Rally Chile: Day 3Tänak and the Toyota Yaris WRC conquer a new rally in Chile

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (Team Chairman)

“In our neighbouring country over the Pacific Ocean, Chile, Ott and Martin claimed their second victory of the season and Takamoto Katsuta won his class for the first time since his maiden victory in Sweden last year. I would like to thank all our fans for the support. In the previous round, Argentina, we forced Ott and Martin to miss the chance of victory due to a problem on the car. As the team chairman, I am very pleased to see that they ran through all the stages flat out and stood on the top of the podium with smiles. Congratulations, Ott and Martin! Kris and Seb rolled over early on Saturday morning. But they did not give up and brought back the wrecked Yaris WRC to the service. Then the mechanics together fixed the car and sent Kris and Seb back to the battlefield. The points earned by this big effort by all the team members under Tommi’s leadership will be highly valuable later this season. I regard the accident of Jari-Matti and Miikka on Saturday evening as a racing accident and the result of the maximum attack for the team. I hope they will keep attacking in the rest of the season. Now, the WRC will move to gravel rounds in Europe. We will work hard together with one heart to help the six drivers and co-drivers and three Yaris WRC bring good news to the fans. The other good news is from the WRC 2 class. Katsuta recorded his second victory in his career. Congratulations, Takamoto and Daniel! I believe Takamoto has grown quickly because he is hungrily learning about driving and how to fight in rallies from the top WRC drivers in the team. I expect his further development and more good news to come. Thank you in advance for your support to TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT and the Katsuta/Barritt pairing.”

Tommi Mäkinen (Team Principal)

“This is an absolutely brilliant victory for us and for Ott. He did such a great drive throughout the whole weekend with no mistakes: He was the strongest driver and the combination of Ott and the Yaris WRC were the strongest package here in Chile. Unfortunately, Kris and Jari-Matti were caught out yesterday, but we saw that they were not the only ones. The whole rally was a big challenge for everyone: The stages were really nice and flowing with a good surface but they were very challenging for the drivers, especially with new pace-notes, because with the trees and banks and crests, it’s hard to see through the corners. It’s been really nice to be here in Chile, we’ve seen a great rally with lots of rally fans, and it’s especially nice to win here.”

Ott Tänak (Driver car 8)

“It’s great to take this victory here on the first time in Chile. It was a very demanding event and it required a lot of focus to not make any mistakes. Today wasn’t easy: With the two Sebastiens pushing hard behind, the gap was not so big. We had to keep going and we collected maximum points from the Power Stage. We have had some disappointing setbacks in the last couple of events and to fight back like this with a perfect weekend is very positive. It was really important, especially for the team, to keep the motivation high and keep pushing, and these kind of results definitely do that. Now we are looking forward: We are back in the fight.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 10)

“After the mistake last evening, we needed to look forward and see what we can take from the final day and the Power Stage. I had a good feeling on the first run over the stage and we were second quickest. After that we relaxed over the next two stages and saved our tyres for the Power Stage, where we had a very good run. I think it was cleaning and drying out a little bit behind us and in that sense I’m really happy to be third quickest. It’s been a hard event but the most important thing is that the car is performing really well and I was able to be on the pace.”

Kris Meeke (Driver car 5)

“Today was nice. We had to catch a couple of cars in front of us to take eighth place. In the Power Stage I think the road cleaned a bit for the guys running at the back but we did what we could. It was a struggle from the recce and through day one, and I made a mistake at the start of day two. Still, we took some points for the team and it’s great to see Ott take the victory. I’m just desperate to have a clean rally now, as we have the speed to fight for the podium on every event.”

What's next?

The WRC returns to Europe for Rally Portugal (May 30-June 2). Based in Matosinhos near Porto in the north of the country, the event features classic stages on sandy and rocky roads. Grip can be difficult to find on the soft roads during the first pass through the stages, while rocks can be exposed and deep ruts can form during the second pass.