Sebastian Ogier gave Toyota Gazoo Racing the crown
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team completed the FIA World Rally Championship treble and did so in spectacular fashion by winning the 2022 manufacturers’ title. This win was secured at the Rally de Espana by Sebastian Ogier. Congratulations Toyota Gazoo Racing on this achievement.
Moreover, the Toyota team’s success in the Manufacturers’ title comes after the team also secured the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles in the previous rally in New Zealand won by Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen respectively.
This makes it the second year in a row that the team won three titles, an especially momentous achievement considering the fact that this was done in a span of a major revolution in the technical regulations which were introduced at the start of the season when the Toyota Yaris WRC was replaced by the all-new GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid.
On top of that, this win marks the sixth time that the Toyota team has won the Manufacturers’ title and the third time since it returned to the series in 2017. This is also the team’s seventh win of the season in Spain and the first win for the eight-time champion, Ogier in his part-time campaign and the 55th victory for co-driver, Benjamin Veillas.
Despite this being his first asphalt rally since the Rallye Monte-Carlo in January, Ogier was one of the lead drivers right from the get go, winning three stages on Friday to take the lead in spite of having to navigate dirtier roads than some of his rivals due to bad weather.
What’s more, Ogier took home three more stage wins for the Toyota team in a stellar performance on Saturday by charging far ahead of the pack. He then went on to win the last two stages on Sunday, including the final power stage, which he secured with a 16.4 second victory.
Meanwhile, Rovanpera, also contesting for the lead on Friday, put on a dominant performance being the fastest in four stages. Eventually, this team Toyota driver finished in the third overall position and had his hopes of finishing in second crushed, just like many others, by sustaining tyre damage over a drain cover on Sunday.
What’s more, Elfyn Evans was locked in a tense fight for the top five at the beginning of the rally but eventually found himself slipping behind. An unfortunate flat tyre on Friday followed by one more on the same spot as fellow Toyota driver, Rovanpera, saw him finishing in the sixth overall position. Takamoto Katsuta closed out in seventh.
We got all this from ACNNewswire and their full article is linked here. Thank you ACNNewswire for the information and images.
