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Amman, May 2023, The Toyota GAZOO Racing (TGR) World Rally Team recently secured another victory in the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) to claim its third win of the season at Croatia Rally, with Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin clinching first place in the No. 33 GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle.
A well-managed drive enabled Evans and Martin to claim their fifth win for TGR amid challenging conditions around Zagreb, with the pair succeeding in finding the right balance between caution and speed to overcome frequent surface changes and mud and gravel on the road.
After gaining the lead during day three, Evans increased his advantage to 25.4 seconds in the evening and had extended the gap to over half a minute by the first of the final day’s four tests. This allowed a more cautious approach to the closing stages and enabled the No. 33 GR YARIS Rally1 Hybrid Electric Vehicle to finish the event with a winning margin of 27 seconds.
Evans and Martin dedicated the win to their fellow competitor Craig Breen, who tragically lost his life in the build-up to the event. Martin was previously co-driver to Breen between 2014 and 2018, and had claimed their first WRC podiums together. As a mark of solidarity, only two drivers per team were nominated as eligible to score manufacturers’ championship points during the race. TGR currently leads the field with a margin of 29 points.
Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. Toyota’s involvement in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GAZOO Racing (GR) to consolidate its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people’ and ‘the people build the cars’ – GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience garnered under the extreme conditions of various motorsports events, GR aims to forge new technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure and joy of driving to everyone.
The WRC continues in May when Rally de Portugal begins a series of events on gravel. Based in Matosinhos near Porto in the north of the country, the race features classic stages on sandy and rocky roads.
