Toyota team manager Latvala will return behind the wheel of a World Championship-level rally car for the first time since 2020. The team announced this on Monday.
Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala drive in the Jyväskylä World Rally Championship at the beginning of August. Latvala confirmed the matter on Monday with a video published on the team’s Twitter account.
– I have big news. CEO of Toyota Akio Toyoda has provided me with a special opportunity. I compete in the Finnish World Rally Championship with Toyota’s Rally1 hybrid car. This is a great honor, Latvala said in the video.
The team’s other race drivers are Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.
Latvala told about his interest to get back behind the wheel already last week.
– I have told Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda that it would be great to drive a Rally1 hybrid car once. To once experience what it’s like to drive such a world-class car, Latvala told Urheilu.
Latvala competed in the World Rally Championship series between 2002 and 2020 with Volkswagen, Stobart, Ford and Toyota. He achieved 18 race victories. His most recent World Rally Championship is a race in Sweden in February 2020.
After ending his active career, Latvala has worked as Toyota’s team manager for the past few years. In the last two seasons, Toyota has been able to celebrate both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ world championships.
Although his career as a top driver is already over, Latvala has driven rallies regularly.
– I have driven Historic cars in an average of five races a year. So mostly SM rallies, but last year I drove in the Rally Legends event in Italy, Latvala said.