Toyota has unveiled special liveries that will adorn entries for Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier for next week’s World Rally Championship round in Finland.
The Japanese brand will field an expanded five-car Rally1 line-up at the team’s home event with both part-time drivers Rovanpera and Ogier competing alongside full-time entrants Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, while rising star Sami Pajari will make his Rally1 debut at his home event.
In the lead-up to the rally, Toyota has revealed that the Rovanpera and Ogier entries will run using special liveries inspired by the limited edition Rovanpera and Ogier edition road-going GR Yaris models launched earlier this year.
Evans and Katsuta will compete utilising the team’s usual 2024 colour scheme, while Pajari’s GR Yaris will feature a predominantly white livery.
Rovanpera heads to his home event yet to stand on the top step of the podium after finishing second in 2022 before crashing out of the lead last year.
“Every year, Rally Finland is quite a special occasion. Of course, it’s our home rally and one of the nicest events to do with lots of fans and family around,” said Rovanpera, who has taken wins in Kenya, Poland and Latvia this year.
“It’s always exciting and the stages are really nice but quite demanding also. Having legendary roads like Ouninpohja on the schedule this year will be amazing.
“Our approach and our target will be like on every rally we’ve done this year: try to do the best job we can to fight for the win and bring good points for the team.
“I haven’t managed to get the very best result on Rally Finland but I don’t want to place any extra stress on achieving that. I just want to treat it like any other rally and try to do my best.”
This will be Ogier's first start in Finland since his eighth title-winning year in 2021. The Frenchman heads into the event having claimed two wins and three second-place finishes from his five starts this season.
“Rally Finland is a unique event in the championship that I think every driver loves to drive. It’s also a difficult rally, where the local drivers have always been very strong, but this is the kind of challenge that I like and it has been a rally that I really wanted to do again after a couple of years away,” said Ogier.
“It’s also a home event for the team, of course, and I’m happy to be part of this strong line-up and I’ll try to bring everything I can to achieve the best team result. After a break from driving in really fast rallies, I think I had some good speed and a good weekend in Latvia, and I hope to bring that to Finland.”
