Toyota Gazoo Racing eyes WRC win in Greece

Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team is eyeing to return to the podium at the famed Acropolis Rally for the 10th round of the 2022  World Rally Championship (WRC).

The Grecian circuit is scheduled to host this year’s FIA-sanctioned racing event from September 8-11. Its rocky mountain roads and high temperatures will challenge the cars and drivers competing in the prestigious rally race.

It will start with a Thursday night “superspecial” stage in the Athens Olympic Stadium. On Friday morning, they head to Loutraki and Harvati. It will be capped with three more stages in Lamia: Dafni, Livadia, and Bauxites. Saturday will see the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team brave the three stages of Pyrgos, Perivoli, and Tarzan west of Lamia. Finally, on Sunday, the team will tackle Elatia-Rengini and Eleftherohori.

“After being very close to the victory in the last two rallies, we go to Greece really wanting to win, but we know that it won’t be easy on such a tough event. The Acropolis is a legendary rally and it’s great to have it back on the calendar since last year. We saw that the gravel roads there are generally not quite as rough as they were in the past. This means that, although reliability is still really important, we also need to have a strong level of performance. Kalle took a great victory last year in difficult conditions and rain which is of course not typical in Greece," said Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala.

"Repeating that will be difficult now he is running first on the road, especially as most of Friday’s stages are run only once, but Kalle has been handling this challenge very well so far this season. Elfyn and Esapekka have also been very strong recently and hopefully, they can continue in a similar way in Greece,” the team principal added.

Toyota Gazoo Racing rally driver Kalle Rovanperä is looking to write his name in history if he can finish the rally on the podium. The Finnish World Rally Championship driver, piloting car No. 69, won the event at his first attempt last year. He now has a lead of 72 points with four rounds remaining.

“Belgium was a difficult weekend for us, so in Greece, we just need to get back at the level where we should be and try to have a good rally. The championship is never over until it’s over so we can’t think about it too much: We’re just trying to get good points from each event and control what we can. Greece was a really nice rally for us last year but our chances this time will probably depend a lot on the weather. If it’s going to be dry then I think it’s going to be really tricky for us to open the road on Friday. If so, it probably won’t be much easier for our rivals just behind us, and hopefully, we can still make the best of the situation,” Rovanperä shared.

Elfyn Evans, the Welsh rally driver in car No. 33, is third in the standings and one of those also still in contention for the drivers’ title. He finished second in his last race in Belgium and is looking to land a spot on the podium when the checkered flag is waved.

“I’m looking forward to the Acropolis Rally. After the high-speed nature of Estonia and Finland, Greece will offer a very different challenge for a gravel rally. Sardinia was the last rough gravel event we had in Europe and we had quite a good feeling with the car there and good speed, even though we didn’t get the result at the end of the weekend. There are still things we can improve, and hopefully, we can pick up where we left off and keep making steps forward in Greece. Most likely it will be a hot and tough rally like the Acropolis is known for, but we saw last year with the rain that we can’t be completely certain about the weather,” Evans commented.

Meanwhile, Finnish rally driver Esapekka Lappi in car No. 4, will contest the Acropolis for the first time since 2014.

“In Greece, we will be going to something that’s quite unknown to me. I did the rally once before in 2014 when it was a round of the European championship, but half of it was on asphalt then, so there will be a lot that’s new to discover. But I had also not been to Ypres for eight years and we finished on the podium there. So we will try and aim for something similar again this time. We had good speed and a good feeling on similarly rough gravel roads in Sardinia, and hopefully, we can find that again in Greece,” said Lappi.

Photos from Toyota and Acropolis Rally

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