TOYOTA GAZOO Racing wins the rally and the FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ title in Australia

Quotes:

Akio Toyoda (Team Chairman)

“Congratulations to Jari-Matti and Miikka for the Rally Australia win! I was very glad to see them on the top of the podium at the end of the year after what has sometimes been a tricky season. And with this victory, we could win the manufacturers' title. I feel so grateful, as team chairman, that we could get such a great result in the second year of our challenge after returning to the WRC following 18 years away. I am so grateful to Tommi, who has kept strengthening the Yaris WRC to win this title, all the team members who supported Tommi, and the six drivers and co-drivers who kept driving the Yaris towards our goal. Thank you very much, and huge congratulations! I also feel glad that we could share this victory with the fans who kept cheering for us, and also our partners who have fought with us as one team. Thank you very much for supporting us.”

Tommi Mäkinen (Team Principal)

“It's an absolutely amazing feeling today. This was the toughest final round of a season that I can remember. Ott's retirement so near the end was a big disappointment, but it was absolutely brilliant that Jari-Matti could win again. Esapekka also helped us score the points we needed. We started this project three-and-a-half years ago and we have developed much faster than we imagined. Last year we were here to learn and to gather data. In the second half of this season we were able to find a lot of improvements with the car. This is the result of the huge effort from everybody in the team, and I am sure this success will just further motivate us all to continue improving in 2019.”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Driver car 7)

“I am so happy to win again. It was quite a relief after such a long time! The conditions today were incredibly demanding, and it would have been very easy to go off the road. Everything went my way today, and I am sorry for Ott that his rally ended in the way it did. I was very excited and nervous at the start of the final stage, but we managed to do it. To win the manufacturers' title is fantastic. I am so proud of the team and what they have created. Everybody has worked so hard and they deserve this reward!”

Ott Tänak (Driver car 8)

“Congratulations to everybody in the team. They have done a great job. Personally, I can be disappointed about how it ended for me today, but in general I am really happy: I have the strongest car in the championship and strong people around me. It was a great battle all year; we were always trying our best. I went off in a really tricky stage with a lot of muddy places. I think it didn't change too much in either championship though. I am really happy with my season and we will keep pushing next year.”

Esapekka Lappi (Driver car 9)

“Today was definitely one of the toughest days of the season: the conditions were very tricky and that meant you couldn't enjoy the driving quite as much. It is nice to end this part of my career in this way, by helping the team to win the manufacturers' title. I really wanted to finish on top but at least we had a good rally where we were back on the pace. Thank you to everyone in the team for their support.”
 

FINAL RESULT, RALLY AUSTRALIA

1 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2h59m52.0s

2 Hayden Paddon/Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +32.5s

3 Mads Ostberg/Torstein Eriksen (Citroen C3 WRC) +52.2s

4 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m02.3s

5 Sebastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m30.8s

6 Elfyn Evans/Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3m05.1s

7 Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +6m28.8s

8 Alberto Heller/Jose Luis Diaz (Ford Fiesta R5) +22m28.5s

9 Steve Glenney/Andrew Sarandis (Skoda Fabia R5) +27m01.8s

10 Jourdan Serderidis/Lara Vanneste (Ford Fiesta WRC) +35m14.1s

Retired Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC)

FINAL RESULT, 2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers

1 Sébastien Ogier: 219 points

2 Thierry Neuville: 201 points

3 Ott Tänak: 181 points

4 Jari-Matti Latvala: 128 points

5 Esapekka Lappi: 126 points

6 Andreas Mikkelsen: 84 points

7 Elfyn Evans: 80 points

8 Hayden Paddon: 73 points

9 Dani Sordo: 71 points

10 Mads Ostberg: 70 points

FINAL RESULT, 2018 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers

1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT: 368 points

2 Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT: 341 points

3 M-Sport Ford WRT : 324 points

4 Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT: 237 points

About Toyota Canada Inc.

Toyota Canada Inc. (TCI) is the exclusive Canadian distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Toyota has sold over 5 million vehicles in Canada through a national network of 287 Toyota and Lexus dealerships. Toyota is dedicated to bringing safety, quality, dependability and reliability in the vehicles Canadians drive and the service they receive. TCI’s head office is located in Toronto, with regional offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Halifax and parts distribution centres in Toronto and Vancouver. Toyota operates two manufacturing facilities in Canada. Having produced more than eight million vehicles, popular Canadian models built at these facilities include Toyota RAV4, Toyota Corolla, Lexus RX 350 and RX 450h hybrid.

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