Toyota Seals Victory in FIA WRC Manufacturers’ Championship

The GAZOO Racing (GR) World Rally Team recently achieved an impressive championship treble at the iconic Monza circuit. The team clinched the manufacturers’ title with a one-two finish during the final round as Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia claimed their eighth driver and co-driver crowns with victory in the No. 1 Toyota Yaris WRC. 

Ogier and Ingrassia went up against their teammates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin in the No. 33 Toyota Yaris WRC during an exciting final-round showdown at Rally Monza. The two crews engaged in a fierce battle throughout the race, swapping the lead between them six times. They entered the third and final day separated by just half a second before setting identical times on the morning’s opening test. Ogier and Ingrassia took the lead during the penultimate stage in the No. 1 Toyota Yaris WRC and went on to secure victory ahead of Evans and Martin, who finished in second place in the No. 33 Toyota Yaris WRC.

The win was the fifth of the season for Ogier and Ingrassia after victories in Monte Carlo, Croatia, Sardinia and Kenya. Evans and Martin secured the fifth Toyota one-two of the season and finished as runners-up in the championship for the second year in a row after claiming victories in Portugal and Finland.

This is the fifth time Toyota has won the manufacturers’ championship, putting it joint third on the all-time list of titles and second since it returned to the sport in 2017 with the Yaris WRC. The win also marked the 26th and last victory achieved by the car in the final event of the World Rally Car era before hybrid electric-powered Rally1 cars are introduced in 2022.

Akio Toyoda, President, Toyota Motor Corporation, commented, “This team kept making the Yaris WRC stronger since 2017 and made the last Yaris WRC the strongest ever. We will prepare an ever-stronger Yaris and make our fans even more excited as of next season onwards. I hope our fans will look forward to our new car and new challenges, and I thank them for their continuous support of the GR World Rally Team.”

Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, ‎including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Nürburgring 24 ‎Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate ‎entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GR ‎to consolidate all of its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing ‎Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people’ and ‘the people build the cars’ - GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to ‎making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience gained under the extreme ‎conditions of various motorsports events, GR aims to forge new ‎technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure and joy of driving to everyone.