TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team driver Ott Tänak and his co-driver Martin Järveoja have made history by securing their first FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) titles with a second place finish on Rally de Espana, the 13th round of the 2019 WRC. The event was won by Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul in Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC.
Tänak becomes only the third different driver to claim the WRC crown since 2004, while he and Järveoja are the first Estonians to ever achieve the feat. It is the fifth occasion that a Toyota driver has won the WRC Drivers’ title, and the first time since Didier Auriol triumphed in 1994.
Having won six of the 12 rallies so far, Tänak arrived at the second last round of the season with a 28-point advantage in the championship. In the series’ only true mixed-surface event, Tänak was fifth overall following the opening day on gravel, before 4 consecutive stage wins on asphalt on Saturday promoted him up into third place.
On the final day, he opened up a comfortable advantage with the Toyota Yaris WRC over the driver behind. But it was not easy-going and he still needed to push hard on the rally-ending Power Stage to secure the title. In an incredible run over the 20.72-km stage, he was 3.6 seconds faster than anyone to not only take the full 5 bonus points, but also grab second place overall on the rally.
Jari-Matti Latvala finished in fifth position, scoring important points for the Manufacturers’ Championship, which Toyota remains in with a chance of winning at the final round in Australia on November 14 as the gap is 18 points from the leader. After retiring on Saturday morning following a crash, Kris Meeke returned to action on Sunday under restart rules.
Sending his congratulations to the duo, Akio Toyota, Toyota’s President and the driving force behind the company’s greater motorsport orientation, said: “Last year in Rally Finland, I saw so many Estonian fans waving Estonian flags to cheer on Ott and Martin. They said the flags were not a weight on their shoulders. Instead, they felt the strong support from all the fans to achieve their best. I’m glad that our Yaris WRC competed with such a strong wave of support from our Estonian friends and supporters, and we rode the wave to the championship title!”
Toyota’s’ World Rally Champions
1990: Carlos Sainz (Toyota Celica GT-Four ST165)
1992: Carlos Sainz (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185)
1993: Juha Kankkunen (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185)
1994: Didier Auriol (Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185)
2019: Ott Tänak (Toyota Yaris WRC)
