Historic Result for Toyota Yaris WRC at Home

 said: “Esapekka Lappi has brought us the best possible outcome on the team’s home rally and I would like to express my appreciation to all our fans for their strong support, as we celebrate this special moment together. Juho Hänninen also achieved his best career result: as our main test driver from the beginning of the project, the Yaris WRC wouldn’t have been born without him. I feel sorry for Jari-Matti Latvala, who was affected by a technical problem, but his driving on the final day showed again that he never gives up and we are so proud of him.

“For me, Finland is a special event as I visited three years ago, talking with Tommi Mäkinen about what makes an ever-better car. Then we started this project, with the idea of learning more about making ever-better cars through rallying. Here, I believe our Yaris WRC showed significant performance because it was developed on roads in Finland. So, it was a really touching moment―watching the event on television from Japan―when I listened to both the Finnish and Japanese national anthems on the podium. Now we will keep on learning throughout the year. The biggest challenges are still to come. Thank you to all the fans. I look forward to your continued support.”

Tommi Mäkinen (Team Principal) was quite excited as he said: “It has been almost perfect; the problem for Jari-Matti on Saturday was really the only disappointment. I have to thank our team. They have put the maximum in to make a step forward on this rally. We were able to supply our drivers with a very fast car and the drivers did their very best job. Congratulations to Esapekka and Juho in particular. I still remember my first win here, and I had strong feelings that Esapekka could do the same as I did 23 years ago.”