TOYOTA GAZOO Racing closes the gap before the final round

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team which ENDLESS is a partner of the brake parts supply further closed the gap in the FIA World Rally Championship with a strong final day performance even as it missed out on overall victory.

  Takamoto Katsuta was the star of the final day as he completed an excellent return to action, claiming the maximum 12 points on offer by topping both the Super Sunday classification and the rally-ending Power Stage.

  Finishing fourth overall, Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston were quickest across Sunday by 3.8 seconds ahead of team-mates Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, who scored a second successive podium in second place and were third in the Power Stage.

  Together, the efforts of Evans and Katsuta meant TGR-WRT scored two points more than its main rival Hyundai this weekend, closing the gap to 15 points ahead of next month’s final round at Rally Japan – where a maximum score across the event would be enough to claim another title.

  Sami Pajari and co-driver Enni Mälkönen suffered a fate in the first stage of the morning, bringing a slightly early end to another impressive outing in a GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID –his first on asphalt and third in total. Pajari was on for another top-six finish overall ashe continued his learning process at the highest level, gaining more valuable experience.

  As planned, Pajari will return to driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car at Rally Japan where he has a chance to claim the WRC2 championship title if he can finish in the top two in the category.

  The season will conclude on home roads for TGR at Rally Japan on November 21-24. The event, which returned to the WRC calendar in 2022, is held on demanding asphalt roads in the mountains of the Aichi and Gifu prefectures, around the service park in Toyota City near Nagoya.

Please read the details on the team’s official web site: