It has been a strong start for Toyota Gazoo Racing this season, claiming two out of three podiums at the first-two rounds of the season, now the team is looking to secure a hat-trick at Rally Mexico next weekend.
All three crews are new in the team for this season, last year Hyundai’s Ott Tänak was the best Toyota driver as he finished in second at the rally and now it is unsure how the new drivers will adopt themselves in the Yaris WRC for the first gravel rally of the season.
The Rally Mexico has always been a tricky rally and it is usually one of the warmest rounds of the season where temperatures that can reach over 30 degrees celsius. The rally is also the highest as the stages are run on altitude over 2500m above the sea level.
On Thursday evening the rally starts in Guanajuato, where two stages will be run through the streets and on Friday there will be a total of 10 stages.
A new stage is added for Saturday morning at Guanajuato Bicentennial Park before heading to Léon where two runs on the race circuit will take place. On Sunday the rally ends at the famous El Brinco stage which will host the Power Stage.
“It has been a brilliant start to the season for the whole team and, of course, we hope to keep it going in Mexico. It is a rally where we know that the altitude and the high temperatures can make it tough for the cars.” Tommi Mäkinen, Team Principal, said.
“We have worked very hard and improved a lot in this area since we started: We already saw there last year that we had no issues with the cooling, and the speed was very good too.
“So I am feeling confident that we can go there and have another strong rally with our three crews, who have all settled in to the team incredibly well so far.”
