TOYOTA GAZOO RACING BREAKS WIN RECORD AS OGIER LEADS ANOTHER 1-2

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team has scored a record-breaking victory at Rally Chile with Sébastien Ogier leading Elfyn Evans in another amazing one-two finish.

The win is the 103rd victory by Toyota in the FIA World Rally Championship, the most achieved by any manufacturer in the history of the series, as well as a record-equalling 30th one-two finish.

In his 200th WRC event, Ogier claimed his 66th win and his second in the space of two weeks on South American soil alongside co-driver Vincent Landais. By also topping the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage to secure a maximum score, he also takes the lead of the drivers’ championship with three rallies remaining this season. TGR-WRT has increased its manufacturers’ championship lead to 125 points.

Ogier and Evans battled for victory until the final day of a rollercoaster rally characterised by changing conditions in the forests of Chile’s Biobío region. Rain in the run-up to the start neutralised the road cleaning effect on the opening morning and erstwhile points leader Evans took full advantage to claim first place, only to then suffer when the roads dried out in the afternoon and slip to fifth while Ogier closed on the lead. Momentum swung twice more on Saturday, with Evans excelling in heavy rain in the morning to storm back to the lead before Ogier charged through with a hat-trick of stage wins in the afternoon.

Just 6.3 seconds separated the pair going into the final day and they split the opening two stage wins. Ogier moved clear with a rapid run through the penultimate stage before a committed push in the Power Stage that was crucial in seizing the points lead. Ogier and Landais have won five times and taken three other podiums from their eight starts so far this season.

Rounding out their strong performance with third in that final stage and second on Super Sunday, Evans and co-driver Scott Martin are just two points behind in the standings.

Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen remain firmly in title contention, 21 points from the lead, and could have been closer having led on Friday morning before a wide moment pushed a tyre off the rim and cost them more than a minute. They recovered to finish sixth overall, third on Super Sunday and fifth in the Power Stage.

Sami Pajari produced one of the strongest performances of his first full season at Rally1 level to finish fifth in his TGR-WRT2 entry alongside Marko Salminen, just 4.4s away from fourth place after a fighting drive until the end. Takamoto Katsuta made it five GR YARIS Rally1 cars in the top seven with improved performance on the final day, he and co-driver Aaron Johnston missing the top five in the Power Stage by just 0.1s.

Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson were crowned WRC2 champions in style with victory in ninth overall aboard their GR Yaris Rally2 car. Solberg has been the benchmark in WRC2 this year in his Printsport-run car, winning five of his seven points-scoring rounds, and also won July’s Rally Estonia outright on his GR YARIS Rally1 debut. The GR Yaris Rally2 has now won back-to-back WRC2 titles in its first two seasons of competition, with Solberg following in the footsteps of last year’s champion Pajari.

Quotes:

Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)

“This is another incredible result for us. For Toyota to now have more wins than any manufacturer in the WRC is a very special moment. Of course, it brings back some memories of when I was driving, but what this team is achieving now is just amazing. Everybody in the team has done a really good job across these two rallies in South America, so we’re really pleased. Seb and Elfyn both drove really well this weekend, and I think Seb drove at 103 per cent in the Power Stage to take the maximum points as well as the 103rd win. It’s going to be exciting to follow the final rallies and Kalle can’t be counted out either; he took what he could from today. Sami did a really excellent rally here and Taka finished with good speed too, and we’re all looking forward to the next rally in Central Europe and, of course, Rally Japan too.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)

“It’s mixed feelings for us at the finish because we always want to win, but the big positive is that after struggling for pace two weeks ago in Paraguay we were able to come here and show good speed. I think we paid a big price for being first on the road on Friday afternoon but otherwise I think we’ve done a really solid job. Of course I would have liked to fight Seb harder over the last day or so but he is always very strong and tough to beat. Well done to him, as well as the team on a record win for Toyota. The championship is still close and we’re looking forward to the next rallies on asphalt and continuing to give it our best shot.”

Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)

“It’s not been a good weekend for us. We needed to get a good result here but unfortunately it didn’t come after what happened on Friday morning. Today we were trying to push hard again and take as many points as we could. It wasn’t going to be easy with our road position and we couldn’t challenge the top times, but I think we did what we could. The championship starts to get more difficult for us now and it’s clear that we need to try to get some wins in the next rallies, but we’ll keep giving it our best.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)

“I’m very happy to take another win in South America and to also come away with the maximum points this time: I think they are well deserved after the ones we lost because of the weather in Paraguay. To take the lead of the championship with three rallies to go is definitely positive too. I’m also very happy for everybody at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing that we could achieve this record win. Thanks to our Chairman, Akio Toyoda, for the great support that means we can keep pushing the limits for better. We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved so far and I’m sure that we can keep adding to these great numbers in the coming rallies.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)

“It’s been quite a difficult weekend for us, but at least we could end with something positive today. Both of the stages were new for me but we were still able to match the pace of the others sometimes: on the first pass of the Power Stage we were second fastest. As usual on the second pass we had narrower lines to follow and I think it was getting faster with every car, but still our time was not too far away. I’m glad to finish this rally and now I will move on and start preparing for the coming rallies on asphalt which are important to me, especially Rally Japan, and I will try to do my best.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)

“It’s been a really positive weekend for us. We’ve had good speed in some other rallies but here I was really trying to fight until the very end. I was on a mission to try and catch Neuville, and we could catch him a little bit but not quite by enough. Still, it’s been nice to see that we are able to fight like this. To be fourth on the Power Stage and Super Sunday is also nice to see because everyone is pushing to catch the points. It feels good to be pushing yourself to the limits and there were some really enjoyable moments this weekend. The next rallies are a totally different challenge on asphalt but we’ll try to continue like this.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY CHILE

(Results as of 14:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 11:

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 11:

What’s next:

After seven consecutive rounds on gravel, there is a return to asphalt for the next two rounds, beginning with the Central European Rally on October 16-19. First held in 2023, this cross-border event takes place on demanding roads in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria.