Toyota needs to have at least three full-time drivers contesting the 2025 World Rally Championship, according to team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.
His comments followed a difficult weekend at the Acropolis Rally, where Latvala admitted that the team’s drivers’ and manufacturers’ title were “pretty much gone” following a 1-2-3 for rivals Hyundai.
Reflecting on the way the title race has unfolded to Autosport last Sunday in Greece, the Toyota boss said that the team’s decision to field two full-time drivers in Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta and two part-time drivers in Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier has not been enough to challenge for the titles.
Toyota reshuffled its line-up for this season after two-time world champion Rovanpera’s decision to go part-time this year to “recharge his batteries” ahead of a full-time return next year.
When asked for his thoughts on the team’s 2025 line-up, before Wednesday’s shock decision to replace Katsuta at Rally Chile with rising star Sami Pajari, Latvala said: “What I have learned this year is that for 2025 we need to have three drivers who will do the full championship.
“This is clear now that having part-time drivers and if you have only two drivers doing the full [championship], that is not enough to win the title.
“We can have a fourth driver who can do part of the championship, but three drivers need to be doing a full season.”
When asked if he felt there was a lot of work ahead to finalise the team’s 2025 line-up, he added: “There’s things we need to now consider and we need to think about.
Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“I can’t speak about the line-up, not yet.”
Rovanpera is contracted and expected to return to a full-time drive with the team next year, which will be a boost for the Japanese brand that has won the last three drivers’ and constructors’ championships.
“Kalle has already mentioned himself that that he is doing a full season and this is what we have been targeting,” said Latvala.
“It is clear that if Kalle drives, then it’s a full season, we just need to check a couple of things. But that is the way we want it to be.”
However, next season poses an interesting proposition for Toyota regarding its driver line-up, with plenty of options at its disposal.
Eight-time world champion Ogier’s future is yet to be determined, although this year he has once again proved to be valuable asset for the team by winning three rallies and scoring three second-place finishes from seven starts.
The Frenchman has committed to seeing out the rest of the season in a bid to keep the heat on Hyundai points leader Thierry Neuville, but is thought unlikely to commit to return to full-time action.
Two-time WRC title runner-up Evans, competing in his fifth season with Toyota, has endured a challenging season attempting to lead the team’s drivers’ title assault. The Welshman has regularly challenged for podiums and copped his fair share of misfortune with arguably the most damaging incident a driveshaft failure in Finland when sitting second to then-leader Rovanpera.
Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Despite the news that Katsuta will be benched for Chile, the team made it clear in its announcement that it will continue to give “its full support” to the Japanese and hopes this short break in an intense and competitive season can provide an opportunity to reset and come back stronger”.
Katsuta piloted a full-time fourth entry from 2021 to 2022, before making the step up to the third car last year.
The rise of WRC2 title contender Pajari offers another option following his impressive run to fourth on Rally1 debut in Finland, which has now led to two more outings in Chile and Central Europe. Latvala told Autosport after Finland that the young Finn was among the team’s options for 2025.
“Of course, Toyota is thinking about investing for the future, like we did with Sami in Finland,” Latvala added when asked about the driver market for next year.
“Those things are what Toyota wants to invest in for the future. But of course, overall, we need to have drivers at the same time that we can win the championship.”