TEAM & DRIVER

WRC 2019 TEAM & DRIVER

DRIVER

  • OTT TÄNAK

    OTT TÄNAK

    YARIS WRC Car No. 8 Driver
    Born— October 15, 1987 Nationality– Estonia

    Rally driver from Estonia

    With the guidance of former WRC driver Markko Märtin, Ott Tänak won the Estonian Rally Championship for two consecutive years, in 2008 and 2009, while also making his WRC debut in Portugal in 2009. In 2010, he placed fourth in the Production Car World Rally Championship (PWRC) Series, and second in the 2011 S2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) Series. He made his first WRC appearance in the 2011 Great Britain finals. In 2012, he began to compete in the WRC with the M-Sport Ford World Rally team, placing among top three scoring drivers in Italy. He continued to compete as an M-Sport driver, claiming his first WRC victory in Italy in 2017, as well as winning in Germany. In 2018, he joined the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT, achieving his first win with Toyota in the fifth round (Argentina), before going on to win the eighth, ninth, and tenth rounds in Finland, Germany, and Turkey respectively—for three consecutive victories and a total of four for the TGR team.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2017
      First WRC victory – Rally Sardinia
      3rd in World Rally Chamionship
    • 2011
      2nd overall FIA SWRC Championship (3 wins)
    • 2010
      European Pirelli Star Driver
    • 2009
      Estonian Rally Champion
      First WRC rally – Rally Portugal
    • 2008
      Estonian Rally Champion
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • MARTIN JÄRVEOJA

    MARTIN JÄRVEOJA

    YARIS WRC Car No. 8 Co-Driver
    Born— August 18, 1987 Nationality– Estonia

    Estonian co-driver

    Martin Järveoja is paired with Tänak. Making his rally debut as a co-driver in 2003, he has contained to gain experience, primarily at motorsport events in his home country of Estonia. In 2010, he made his WRC debut together with Karl Kruuda (also of the same town in Estonia) in the Jordan Rally of 2010. In 2014, he won two WRC2 rounds to place fifth in the series. Since 2016, he has served as co-driver with Tänak, winning his first WRC in Italy in 2017. Since 2018, as part of the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, together with Tänak, he has gone on to win numerous competitions. In addition to his work as a co-driver, Järveoja is also an accomplished judo wrestler. He competed in international competitions in 2008 as a top-level judo, weighing in at 73 kilograms, and later moved on to win the Estonian judo championships in 2010.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2017
      First WRC victory – Rally Sardinia
      3rd in World Rally Chamionship
    • 2014
      Finnish Rally Champion with Karl Kruuda
      First WRC 2 victory – Rally Sweden
    • 2010
      First WRC rally – Jordan Rally
    • 2006
      First rally
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • JARI-MATTI LATVALA

    JARI-MATTI LATVALA

    YARIS WRC Car No. 10 Driver
    Born— April 3, 1985 Nationality– Finland

    Rally driver from Finland

    Jari-Matti Latvala made his WRC debut in 2002 in the U.K., In 2008, he joined Ford Works and won the WRC Sweden in the same year. He was only 22 years and 313 days old, making him second youngest WRC winner ever. He joined the Volkswagen team in 2013, but because Volkswagen withdrew from the WRC in 2016, he moved to the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT team. In 2017, he raced the Toyota Yaris to second place in his TGR debut at the Monte Carlo opener and won the first Yaris WRC in the second round in Sweden. He stood on the podium a total of five times in 2018, winning the final Australia rally. He now has 18 WRC victories.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2015
      2014
      2010
      Runner-up in World Rally Championship
    • 2008
      First WRC victory – Rally Sweden
    • 2002
      First WRC rally
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • MIIKKA ANTTILA

    MIIKKA ANTTILA

    YARIS WRC Car No. 10 Co-Driver
    Born— September 10, 1972 Nationality– Finland

    Finish co-driver

    Mikka Anttila is teamed with Jari-Matti Latvala. He first competed in the WRC in 1999, serving as co-driver through 2003 with Mikko Hirvonen. His partnership with the racer was dissolved, however, in 2004 when Hirvonen joined Subaru. Later he was paired with Latvala, with whom he continued to build his WRC career. In 2008, he joined the Ford Works Team, followed by a stint on the Volkswagen Works Team from 2013 to 2016. He joined the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT in 2017, and teamed with Latvala, helped race the Yaris WRC to victory in the second round in Sweden. In the same year in Finland, he set a new record for individual appearances as an in the WRC with 189. All eighteen of his WRC wins have with Latvala.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2015
      2014
      2010
      Runner-up in World Rally Championship
    • 2008
      First WRC victory – Rally Sweden
    • 1999
      First WRC rally
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • KRIS MEEKE

    KRIS MEEKE

    YARIS WRC Car No. 5 Driver
    Born— July 2, 1979 Nationality– UK

    Rally driver from U.K.

    Upon graduating from university with a degree in mechanical engineering, Kris Meeke worked as a designer for a top WRC team. Excelling not only as an engineer but also as a driver, he joined his first rally in 2000. With the coaching of former WRC champion Colin McRae, he began to appear in U.K. rallies, making his WRC debut in the 2002 Rally GB. In 2005, he started competing in the FIA Junior World, driving a WR car at the Rally GB to finish in 9th place. He also won the championship of Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in 2009. As of 2011, Meeke began competing in the WRC top category, as a works driver for Mini and Citroen. He won his first WRC at the Rally Argentina in 2015, going on to take five wins through 2018. Meeke joined the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT in 2019.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2017
      Wins Rally Mexico and Rally Spain
    • 2016
      Wins Rally Portugal and Rally Finland
    • 2015
      First WRC victory – Rally Argentina
    • 2014
      First WRC podium – Rallye Monte-Carlo
    • 2009
      Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion, 4 wins
    • 2005
      3rd overall, FIA Junior WRC
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
  • SEB MARSHALL

    SEB MARSHALL

    YARIS WRC Car No. 5 Co-Driver
    Born— May 29, 1988 Nationality– UK

    British co-driver

    Seb Marshall made his rally debut in 2005 as a co-driver. After gaining experience at events in the U.K., he made his WRC debut at the Rallye Deutschland of 2008. In 2010, he was teamed with Harry Hunt, who is also from the same town in the U.K., and began participating in international rallies including the FIA Junior World Rally Championship. In 2015, together with Kevin Abling, he was a contestant in the WRC. The two drove a WR car for the first time in the competition. Later, in 2017, he was a co-driver with Hayden Paddon, taking third place in Rally Australia the same year—which brought him to the WRC awards podium for the first time. In Rally Australia 2018, final event of the WRC season, he took second place, breaking his own WRC record. He joined the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT in 2019 to team up with Kris Meeke.

    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

    • 2018
      Second place in WRC Australia
    • 2017
      Third place in WRC Australia
    • 2015
      First WRC competition
    • 2010
      Began competing in international rallies with JWRC
    • 2005
      First rally as a co-driver
    CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

TEAM

  • Team Chairman Akio Toyoda
    Team Chairman Akio Toyoda
  • Team Principal Tommi Mäkinen
    Team Principal Tommi Mäkinen
  • Sporting Director Kaj Lindström
    Sporting Director Kaj Lindström
  • Technical Director Tom Fowler
    Technical Director Tom Fowler