The team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, Jari-Matti Latvala, says that the chances for his team to win both titles are pretty much gone considering the Hyundai's lead, the new WRC point system and how the things went in Greece.
Acropolis Rally was a disastrous event for Toyota as Takamoto Katsuta and Elfyn Evans remained outside the top ten on Saturday classification as the first one was forced to retire in Stag 3 after losing the rear left wheel of his Yaris whereas Evans dropped outside the top 50 at the end of Friday morning due to the turbo issues. In addition to that, Toyota decided to retire Evans's car at the end of the penultimate Saturday stage following his roll in Stage 11. However, both of them collected twelve points in total for their team on Sunday while Sebastien Ogier scored 13 points from this third place on Saturday classification. The Frenchman started his final day in a positive way by topping the SuperSunday standings and setting the fastest time on the first two stages of the day, but he rolled his Yaris after his having suffered from a puncture. Ogier did not give up after this incident and managed to complete Powerstage and to secure the 13 points from Saturday classification, but he scored zero points on Sunday. Toyota had a 20-point disadvantage over the first Hyundai at the end of Rally Finland, but now the Alzenau-based team increased further their lead to 35 points with three rounds remaining until the season finale.
"It's good that Sebastien Ogier can get the Saturday points, but the reality is that we lose the Sunday points, we lose the Power Stage points for both championships, which are basically gone", Latvala said.
"Hyundai start to be in a position, that with current points system, they will defend the lead now for the last three remaining events, so they won't take such risk to lose those titles.
"For us, the chances are pretty much gone and we need to change the target to try, from now on, to start winning events.
"We need to forget about both championships for a little bit.
"We have been in a situation where we have been trying to force it and we can't force it anymore.
"We can only do it by driving well by winning the events without pressure for the drivers.
"That is the only way and if something goes wrong with Hyundai, then it can be a massive bonus".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Toyota
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