Still on top. At the Rally de Rally España, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team mathematically conquered the 2022 World Rally Championship manufacturers' title, the third out of five seasons and the second in a row. OMP Racing again played a key role, supplying suits, gloves, boots and underwear for drivers and co-drivers, the mechanics' suit, as the seats inside the cockpit.
After the drivers' title clinched by Kalle Rovanperä during the previous New Zealand Rally, Toyota needed to collect at least 23 points to also secure the constructors' title during the round on the Catalunya tarmac roads. It obtained way more than the minimum, thanks to outgoing champion Sebastien Ogier victory and third place by Rovanperä.
Ogier, this year committed to the WRC through a part-time program, definitely took the race lead at the end of the fifth special stage, winning the closing Power Stage too. This triumph has been the maiden of the year for the Frenchman, and the maiden in his WRC career for new co-driver Benjamin Veillas. During Friday's leg, Rovanperä was among the contenders for the leadership too, and, despite losing time due to some issues, he managed to step on the podium.
Toyota so reaffirms its supremacy in the WRC, that this season opened a new technical era introducing Rally1 rules and hybrid power. The weapon now used by the Japanese marque is the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID, which mounts safety equipment produced by OMP. It's a successful second chapter of the technical partnership between Toyota and the Italian brand part of Racing Force Group, which jointly won the WRC titles in 1993 and 1994 with the Celicas driven by Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol.
"We have been working closely with OMP ever since our team started competing in 2017. Back then, I was one of the drivers so I know myself just how good and comfortable OMP products are - something which is really important in all of the different extreme conditions our drivers and co-drivers face in the World Rally Championship", said team principal Jari-Matti Latvala. "Together with OMP we enjoyed an incredibly successful 2022 season winning three championship titles and we look forward to their continued support as we face new challenges in 2023".
Going back to the present, last weekend's win was the seventh for the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team in 2022, and now there is the opportunity to reach the eighth: it remains to contest the Rally Japan on home soil. This is going to be a further motivation to push. "If we can win there, we can have even bigger celebrations!", said squad boss Latvala. And let's not forget 8 is a lucky number in the land of the rising sun.