Jari-Matti LATVALA

Ott Tänak claimed the Power Stage win in his Toyota Yaris WRC while Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke secured crucial points for the manufactuers’ championship on the final day of a tough Rally Turkey. Tänak restarted this morning, after he had to retire from the second leg of the rally on Saturday. His focus was on claiming the full five bonus points on offer in the Power Stage, even taking no spare tyres for the final loop of four stages to keep weight to a minimum. Even though he was running first of the World Rally Cars, Tänak achieved the fastest time by 2.6 seconds. It means he leads the drivers’ standings by 17 points with three rallies to go. For Latvala and Meeke, the final day was mostly about consolidating their positions in sixth and seventh respectively, having slipped back in heavy rain on Friday afternoon and suffered from their subsequent road positions on Saturday. Their results ensure TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team are within 19 points of the lead of the manufacturers’ championship. Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10) “I tried to keep a good rhythm today and enjoy the driving, and the stages were nice today, much better conditions and not so rocky and rough. We came here expecting that we would have more performance than last year, but it seems that all the teams have made some steps forward. We also did some work but we were struggling in the hard, rocky conditions and were using our tyres too much. This is something we have to learn for the future, but I know that the next rally in Wales will suit us a lot better.” PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY TURKEY 1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) 3h50m12.1s 2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +34.7s 3 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger-Amland (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m04.5s 4 Teemu Suninen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1m35.1s 5 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2m25.9s 6 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +2m59.1s 7 Kris Meeke/Seb Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m53.3s 8 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +5m34.8s 9 Pontus Tidemand/Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +7m22.9s 10 Gus Greensmith/Elliott Edmondson (Ford Fiesta R5 MkII) +15m18.7s 16 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +39m10.2s What’s next? Rally GB (October 3-6) takes place on gravel roads in the forests of Wales, which in dry conditions can be driven at fairly high speeds. In autumn the pace is often tempered by mud, which can make the surfaces treacherously slippery. Fog and even ice can add to the challenge, particularly early in the morning or late in the evening.

The TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team will continue to fight for valuable points on the final day of Rally Turkey. Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke are sixth and seventh respectively overnight, while their team-mate Ott Tänak unfortunately had to retire this morning. The day consisted of two loops of three stages to the west of Marmaris along the Datça Peninsula. The team’s three crews began the day in seventh, eighth and ninth, hopeful of making up places on a notoriously demanding event. They all gained one place on the morning’s opening stage, but Tänak was unable to start the second stage and had to retire from the leg. After bringing the car back to service, the team established the cause as a failure of the electronic control unit (ECU) and prepared the car to return under restart rules tomorrow. Latvala and Meeke meanwhile swapped positions several times during the day as they tried to keep the pressure on the drivers ahead of them, aiming to secure as many points as possible for the manufacturers’ championship. Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10) “From the first stage this morning it was very slippery with a lot of loose gravel, running second on the road. It started to get better on the shorter stages, and the third one was really nice: a fast stage that suited me very well and the time was reasonably good. This afternoon, I tried to attack on the long stage to keep the pressure on, but I struggled after that because my tyres were so worn. Tomorrow our road position will be better and that will help us to see our real performance compared to the others. We’ll also try something with the car to help the tyre wear and to learn for the future.” END OF DAY THREE (SATURDAY): 1 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) 3h20m12.0s 2 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) +0.2s 3 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger-Amland (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m17.1s 4 Teemu Suninen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1m26.9s 5 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +2m24.7s 6 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m14.4s 7 Kris Meeke/Seb Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m29.5s 8 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +4m38.2s 9 Pontus Tidemand/Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +6m55.8s 10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciek Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia R5) +12m52.5s 17 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +36m40.5s What’s next? The final day of Rally Turkey consists of four stages in all. Separated by single runs of the Gökçe and Çiçekli stages to the north are two passes over the Marmaris test, the latter as the Power Stage. Key stage: Marmaris (SS14 & SS17, 7.05 kilometres) Martin Järveoja (Co-driver car 8): “This one starts like a super special down in the town with a short section on asphalt. Then there’s a tough climb uphill, while the last part is faster and smoother to the finish right by the service park.”

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team drivers Kris Meeke, Ott Tänak and Jari-Matti Latvala are seventh, eighth and ninth respectively following an eventful first full day on Rally Turkey. Demanding conditions contributed to all three losing time, but they remain within the points places and in position to climb the order over the remaining two days. The team enjoyed a strong start to what was the longest day of the rally, with a total of 159.14 competitive kilometres. Latvala was quickest on two of the three stages during the morning loop, and led after SS2 before holding third overall during mid-day service. Tänak, running first on the road on loose gravel, was sixth, with Meeke close behind in eighth on his debut on this event. Meeke began the afternoon with a stage win, but all three would then find the going tough on SS6 as heavy rain began to fall. Tänak had his front-right tyre come off its rim, while Meeke and Latvala struggled for grip on worn tyres in the slippery conditions. With Latvala having had the same issue as Tänak on SS5, it meant that all three drivers ended the day over one minute off the lead, albeit separated by a little over 10 seconds. Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10) “It started well this morning. The time on SS2 was surprisingly good, as I didn’t push hard. Then I drove too carefully on the next one, but we were able to compensate a bit for that with a good time on SS4. The car was going well, although we knew the afternoon will be rougher. In SS5 we lost the rear bumper, it got very noisy in the car and I was struggling to concentrate on the pace-notes: I cut a right-hand corner and we had to drive the end of the stage with a flat tyre. We expected the rain to come more for the final stage than for SS6, and so we had the hard tyres on which was the wrong choice, and we lost a lot of time. But this is rallying, and sometimes these things don’t work out. Now we need to look forward as a lot of things can still happen in this rally.” END OF DAY TWO (FRIDAY): 1 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Citroën C3 WRC) 1h59m53.7s 2 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Citroën C3 WRC) +17.7s 3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +18.4s 4 Teemu Suninen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +44.4s 5 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger-Amland (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m04.1s 6 Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1m25.2s 7 Kris Meeke/Seb Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m32.1s 8 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m37.4s 9 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m42.5s 10 Pontus Tidemand/Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m45.4s Saturday features another loop of three stages run twice, heading west from Marmaris along the Datça Peninsula, with stages hugging the coastline in several places. The distance is shorter than Friday, at just over 110.1 competitive kilometres. Key stage: Kızlan

On a high after its victories in Finland and Germany, the TOYOTA GAZOO RacingWorld Rally Team heads to Rally Turkey (September 12-15), which presents an altogether different test over rocky gravel roads. When the event joined the calendar in 2018, the Toyota Yaris WRC proved best-equipped for the new challenge, scoring its first one-two finish: an achievement that was only surpassed by the recent 1-2-3 finish for drivers’ championship leader Ott Tänak, Kris Meeke and Jari-Matti Latvala on Rallye Deutschland. Rally Turkey is based in the resort of Marmaris on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in the south west of the country. The rough and rocky surface combined with high temperatures makes the stages demanding for the cars, especially as the relatively low speeds reduce the airflow for the cooling of engines, transmissions and brakes. This means that avoiding problems can be more crucial to a good result than outright pace. The rally begins with a super special stage in Marmaris on Thursday evening, before the longest day of the event on Friday, with two loops of three stages (beginning close to the service park before travelling north) totalling 159.14 competitive kilometres. On Saturday the rally heads west of Marmaris for three more stages each run twice. There are four stages in total on Sunday, ending with the Marmaris Power Stage that concludes on the edge of the service park. Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10) “Rally Turkey is the roughest event of the year. In many ways it’s about survival: Last year many of our rivals hit problems, and although we were not the fastest, we drove sensibly and that brought us a great one-two result for the team. This year I expect the roads to be in a better condition, but it will still be necessary to take care and look after the car. Before Germany, we went to Greece to test in the sort of rough conditions we face in Turkey, and to try to keep improving the car on that kind of surface.” What happened last year? Ott Tänak and Jari-Matti Latvala achieved a one-two for Toyota on an all-new Rally Turkey. The pair occupied fifth and fourth positions respectively at the end of Friday before rising to the top of the leaderboard on Saturday as their rivals hit problems. For Tänak it was his third win in a row after Finland and Germany, a sequence he is aiming to replicate on this year’s event. Esapekka Lappi retired after going off the road on Saturday morning. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team is inspired by the motto: “ALL FOR WIN” as it competes throughout the 2019 season. Our goal in 2019 is to fight for all three crowns. All team members are aiming for this big goal together. We look forward to your continuous support! Press release TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT