One figure will be conspicuous by his absence as the World Rally Championship resumes in Greece this weekend.
Toyota team manager Jari-Matti Latvala is not in the service park answering questions about the extreme weather conditions of the race, but is in Japan wearing overalls.
Latvala says that he puts the helmet on his head for an important reason. Toyota’s long-term project is finally coming to an end.
– This driving trip was already decided at the beginning of the year. It is important for the marketing of the car to show what its level is and how it works, Latvala describes to Urheilu.
The go-to car that Latvala is driving in the Hokkaido Rally is Toyota’s brand new rally2 car.
Rally2 is the name given to rally cars that are driven in the World Rally Championship in the WRC2 class, i.e. at the second highest level. Previously, the same cars were called R5 cars.
The cars are four-wheel drive. They have a four-cylinder 1.6-liter turbocharged engine that produces 285 horsepower. The cars have a sequential gearbox.
Thanks to various technical limitations, efforts have been made to keep the price and operating costs of the cars as low as possible. According to various estimates, the price of new rally2 cars is around 250,000–300,000 euros.
Rally2 cars form the main class in e.g. rally EC and SM series. The most popular brands are Skoda, Hyundai, Citroen, Ford and Volkswagen.
You can see a picture of Toyota’s new rally2 car in the embed below.
Next season we will see a brand new newcomer on the World Cup rally tracks. Toyota’s rally2 car will be classified at the end of the year.
– The intention is to have at least three cars competing in Monte Carlo, that would be good, Latvala reveals.
There is a reason for talking about customers. When Toyota invests tens of millions annually in its World Championship rally team, it is above all about marketing. With Rally2 cars, it’s also about business.
For example, Skoda has sold hundreds of rally2 cars around the world over the years – and sold spare parts as well as other services on the side.
Kalle Rovanperä In 2019, he won the championship in the second class of the World Championship in the ranks of Skoda. Since then, Skoda has not had its own team in the World Series, but the manufacturer has focused entirely on developing cars and selling them to customers.
According to Latvala, even Toyota has no intention of establishing its own team in the WRC2 series.
– Of course, we collect data from customers and aim to further develop the car based on it. As a WRC team, like Hyundai, we will not be driving our own drivers, Latvala says, referring to Hyundai’s second-ranked team, where he drove at the beginning of the year Teemu Suninen.
Toyota’s rally2 car has already been seen on rally tracks in the Japanese national championships. The car has been driven by a Toyota factory driver Takamoto Katsuta father Norihiko Katsuta.
You can watch a video of him driving in the embed below.
The rally crew has been vigilant with cameras while the new car has been tested around the world. Some of the thousands of test kilometers have been driven in extremely harsh conditions in order to test the durability of the car.
You can watch videos of the tests in the embed below.
– We know that the car is strong and really reliable in difficult conditions. It’s also a really easy car to drive. You can only see the performance when you drive it against others, Latvala says.
All cars are manufactured in Jyväskylä
The market for Rally2 cars is ultimately simple: if the car can win, it will be bought. That’s why Toyota has not come into the game hastily, but the project has been smoldering under the surface for a long time.
– In the first stage, it is important that the car is driven by fast drivers who can manage. We will not give financial support packages to the drivers, but it is more about technical support, Latvala explains.
All cars are built in Jyväskylä at Toyota’s Jyskä rally factory. Although, for example, the power transmission of the cars comes from France and the engine from Germany, the cars are assembled and finally handed over specifically in central Finland.
– We have hired more labor in Jyskää for all sectors, from mechanics to warehouse workers, Latvala says.
A new main class of Rally2 cars?
The problem of the Rally World Series has been the small number of car manufacturers for years. In addition to Toyota and Hyundai, only M-Sport, partially supported by Ford, is included.
This season alone in the WRC2 series, Skoda, Citroen, Hyundai and Ford vehicles have reached the podium. In Jyväskylä, there were 36 rally2 cars on the line, but only nine rally1 cars.
If only thought of in a sporting sense, rally2 cars could create the main class of the World Series right away. At that time, dozens of drivers were seriously competing for points per race.
However, sportsmanship doesn’t pay the bills. The number of car brands on the side of rally2 cars does not correlate with the fact that car manufacturers have poured endless money into them or that the general public is particularly interested in them. Rally2 cars are in no way as fast or flashy as rally1 cars.
– The idea could be that the rally2 cars would be converted into rally1 cars with a better engine and a bigger rear wing, but it has not aroused special enthusiasm from the FIA. A lot of money has also been invested in Rally1 cars. Manufacturers don’t want to immediately put money into a new development project, explains Latvala.