The chairman of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Akio Toyoda, explains the jobs he had to do as the person in charge at Rally Finland and reveals what things he learned during last weekend.
Toyota gave the chance to Jari-Matti Latvala to drive the fourth GR Yaris Rally1 in Finland last weekend, therefore Toyoda took over his team principal duties at the ninth WRC round. The home hero finished in fifth place overall on his debut with the hybrid Yaris and wanted to take part in Rally Finland before he turns 40 years old. Juho Hanninen was navigating him throughout the 22 stages and both of them enjoyed the rally while they entertained the rally community with their reactions and their discussions. Moreover, JML revealed before the start of Rally Finland that a meeting was supposed to be held for Toyota to discuss about the future and the GR Yaris Rally2, but it was postponed due to his participation. Finally, it must be mentioned that the Japanese car brand returned to World Rally Championship thanks to Latvala and his passion for the Celica, something that impressed Toyoda who decided the Toyota's reentry in WRC.
"During Rally Finland, I had four jobs as the alternate Team Principal", Toyoda said.
"The first job was to talk to the team members.
"In addition to the regular morning greetings, what I told them were simply three things: ‘One team’, ‘never give up’, and ‘we hate to lose’.
"And one more Finnish word that I learned this time: SISU!
"I don’t get to see the team very often, but we can reach out to each other with these words.
"I said ‘never give up’ to Kalle when he came back after the accident, and he returned: ‘we hate to lose’.
"After his rally finished, Kalle was giving lots of advice to Takamoto.
"This shows we are a real ‘one team’.
"I am grateful for Jari-Matti once again, who has built and is leading such a great team.
"I want to thank him and the team for this amazing week!
"My second job was to follow the crews on the stages.
"Takamoto felt I was watching him on the stage and he set the top time on that stage.
"I felt I was able to contribute to the speed as well!
"And finally I was able to achieve the podium together with Takamoto which I have long waited for.
"Congratulations, Taka!
"The third job was to take media interviews.
"I did quite a few interviews at the stages and the service park.
"It was a lot of work and that made me realise that Tommi and Jari-Matti have been doing this for us, Toyota, and I really appreciate it.
"And the last one was to stand on the podium.
"It made me completely wet and sticky, but it was a really wonderful experience.
"I really thank Elfyn and Scott who made me experience this.
"I already said to them at the podium, but once again: Elfyn, Scott, congratulations!
"Thank you for bringing me to the podium!
"It’s not nice to get wet and sticky, but I definitely want to do this amazing job in Japan again.
"I feel sorry for Kalle and Jonne that they couldn't finish the rally, but I want to get wet together with them next time for sure.
"Being the alternate Team Principal this time, I was able to realise that each member of the team is doing a very hard job in each area and that made me appreciate everybody again.
"Jari-Matti will be back as Team Principal for the rest of the events.
"We will continue to work and fight together with our special words: ‘one team’, ‘never give up’, ‘we hate to lose’, and ‘SISU’".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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