Toyota is refusing to give up the World Rally Championship fight in Chile this weekend despite previously admitting that its title hopes are “pretty much gone”.
The Japanese manufacturer has won the previous three WRC constructors’ and drivers’ titles but its hopes of retaining the crowns have come under serious threat from Hyundai.
Despite Toyota winning six of the 10 rounds this season - two more wins than rivals Hyundai - Toyota heads to Chile’s gravel roads 35 points adrift of the Korean marque with three rounds of the season (165 points) remaining.
In the drivers’ championship, eight-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, competing in a partial campaign, leads Toyota’s charge albeit 38 points adrift of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville after the former’s late roll in Greece earlier this month.
While the tittle battles are seemingly heading in Hyundai’s direction, Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala is refusing to concede that the fight is over ahead of Rally Chile.
“The last two rallies have not gone our way in terms of our championship ambitions, but we will not give up the fight,” said Latvala.
“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.”
Meanwhile, rivals Hyundai are heading to Chile determined not to loose its grip on the title race.
After scoring a 1-2-3 at the Acropolis Rally earlier this month team principal Cyril Abiteboul says his team will approach Rally Chile with ”great caution”.
“While we approach Rally Chile with both optimism and momentum, we are also going into the event with great caution,” said Abiteboul.
“Greece was a fantastic display of what can be achieved with great team-work, but it is imperative we do not lose focus in the final events of the season.
“The Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid has demonstrated its robustness and reliability at other gravel rallies this season, so we want to end the final event on this surface strongly before our return to Tarmac.
“Every point counts so we need to be at the spearhead of the classification by Saturday evening before we assess how much we need to push on Sunday.
“We want to protect the advantage we have in all three standings as a priority, but we still want to push for wins and podiums too.”
