Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT announced today that Sebastien Ogier will drive the fourth GR Yaris Rally1 instead of Sami Pajari at Rally Latvia which will be held on July 18-21.
The Japanese team had announced earlier this month that Sami Pajari would make his WRC debut with them and will get behind the wheel of the hybrid Yaris at Rally Latvia becoming the second youngster on the WRC grid that has the support of WRC Promoter and a WRC team. However, Toyota is currently 13 points behind Hyundai on the manufacturers' championship and chose to give to Ogier another outing with the Yaris before his summer break. It must be mentioned that Ogier said at the end of Rally Italia Sardegna that Rally Poland was his final event before his summer break which hinted that Kalle Rovanpera would take over the third car from Rally Latvia. The team changed its plans just one day before the entry list of Rally Latvia will be published and decided that Pajari's debut will be done at Rally Finland on August 1-4 while Takamoto Katsuta's entry will non-nominated at Rally Latvia as Elfyn Evans, Rovanpera and Ogier are set to score points for Toyota there.
"Sami Pajari's dream debut in our Rally1 car will now be realised at Rally Finland", Toyota's statement said.
"Driving on home roads, with a chance to test locally in preparation - it's going to be an exciting moment for Sami, Enni and Finnish rally fans".
We'll take on the new challenge of Rally Latvia with our full four-strong line-up of regular crews! 💪
— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) June 24, 2024
A chance for Kalle to return to the scene of his first rally wins, and Seb to continue his strong form in 2024 🤩#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #RallyLatvia 🇱🇻 pic.twitter.com/5AWJcpRO4p
Photo Credits: Toyota, Red Bull Content Pool
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