Toyota have confirmed their driver line-up for the ninth round of the World Rally Championship in Greece.
The Japanese manufacturer have won six rallies so far in the 2024 WRC season – the most of any other team – courtesy of drivers Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera, who have registered three wins each.
Despite these six victories, consistency from their rival Hyundai’s full time drivers sees Toyota trail them in the manufacturers’ championship by 20 points.
Heading into the next event in Greece, the team with be looking to close the gap to their competitors as they have announced that Ogier will return for the rally as he looks to challenge for the title.
Sebastien Ogier will race for Toyota at Acropolis Rally Greece
Ogier is the highest ranked Toyota driver in the WRC standings and is in with a chance to win the 2024 title, as he sits 27 points behind championship leader Thierry Neuville in second.
The interesting thing is that the Frenchman is competing in the championship part time, having only driven in six rallies thus far this season.
In those six events, Ogier has finished in the top two of all of them, winning in Croatia, Portugal and Finland and finishing second in Monaco, Sardinia and Latvia.
And with these results giving him a solid chance of winning the championship, Ogier has said that he is coming under pressure to compete in the rest of this year’s events as he looks set to drive at Acropolis Rally Greece.
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Speaking with Motorsport.com, the 40-year-old said: “I think we’re going to have more and more pressure to do that [the rest of the year and going for the title] anyway, inside me, I don’t really have it yet, this wish, this feeling because I don’t value those things [titles] as much as people think maybe.”
Some of that pressure comes from Ogier’s team principal at Toyota – Jari-Matti Latvala – who has asked the Frenchman to drive in other events.
“With Seb, I have mentioned that I would like him to drive more events. I’m waiting for his answer, but I think the chance he is now in the championship as he is second, we should try to keep the fight on and let him drive all the events,” he said.
“It’s a very difficult situation, but at least we need to keep trying. Without trying, we cannot win anything.”
Ogier is in with a chance to win his ninth WRC title
While he claims he does not value titles as much as some may think, the prospect of equalling the record of most WRC championships may be difficult to ignore.
Ogier is an eight-time champion, having won six of them consecutively from 2013 to 2018, and the other two coming in 2020 and 2021.
Only fellow Frenchman Sebastien Loeb has won more, winning a record nine times – all of them coming consecutively from 2004 to 2012 before Ogier won six on the bounce.
With the final four events in Greece, Chile, Central Europe and Japan coming up, the pressure will be on Ogier to get back into his Toyota GR Yaris and fight for the championship.