Toyota announces WRC plans

[EstWRC]

They will be testing in Estonia or what is this about ?https://twitter.com/rallyparadise/st...48159407837184

Pantealex you know more ?

[rp]

They will be testing in Estonia or what is this about ?https://twitter.com/rallyparadise/st...48159407837184

Pantealex you know more ?

The main HQ will be in Finland (rally cars) & 2nd in Tallinn (recce & service cars). All the rally cars will carry Estonian reg. plates. Not know why, but it must be much cheaper and easier in Estonia...

[EstWRC]

Ah ok thanks! Yeah it's cheaper here.

[bluuford]

The main HQ will be in Finland (rally cars) & 2nd in Tallinn (recce & service cars). All the rally cars will carry Estonian reg. plates. Not know why, but it must be much cheaper and easier in Estonia...

Yes, they get red SP numbers. They pay a bit over 200 eur to Estonian Autosport Union, some for registering and registry plate and they do not need to carry out regular technical checks as it will be done before each rally anyway. And there is no car tax in Estonia.
Registration cost in Finland is related to the power of the car , CO2 emisson, age etc. (KWh), so, you may assume that registration 2017 WRC costs a lot + there is also annual car tax if i am not msitaken that is based on similar things (Age, CO2, power, etc). You need one more employee to calculate all those taxes :P

[br21]

I think it's more related to how easy it is to register the cars in Estonia than to the cost (in such big project such cost is not that important). We have some of our cars registered in Eesti also and it's much, much easier to do it.

[pantealex]

I think it's more related to how easy it is to register the cars in Estonia than to the cost (in such big project such cost is not that important). We have some of our cars registered in Eesti also and it's much, much easier to do it.

Exactly, in Finland impossible register without airbags etc.

[pantealex]

They will be testing in Estonia or what is this about ?https://twitter.com/rallyparadise/st...48159407837184

Pantealex you know more ?

Yes, I do:

There was two pages story about Tommi/Toyota in todays Keskisuomalainen (local newspaper in Jyväskylä)
short summary:
Lot of work to do but they have enough time
So far 3000km testing, aim is 25000km
#3 is tarmac one (ready? they don´t tell)
#2 car next to Portugal and Italy, driver Hänninen
#1 car will head to Eastern-Europa next (probably means east part of western-europa)
Some "new" team members:
Tom Fowler (from nuclearcompany like RallyPer)
Simon Carrier (Ford)
Kevin Postecin (KTM)
Michael Zotos (RX USA)
70 people working now, will be little over 100
9 WRC cars will be made
only free WRC driver is Östberg, and is willing to swap, all other have contracts (Neuville does not want leave Hyundai)
Hänninen is strong candidate to be 1 out of 3 drivers
other names that Tommi is interested: Lappi, Suninen and Tidemand. (2018 maybe some of current top drivers is willing to join them)

And that Estonia case:
Gazoo Juniors Takamoto Katsuta and Hiroki Arai will use Fiesta R5 evo´s from MM-Motorsport (Markko Märtin), and team is located in Tallinn, so it´s almost 100% sure that Toyota´s second place is that.
5 rallies announced so far, 3 in Finnish championship (rallies in Sastamala-Huittinen, Turku and Tampere area), ERC Estonia and WRC2 Finland.

[Simmi]

Very interesting. Ostberg, Lappi, Hanninen is an okay lineup for 2017. Improve reliability, flash some speed and try to lure Latvala for 2018.

[EstWRC]

Thanks a lot for the info! Only free driver Ostberg? Interesting, Tänak, Sordo, Neuville are all free after this year. What i read out from this is that Tänak is going back to m-sport next year and Neuville and Sordo will stay with Hyundai.

As far as i know that Toyota wants that one driver is japanese. One driver is Hanninen, so basically just 1 seat left then.

[N.O.T]

As far as i know that Toyota wants that one driver is japanese.

be serious...