TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Starts Season With New Championship Goal

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team starts the new season with the Monte Carlo Rally to be held between 19-22 January. Winning the Brands, Drivers and Co-Pilots World Championship with the GR YARIS Rally2022 HYBRID race car in the 1 season, Toyota will fight to win the WRC championship for the third time in a row.

Continuing extensive work to further develop the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID, which proved its success in a short time, the team will use a new rear fender that contributes to the cooling for the vehicle's hybrid system. Other notable improvements will include new engine settings with higher power outputs.

In the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team roster, Kalle Rovanpera, the youngest champion of the WRC at the age of 22, and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen, last year's runner-up Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin, and eight-time champion Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais is located. Takamoto Katsuta will expand his experience by sharing the third car with Ogier throughout the season. However, in Monte-Carlo, TGR will race the fourth car as part of the WRC Challenge Programme.

The oldest and most famous race on the WRC calendar, the Monte Carlo Rally remains one of the most demanding. Variable weather conditions cause drivers to struggle with snow and ice on some stages, while tire selection plays a critical role as always.

As in 2022, the service area is located in the port of Monaco and the rally will start from the iconic Casino Square. After two night stages on Thursday night, they will race northwest of Monaco on Friday. After longer stages such as Saturday, the rally will conclude on Sunday with the Power Stage on the Col de Turini.

The defending champion Kalle Rovanpera made pre-race evaluations and said, “We know that it will not be easy to maintain the championship title. The level of competition is always increasing. That's why we're going to keep pushing. Once again, the team did a great job maximizing performance and making the car faster. "We want to start the season in the best way possible in Monte Carlo."