Rovanpera/Ogier situation not ideal for Toyota

Toyota faces a conundrum with its driver line-up in the World Rally Championship in 2024, as it suddenly needs to balance both Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera in its part-time program.

Rovanpera shocked the rally world when he announced 2024 would only be a part-time season at Toyota after the WRC’s youngest ever champion and back-to-back title winner made the decision to step back in order to protect his longevity in the sport at just 23-years of age.

With Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta set to take up the full-time seats, it leaves the team to juggle Ogier and Rovanpera between the two-part time GR Yaris machines, with only one of them able to score manufacturer points if they both drive at the same event.

That also means the strong possibility of Katsuta being relegated to a non-point scoring position as an active full-time driver when the two are competing at the same event.

Toyota are still unsure of how they will balance Rovanpera, Katsuta, and Ogier in 2024. Image: Red Bull Content Pool

Whilst Toyota has an embarrassment of riches behind the steering wheel with an eight-time world champion and the perhaps the greatest young driver in the history of the sport as part-time options, it’s actually not an ideal scenario for the dominators of the Rally1 WRC era.

Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala confirmed that the two drivers will not be sharing a car, and expressed that it presents some conundrums in 2024.

“To be fair, as a manufacturer, it’s not the nicest thing when you have drivers doing only half the championship because we want to have drivers doing a full championship for the titles,” he said.

“But, in this situation, we also need to think that we are investing for the future.

Katsuta’s 2024 season will again see his manufacturer contribution stunted despite being a full-time driver

“Taka (Takamoto) will do the full season but there is an option that we can move and play around with the drivers a little bit. This could be the case if Seb and Kalle are both in the same event, which is very possible.

“Taka has been already in this position this year, so it’s nothing new for him, and actually, I think he will be nominated to score more points next year as a third driver than he has this year anyway.

“It fits quite nicely now because Seb wants to do a half-season, but in the future, we don’t know what he wants to do. I would say that, honestly, it’s not our wish to keep going with two drivers doing half the season, but at this point, it was matching.”

Off the gravel and asphalt there has been plenty going on in the WRC off-season, click these links to stay abreast with the latest developments in the WRC tyre tenure, new points system, and hybrid unit limitations, as well the news that the FIA has created Rally Working Group to address some of the concerning issues facing the future of the WRC.

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