TOYOTA GAZOO Racing strives for South American success

Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“The last two rallies have not gone our way in terms of our championship ambitions, but we will not give up the fight. We will keep pushing and focus on winning the last three rounds of the season and doing everything that we can to keep the pressure on. Our team is really motivated to do a good result in Chile and with Elfyn, Seb and Kalle we have a very strong driver line-up to fight for the win. The stages there are generally fast and flowing, which should suit our drivers and our car. The one thing we discovered last year is that the tyre wear can be quite high when it’s dry so we need to pay attention to that. For Sami, this is a chance to build on Finland where he did extremely well, and to see how he feels with the Rally1 car on different terrain and build up his experience. And if everything goes well, those roads could suit him well and we could see another strong performance.”

Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“We’re going to try and do everything we can to help the team fight back in Chile. The roads there are fast and flowing like in Finland but the characteristics of the gravel and the road base is really different, so managing the tyre wear is the biggest thing, I would say. It was not the easiest event for us last year, but we had the speed at least and together with the team we have tried to learn from that so that we can have a clean weekend and be fighting for the podium places. We had really good pace in the last rallies that we did during the summer in Europe and hopefully we can have a good comfortable feeling from the start of the rally.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“I really enjoy driving the roads in Chile and I’m looking forward to the event. There’s a bit of a mix in character from day to day: the first is a bit more technical with crests, quite similar to Finland in a way, and then the second is a bit more wide and open, even a little like Wales. It was quite a strong event for us last year in terms of pace at least. We just underestimated how abrasive it would be in the dry conditions, which cost us a chance to challenge for victory, so we need to keep that in mind depending on how the weather is when we get there. After a difficult couple of events for various reasons, we’re definitely looking for a more positive outcome at the end of the weekend.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“Our challenge in Greece didn’t end in the way we were hoping and the gaps in both championships moved in the wrong direction, but we won’t give up and we’ll keep giving our best in these last three rounds of the season because things can still turn around. I didn’t go to Chile last year, but my memories from 2019 are of a nice event with stages that are enjoyable to drive, as well as a good atmosphere like we often have when we go to South America. So I’m happy to go back there. There will be a mix of some sections I know and some that will be new for me, but I’m never afraid of that challenge. Recently our pace has been pretty strong and we’ve been scoring higher than our rivals on average, and I hope we can carry that on.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I’m really excited to get back in the Rally1 car in Chile. I hope it can be a really enjoyable event for me. I competed in Chile for the first time last year in WRC2 and the pace was quite good. The roads there are nice and a bit similar to some of the stages in Finland: mostly quite fast and flowing, with of course some specific challenges as well. I’m hoping I can have a similar weekend like in Finland – try to enjoy the driving and get better with every kilometre – and not feel any pressure in terms of the result. The main thing is just to get more experience in this car and all the seat time that I can.”