Cars & Autos | Monday 8 October, 2018 3:08 am |

The Toyota GAZOO Racing (GR) World Rally Team has finished first and second on a challenging Rally Turkey, with drivers Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala racing to victory. It is the first such result for the team since its return to the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the start of 2017, which moves the squad to the top of the manufacturers' standings. The win is also the third in a row for Tänak and the Toyota Yaris WRC, the first time any driver or team has achieved such a streak since the current era of World Rally Cars was introduced last season.

Appearing on the WRC calendar for the first time since 2010, Rally Turkey provided a considerable test to all the teams and crews, with entirely new stages over rough and rocky gravel roads that were extremely demanding for the cars and their tires. In a rally of attrition, where only five World Rally Cars completed the event without having to retire from at least one of the three legs, the approach of the Toyota team and its drivers to focus on reliability and avoiding mistakes paid dividends.

Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship and the Nurburgring 24 Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GR to consolidate all of its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people, and the people build the cars,’ GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience gained under the extreme conditions of various motorsports events, GR aims to forge new technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure, and joy of driving to everyone.