A masterful drive by Ott Tänak has resulted in an impressive World Rally Championship (WRC) victory on “home” soil for the Toyota GAZOO Racing World Rally Team.
Tänak sealed the Rally Finland win in emphatic style by claiming his 12th stage win of the weekend on the final power stage, gaining five bonus points.
He and co-driver Martin Järveoja celebrated their 32.7-second victory in the No. 8 Yaris WRC rally car with team chairman Akio Toyoda and principal Tommi Mäkinen.
The Toyota GAZOO Racing team, based in Finland, was narrowly denied a 1-2 podium finish with Jari-Matti Latvala missing out on second place by just 2.8 seconds after a final-day charge that included two of his three stage wins.
In addition to the double podium, Toyota’s domination of the fastest event on the WRC calendar was demonstrated by the team setting fastest times on 18 out of 23 stages.
On Saturday, Esapekka Lappi charged from eighth to fourth place with three fastest times, but retired when he crashed on the first stage of Sunday morning.
Tänak carried an advantage of 39 seconds into the final day of the rally where he took a careful approach before letting loose on the power stage.
The Estonian, seeking his second win of the season, led for virtually the entire four days on rough gravel roads and described it as a perfect weekend.
“To win in Finland is definitely special,” he said. “It’s kind of a home rally for me and it’s the home rally for the team. To win in front of all this support is incredible.”
The result moves the TOYOTA GAZOO World Rally Team to within one point of second place in the manufacturers’ standings, just 27 points behind the leader.
In the drivers’ standings, Tänak remains third and remains in contention at 46 points behind the leader with five rounds remaining.
The championship returns to asphalt at next month’s ADAC Rallye Deutschland (August 16-19).
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