potential of the package. In his second #Rally with the team, Ott Tänak achieved six of these fastest times, including on the first stage of the final day. There, #esapekkalappi and #jarimattilatvala gave Toyota its second one-two-three stage result of the #Rally, with Lappi gaining a place overall to move up to fifth. He then won the second pass of the Likenäs stage before triumphing in the Torsby Power Stage, enough to gain fourth by 8.6 seconds. Latvala completed the #Rally in seventh place with Tänak ninth. The Estonian driver also scored the final Power Stage point in fifth.

Quotes

Tommi Mäkinen (Team Principal)

"Today we were able to show some good performance by winning all three stages. GeneRally the performance of the car and the drivers has been good here but the conditions were sometimes a bit unequal. Hopefully something can be done so the conditions are fairer for all the drivers in future. Esapekka was very quick today to gain two positions and win the Power Stage. It has been a good #Rally for him and without one little mistake he could have been fighting for the highest position on the podium. We must not forget it was his first time on snow in a #WRC car and next year I'm sure he will be even stronger."

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 7)

"It has been a very hard weekend for me. We just lost so much time on the first day with our high starting position in the fresh snow and the heavy ruts. We changed the transmission for the final day and this improved the feeling compared to yesterday. The team did a very good job and the car was handling very well. It is both quick and reliable and that is important."

Ott Tänak (Driver car 8)

"This has been a tough weekend. On Friday we faced some bad conditions and couldn't have done much more. On Saturday our road position was slightly better, the pace was better as a result and we could win quite a few stages. Then today when the conditions were in our favour we could do some more good times. This was my first #Rally in the Toyota #yarisWRC with a gravel-style setup and we have learned a lot of things."

Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 9)

"To get the Power Stage win and gain two places today has been very good. I'm really happy for the team as well: at least we got some kind of good result from this weekend. It means I'm not so disappointed anymore about what happened to me on Friday. It's so easy to make a mistake here. Overall the whole #Rally was quite strong. I wasn't expecting this kind of speed from my side, so I'm really looking forward to coming back here next year."

FINAL RESULT, RALLY SWEDEN

1Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)2h52.13.1s2Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC)+19.8s3Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)+28.3s4Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC)+45.8s5Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)+54.4s6Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen (Citroen C3 WRC)+1m15.3s7Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC)+2m04.9s8Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC)+2m52.2s9Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC)+3m44.4s10Sebastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC)+8m45.4sWhat's next?

Rally Mexico (March 8-11) is the first gravel event of the season, known in particular for ambient temperatures in the region of 30°C and a route that peaks at 2,737m above sea level, starving engines of air and cutting power by as much as 20 per cent.

Related news

february 18, 2024
february 14, 2024
february 12, 2024

Esapekka Lappi lapped up the praise and bagged the points with a clean run through Rally Sweden’s second leg today (Saturday) as h...

The eagerly awaited 2024 FIA Junior WRC season kicks off this week at the legendary Rally Sweden (15 – February).Based out of the ...

The FIA Junior WRC is delighted to confirm a significant extension of its partnership with Wolf Lubricants, ensuring that the flee...

You might be interested in

december 22, 2023
december 22, 2023
december 13, 2023

The 2024 Dakar Rally is just two weeks away and the towering dunes of Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter desert await those brave enough...

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team is excited to announce that Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, and Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka wil...

The movie “Race for Glory”, the incredible true story behind the 1983 World Rally Championship, will be released on January 5th in...