Rallye Deutschland: Day 4A strong finish for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in Germany
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team enjoyed a great final day on Rallye Deutschland with two more stage wins, taking its total this weekend to five and demonstrating the progress that the team is making with the Yaris WRC on asphalt. Juho Hänninen took his second stage win of the event as he finished a superb fourth overall. Jari-Matti Latvala finished seventh, while Esapekka Lappi also scored a stage win to end his challenging event on a high note.
Car 11(Juho Hänninen, Kaj Lindström)
Hänninen began the day by winning the Losheim am See stage to lift him up into fourth place, a position which he then cemented over the final three tests. It completed a great performance from Hänninen on a rally he last contested in 2011. On the next stage, St. Wendeler Land, Lappi took a satisfying stage win. The Rally Finland winner had been forced to retire from the opening leg after damaging his car’s suspension and then struggled for speed after restarting yesterday, but he carefully analysed his performance overnight and made a clear improvement. Latvala, who won two stages himself earlier in the rally but was delayed by a technical issue, made it a Toyota one-two on the stage. Lappi and Latvala later finished second and third on the rally-ending Power Stage to claim four and three bonus points respectively, with Lappi missing out on the win by only 0.2 seconds.
Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10)
“In the first stage this morning I was a little bit slow; I wasn’t quite awake yet. The second one went really well. I liked the stage and I had a good feeling about it going into the Power Stage. Unfortunately I had a touch in a left-hand corner very early in the stage, and I didn’t push because I was afraid I had a puncture. Still, it’s nice to get some points after the problem earlier in the rally.”
Juho Hänninen (Driver car 11)
“I’m very happy with this result. I lost a lot of time on the first day, but after that it has been good. The car has been great and the feeling has been good. I could enjoy pushing this morning, and then I backed off a bit. It’s very positive, especially if you compare it to the first part of the season.”
Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 12)
“We did a lot of analysis last night and found things that I was doing wrong, and today was a lot better. The second stage was really good. On the next one I went off because I braked too late, and the engine stalled. On the Power Stage I was really lucky, I had a big moment. But we must be happy with the speed we had today.”
PROVISIONAL FINAL RESULT, RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND:
1 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Ford Fiesta WRC) 2h57m31.7s
2 Andreas Mikkelsen/Anders Jaeger (Citroen C3 WRC) +16.4s
3 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +30.4s
4 Juho Hänninen/Kaj Lindström (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m49.2s
5 Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC): +2m01.5s
6 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m03.4s
7 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +3m58.2s
8 Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +4m32.4s
9 Armin Kremer/Pirmin Winklhofer (Ford Fiesta WRC) +10m19.4s
10 Eric Camilli/Benjamin Veillas (Ford Fiesta R5) +10m44.3s
21 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +18m05.2s
(Results as of 13:00 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit
www.wrc.com)
2017 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 10:
1 Sebastien Ogier 177
2 Thierry Neuville 160
3 Ott Tanak 144
4 Jari-Matti Latvala 123
5 Dani Sordo 89
6 Elfyn Evans 87
7 Craig Breen 64
8 Juho Hänninen 58
9 Hayden Paddon 55
10 Esapekka Lappi 49
2017 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 10:
1 M-Sport World Rally Team 325
2 Hyundai Motorsport 261
3 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT 213
4 Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 163
What’s next?
Rally de España forms the 11th round of the World Rally Championship on October 5-8. It is the only true mixed surface event of the season: the opening day will take place mostly on gravel, before the other two days are run on smooth and fast asphalt roads. The teams will have to convert the cars from gravel to asphalt specification during an extended service on Friday evening.
Car 10(Jari-Matti Latvala, Miikka Anttila)
Car 11(Juho Hänninen, Kaj Lindström)
Car 12(Esapekka Lappi, Janne Ferm)
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Quotes:
Tommi Mäkinen (Team principal)
“I am very pleased with our performance on this rally. It could have been even more but for the issue for Jari-Matti on Friday. At the beginning of the rally he had good speed and he could easily have fought for the win. Today was a very good day for us. Especially for Esapekka, he made a good improvement. Today was very important day for him to improve his confidence for this kind of condition. And now I’m really sure that Esapekka is ready to come here next year for fighting. Juho did generally a very excellent drive with fast stage times, and very close to be fighting for the podium. We are confident now that the performance on tarmac is also at a good level. It’s looking good now for the future. Now we will go to Spain where we again should improve our performance.”