PIAA: Official Partner of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC
PIAA is proud to be an Official Partner of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC, providing the team with premium LED bulbs, Si-Tech Wipers, and more. This partnership ensures that the vehicles are equipped with high-performance lighting and wipers, crucial for the demanding conditions of the World Rally Championship.
Explore the PIAA WRC Collection for more details on the products that help keep the team at the top of their game. Among the offerings are the PIAA Ultra LED 6000K H4 bulbs, known for their superior brightness and durability.
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Supersub Rovanperä Claims Remarkable Win for Toyota Gazoo Racing
In an unexpected turn of events, Kalle Rovanperä secured a remarkable victory at Rally Poland, leading TOYOTA GAZOO Racing to a one-two finish ahead of Elfyn Evans.
Having never competed in Poland before, Rovanperä and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen were not initially scheduled to participate in Poland’s first FIA World Rally Championship round since 2017. The decision came abruptly on Tuesday when they were called in to replace their teammates Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais, who were involved in a road traffic collision during reconnaissance.
Without the typical pre-event testing or preparation, the reigning world champions engaged in an intense recce schedule on Wednesday and Thursday to create pacenotes for the fast gravel stages. Their only opportunity to get up to speed in the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID before the start were three runs in shakedown.
Initially fourth overall after a challenging loop of stages on Friday morning, Rovanperä soon began to show his renowned speed on flat-out gravel roads, despite the lack of preparation. By the end of Friday, he was just 1.8 seconds from the lead and by winning the first two tests on Saturday, he took the lead.
Rovanperä was quickest in six out of seven stages across the rally’s longest day, taking a 9.4-second advantage into Sunday’s final day over Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai), who later dropped out of contention due to damage. Third-fastest in the rally-ending Power Stage, Rovanperä won by 28.3 seconds, marking his 13th and arguably most impressive WRC victory in his 69th start in the series.
Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin were also strong contenders for the win. They were just 0.4 seconds behind their teammates on Saturday afternoon before a tyre issue dropped them to third place. Evans reclaimed second place on Sunday but suffered a tyre deflation in the Power Stage, finishing seventh-quickest there and fourth in the Super Sunday classification. Nevertheless, he reduced the gap to the championship leader to 15 points.
Takamoto Katsuta, in his first rally in Poland, built his confidence on fast gravel stages. He set strong times on Friday afternoon but faced tough conditions due to his starting position and ultimately finished eighth overall.
In the manufacturers’ championship, TGR-WRT scored the most points of the weekend, moving within 10 points of the lead.
The GR Yaris Rally2 continues to impress in its debut season, securing a third consecutive WRC2 victory in Poland with Sami Pajari and Enni Mälkönen, who scored their second successive win in their Printsport-run car.
Quotes
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“It’s incredible that Kalle and Jonne have been able to win this rally. When I called Kalle on Tuesday afternoon and asked him to drive here in Poland, I told him that I was not expecting him to win. I knew that his natural driving could at least get him inside the top five, which would still help us for the championship. I know it wasn’t the nicest way for a crew to start a rally with no preparation, so thanks to them for thinking about the team and doing everything to support and bringing us lots of points. Thanks also to Elfyn and Scott, who were also doing what they could to support Kalle and Jonne this weekend, and a 1-2 result could hardly be better. Elfyn was unfortunate not to score more points for the championship, but altogether it’s a positive result for us.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“It has been an amazing week and quite a tough week: we have been working hard and I feel quite tired now! With the limited preparation we had, it was not so easy on this kind of fast rally where you need to keep pushing. I think we did everything we could, working all the time with the tight schedule that we had and keeping to our plan on the stages, and it all paid off in the end. Sunday was still an important day with many kilometres and technical stages. We tried to keep the pace we had yesterday, be safe enough to bring home the win but also grab some more points. At the finish we managed to bring quite a lot of points for the team, which was the aim for us when we got the call from the team on Tuesday, so I think it was a good idea to come!”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“At the end of the rally our overall position is good. The Sunday points are almost just as important and we tried to get as many as we could today. It was all going OK, but unfortunately we had an issue in the Power Stage with a puncture: there was a rock on the line and there was not a lot I could do. We only lost a few seconds, but with this points system a small issue like that can penalise you a lot, so it was disappointing to finish the rally this way. Our speed this weekend was not bad: Friday was good with the road position we had and Saturday was also going well until the tyre issue. It’s definitely the case that the feeling in the car is much better than in the previous rallies. We need to carry that forward, build on what we learned here and look to do a good job in Latvia.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Congratulations Kalle, Jonne and the whole team for this result. For me, it has been a difficult rally. I was struggling a lot on Friday morning and this cost me afterwards, with a more difficult starting position for Saturday and Sunday. It was hard to do much on this final day and get the good result we wanted for the team. At the same time, I was learning a lot about how to drive well in this kind of condition. We had some good sections and some good feelings and we need to bring that to the next rally in Latvia, and also improve the things that were not so good so that we can be better there.”
Provisional Final Classification, Rally Poland
- Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 2h33m07.6s
- Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +28.3s
- Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +42.7s
- Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1m10.8s
- Mārtiņš Sesks/Renārs Francis (Ford Puma Rally1) +1m47.0s
- Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2m16.6s
- Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +2m18.0s
- Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2m26.7s
- Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m50.7s
- Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m12.7s
(Results as of 16:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
2024 FIA World Rally Championship Standings after Round 7:
Drivers:
- Thierry Neuville 136 points
- Elfyn Evans 121
- Ott Tänak 115
- Sébastien Ogier 92
- Adrien Fourmaux 91
- Kalle Rovanperä 63
- Takamoto Katsuta 58
- Andreas Mikkelsen 29
- Dani Sordo 27
- Esapekka Lappi 23
Manufacturers:
- Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 311 points
- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 301
- M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 156
What’s Next?
Rally Latvia (July 18-21) is a brand-new event for the WRC, featuring more high-speed gravel roads. While the service park is located in the southern coastal city of Liepāja, the rally will begin from the capital city Riga.
