Amman, October 2019: The GAZOO Racing (GR) World Rally Team (WRT) recently sealed their sixth victory of the season with an impressive win at Rally GB. Ott Tänak set the fastest time on the Power Stage and claimed maximum points in the No. 8 Toyota Yaris WRC to further extend his lead in the drivers’ championship - taking the GR team closer to the top of the manufacturers’ leaderboard in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

The GR team led the rally from start to finish, with Kris Meeke having set the early pace in the No. 5 Toyota Yaris WRC before Tänak took over at the front. Day four of the rally consisted of two runs over the Alwen and Brenig stages in north Wales, with the asphalt Great Orme stage along the coast ultimately canceled due to sea conditions not providing sufficient safety cover. Tänak began the fourth and final day perfectly, outpacing his nearest rival by one-tenth of a second to win the first pass over Alwen in the No. 8 Toyota Yaris WRC.

Tänak took an advantage of 9.5 seconds into the Power Stage, where he went fastest of all by half a second, beating his closest championship rival to the five bonus points on offer. He and co-driver Martin Järveoja’s final overall winning margin was 10.9 seconds, with Tänak now leading by 28 points in the championship. Meanwhile, teammate Meeke narrowly missed a podium place to finish in fourth in the No. 5 Toyota Yaris WRC, securing vital points and helping to take the GR team to within just eight points of the lead in the manufacturers’ championship.

Akio Toyoda, Team Chairman, commented, “GAZOO Racing won two FIA World Championship events - the World Endurance Championship and World Rally Championship - on the same weekend. In heavy wind and rain and extreme road conditions, I am really happy to see Tänak and Järveoja win Rally GB. For the last two WRC events of the season, I truly hope for more victories and finally for their championships. Let’s make ever-better cars with all our teams. Thank you very much to all the fans who support our activities in these two FIA world championships.”

The next penultimate event of the season was Rally de España, which took place between 25 and 27 October and is the only WRC round run on both gravel and asphalt. After one day on gravel, teams were required to transfer the vehicles from gravel to asphalt specification within a 75-minute service. The asphalt stages that followed were smooth, fast and flowing, with similar characteristics to racing circuits.