Toyota World Rally Championship boss Jari-Matti Latvala says it’s a “big relief” for his team to be back in the manufacturers’ title fight after dominating Rally Chile.
Latvala had all but written off the team’s title hopes after a difficult Acropolis Rally Greece earlier this month left Toyota facing a 35-point deficit with three rounds of the season remaining.
However, Toyota issued the perfect response in Chile as Kalle Rovanpera headed a 1-2 for the brand ahead of team-mate Elfyn Evans.
Sebastian Ogier led home a 1-2-3 for Toyota in the Super Sunday standings, while adding the Power Stage win to claw back significant ground on rivals Hyundai.
The points haul has reduced Hyundai’s lead to 17 points ahead of next month’s Central European Rally and the season finale in Japan, reigniting Toyota's hopes of claiming a fourth consecutive manufacturers’ crown.
“Having two devastating Sundays before Chile, it had added quite a lot of pressure,” said Latvala.
“But now with this result, getting the maximum points in Chile with the rally [victory], the Super Sunday points and Power Stage, really gets us back in the fight for the manufacturer title.
“It is a big relief for us and for the Japanese side [of the business] that we still have a chance.”
Victory in Chile marked Rovanpera’s fourth win of his partial campaign, adding to triumphs in Kenya, Poland and Latvia.
But this weekend’s success wasn’t plain sailing for the Finn, who struggled for speed on Friday’s stages before surging to the lead when thick fog and rain hit the stages on Saturday afternoon.
“I was fighting a lot on Friday not being so comfortable in the car, so that was always big challenge,” said Rovanpera.
“We made it through without any big mistakes and after that we tried to climb back.
“We could do that especially when the conditions become difficult and we could do big gaps compared to the others.
“I’m really happy with how everything went and it is really good points for the team, which is important for the teams’ championship.
“For sure it [the manufacturers’ title fight] is on now; we have caught them [Hyundai] quite a lot and everything is again open.”
