Rally De ESPAÑA: DAY2The Yaris WRC shows its sealed-surface speed in Spain

Quotes:
Tommi Mäkinen (Team principal)

“It has been an absolutely brilliant day for us. To see how strong the performance of the car is on asphalt gives us big confidence for the future. I have to say well done to the whole team, as they have done some incredible work in this area. Everything looks really promising. Juho is driving really well. It might be hard for him to reach the podium tomorrow but I’m sure he will try his best. Esapekka too has made really good progress in conditions that were completely different to his test.”

Juho Hänninen (Driver car 11)

“It has been a really good day. I was a bit disappointed after yesterday but I knew that the asphalt would be better for me. Even still, I was a bit surprised with how good the stage times were this morning. I was really, really happy with the car and I didn’t need to change anything in service. I drove the afternoon the same as in the morning and it felt good. I haven’t really been looking at the overall classification and it could be difficult to catch the guys ahead, but I haven’t given up and I will push tomorrow for sure.”

Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 12)

“On the first stage this morning I was not confident enough, as the grip was much higher than in my test, but step-by-step during the morning I found the confidence. I wasn’t completely happy with the set-up but we managed to improve it during service and the car felt even better in the afternoon, especially on the penultimate stage: it was the best that the car has ever been on asphalt. So I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. We will try to carry on in the same way and maybe get some points on the Power Stage.”

Topics:

Spain’s most successful rally driver of all time is Carlos Sainz, who won two World Rally Championship titles with Toyota in 1990 and 1992. His first regular drive in the WRC came in the Celica GT-Four ST165, which he used to claim four victories and the drivers’ title in 1990. After five more wins in 1991, he returned with a new version of the Celica in 1992 and reclaimed his crown. Among his four rally wins that season was the first of two victories he scored on his home round, Rally Spain. Sainz would later return to compete for Toyota again in 1998 and 1999.

What’s next?

There are still six more asphalt stages to come on the final day. The first crew will leave service in Salou at 6:15 and won’t return until the rally finishes, with only a remote refuel coming in-between two loops of three stages. The Santa Marina test will serve as the rally-ending Power Stage at 12:18.