Toyota’s 2024 World Rally Championship campaign has not gone entirely to plan for the team.
The Japanese manufacturer boasts a talented driver line-up in 2024, with full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, and champions Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier competing part-time.
Among their four WRC drivers, Toyota have won six rallies this season – all of which coming from Rovanpera and Ogier with three each – and 14 podiums.
But despite this, the team have fallen behind their rivals Hyundai in both championships with the Korean manufacturer displaying better consistency across their drivers.
And speaking with motorsport.com, team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has admitted he made a mistake with the driver line-up this season.
Jari-Matti Latvala wants three full-time drivers at Toyota for 2025
Latvala’s comments come after a disastrous weekend for Toyota at Acropolis Rally Greece, with Ogier, Evans and Katsuta all suffering issues and accidents throughout the event.
With Hyundai scoring a one-two-three finish in Greece, Ogier has fallen to third in the standings behind Ott Tanak, 38 points behind the Estonian teammate Thierry Neuville.
Evans is 14 points behind in fourth with a string of back luck ruining his season. Despite only competing in six rallies, winning three and finishing outside the top 30 in the others, Rovanpera is outscoring Katsuta by six points, with the latter finishing in the top five just twice so far.
According to Latvala, having just two full-time drivers at Toyota is not enough to challenge for the title as he looks set to add a third full-time competitor for the 2025 season.
“What I have learned this year is that for 2025 we need to have three drivers who will do the full championship,” he said.
“This is clear now that having part-time drivers and if you have only two drivers doing the full [championship], that is not enough to win the title.
“We can have a fourth driver who can do part of the championship, but three drivers need to be doing a full season.”
Asked if there was a lot of work ahead to decide on that 2025 line-up, he added: “There’s things we need to now consider and we need to think about.
“I can’t speak about the line-up, not yet.”
Who will drive for Toyota in the 2025 WRC season?
With this latest revelation, Latvala is presented with a difficult situation as to who will race with the team in 2025.
With Latvala saying he is fine with four drivers as long as three of them are full-time, it is likely that eight-time champion Ogier will be the part-time competitor. But his future in the WRC is not certain, with Ogier revealing his desire to race in DTM in the future.
Evans has displayed solid results this season despite rotten luck costing him a victory, scoring four podiums – three being second places – and would still prove a good option for Toyota next year.
Katsuta has been considerably outperformed by his teammates in what has been a torrid season for the Japanese driver. With just three rounds to go, the 31-year-old will be under pressure to keep his seat for 2025.