The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has won the 2023 Manufacturers championship. Find out more below.
Back To Back To Back Champions
The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally team have won their third consecutive Manufacturers championship. The Japanese manufacturer has won the championship since 2021. Taking home the championship this weekend looked like a long shot after Rovanperä and Evans struggled on the third day due to tires. However, that didn’t seem to matter. Rovanperä and Evans managed to finish third and fourth overall. Both drivers were promoted to these positions after Teemu Suninen crashed out on SS15.
Toyota’s 2023 Season
Toyota hasn’t had as dominant of a season as the 2022 season. As Kalle Rovanperä has only won 3 events this season. However, the story this year has seemed to be on Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans. As Ogier has also taken 3 wins this season, but has only driven 6 events so far this season. Elfyn Evans took 2 wins so far this season, including at Secto Rally Finland. Toyota has only lost three events so far this season, making the manufacturers’ championship victory easier. The team started the year where they left off with a win in Rallye Monte-Carlo. Sebastien Ogier won the event to becoming the winningest driver at the event. Kalle Rovanperä didn’t take his first win of the season until Vodafone Rally De Portugal. Evans won the Croatia Rally, while Ogier won Rally Mexico. Ogier also won Safari Rally Kenya which Toyota took home a podium sweep at. Rovanperä was back to his winning ways in Estonia, Evans won Secto Rally Finland and Rovanperä won Rally Greece.
Making History
Toyota moves one step closer to becoming the manufacturer with the second most manufacturer championships in WRC history. The team currently sits just one manufacturer win behind Citroen for the second most. They sit 3 behind Lanica for the most. Since rejoining the WRC in 2016 Toyota has won 4 manufacturers championships. The Japanese team has been nearly unstoppable for the past 5 or so seasons. As they have been able to hire some of the top drivers in the sport, from Ott Tänak to Kalle Rovanperä, the team hasn’t had a lack of talent in their lineup.