World champions Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera will feature for Toyota to help the Japanese marque’s World Rally Championship title bid at Rally Chile.
Toyota will therefore field four GR Yaris Rally1 cars for the final gravel round of the season held in the South American nation from 26-29 September.
Ogier and Rovanpera have both been contesting partial campaigns this season although it appears the former is likely to start 10 of the 13 rounds this year. Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala asked Ogier to commit to the remainder of the season last month.
Ogier is currently Toyota’s best hope at securing the drivers’ title, with the eight-time world champion sitting 27 points adrift of Hyundai’s standings leader Thierry Neuville heading into this weekend’s Acropolis Rally Greece.
The Frenchman has scored three wins (Croatia, Portugal, Finland) and three second place finishes (Monte Carlo, Sardinia, Latvia) from his six starts to date.
Rovanpera’s outing in Chile will be his seventh start of a campaign that has included victories in Kenya, Poland and Latvia. The Finn was on course to take a fourth win in Finland last time out before rolling out of a commanding lead on the penultimate stage.
The decision to add Ogier and Rovanpera to a Chile line-up that includes its full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta should help Toyota as it seeks to close the gap to rivals Hyundai in the manufacturers title battle.
Toyota heads to Greece sitting 20 points adrift of Hyundai, despite winning six of the nine rallies so far.
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Confirmation of the Rally Chile entry list sees Esapekka Lappi rejoin Hyundai to pilot the third i20 N Rally1 car.
Lappi kicked off the season with a victory in Sweden, but has failed to finish inside the top 10 in his last three outings in Kenya, Latvia and Finland.
It has already been confirmed that M-Sport-Ford will expand its line-up for the event to three cars, with Martins Sesks returning to the championship to pilot a non-hybrid version of the Ford Puma.
The Latvian, who finished fifth in Poland and seventh at his home event, will join regulars Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster.
WRC2 championship leader Oliver Solberg will make the trip alongside one of his title rivals Yohan Rossel as part of Rally Chile’s 45-car entry list.
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