Perfect five-star finish at home for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) celebrated a perfect result on home roads at Rally Finland, as local hero Kalle Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen claimed their long-awaited first win on home soil — leading a historic 1-2-3-4-5 lockout for the GR YARIS Rally1.

“It is an amazing feeling to win Rally Finland,” said Rovanperä. “It has been a long time coming, but with so much support from the fans every year, I feel super happy to win in front of them. This year, everybody did a crazy amount of work to make it happen. Jonne and everybody in the team have been fantastic, and we were pushing the whole weekend.”

Rovanperä’s victory came a year after heartbreak, when he crashed out of the lead on the penultimate stage. This time, he took charge from the first forest stage on Friday and carried a 36.1-second lead into Sunday’s final runs over the legendary Ouninpohja test.

He went fastest on the second pass to secure his 10th stage win of the weekend, topping both the Power Stage and Super Sunday for a full 35-point haul.

“It was an intense final day on one of the most demanding stages to get right, and we had to push really hard to take the points like we did,” he said. His drive also set a new WRC record, with an average winning speed of 129.9 km/h – the fastest in the sport’s history.

Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston finished second overall, claiming a second Rally Finland podium in three years. The Japanese driver, who developed his rally skills in Finland through the TGR WRC Challenge Program, was second fastest on the Power Stage to secure his runner-up finish by just 5.9 seconds over Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais.

Ogier edged out Elfyn Evans by only three seconds after Evans and co-driver Scott Martin had taken the opening pass of Ouninpohja. Evans ended up fourth in Super Sunday and fifth on the Power Stage but did enough to regain the championship lead, three points ahead of Rovanperä. Ogier trails by a further ten.

Sami Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen completed the top five with a career-best Rally1 performance. “It’s just amazing to be part of this result for Toyota,” said Pajari. “The team was really on it this weekend, so it’s really well deserved by everybody. It has been a really good weekend for us, taking a few stage wins and otherwise having some solid pace.”

The result marked only the second time in WRC history that a manufacturer has locked out the top five – the last being Lancia in Portugal in 1990. Juha Kankkunen, now TGR-WRT’s Deputy Team Principal, was part of that result as a driver.

TGR-WRT Chairman Akio Toyoda praised the effort across the board. “Congratulations to all the crews for this 1-2-3-4-5 finish! Including Jari-Matti’s second place in WRC2 and the win for the GR Yaris Rally2, we were able to return the favour to the people of our hometown, Jyväskylä, with this fantastic result.”

He also celebrated Rovanperä and Halttunen’s long-overdue home victory. “Last year and two years ago, Rally Finland must have been frustrating for them, so I'm truly happy that they were finally able to show the winning trophy to the local fans! Congratulations to the local heroes!”

In WRC2, the GR Yaris Rally2 also scored a one-two finish. Roope Korhonen claimed his first win alongside Anssi Viinikka for Rautio Motorsport, narrowly holding off TGR-WRT Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala and co-driver Janni Hussi by just 1.1 seconds.

TGR Challenge driver Yuki Yamamoto rounded out a strong Toyota showing with his best WRC2 finish to date, including a shared stage win with Latvala on Saturday.

With its eighth win from nine rallies this season, Toyota has extended its manufacturers’ championship lead to 87 points – and heads into the final stretch of the season with powerful momentum and plenty to celebrate.