Toyota’s policy on team orders – or a lack of them – is a much discussed subject in the World Rally Championship.
The Japanese giant, eight-time WRC manufacturers’ champion and nine-time winner of the drivers’ title, is famously reluctant to prioritize any of its drivers or issue them with team orders – certainly in its current guise.
In recent years, that has been in stark to contrast to the rival Hyundai squad, which has never been afraid to make calls that it believes will help the interests of the team overall.
Toyota’s bulging trophy cabinet speaks for itself, but the potential problems of its policy have often been raised. It was highlighted this year when by running two multiple world champions in part-time roles, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä usually benefited from better road conditions than full-time drivers Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta – making them more likely to take points from their championship-chasing team-mates.
That dynamic will change again next year, with Rovanperä back on a full-time basis alongside three other permanent entries, and only Ogier in a part-time role. With Hyundai also set to run at least three full-time drivers following its capture of Adrien Fourmaux, there may be more reason than ever for each team to back one (or two) of its horses and require the others to fall into supporting roles.
And while Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala fully bought in to the manufacturer’s noble philosophy of equal treatment for all, he will share his role next year with Juha Kankkunen. Could the four-time world champion take a more pragmatic approach?
Kankkunen has plenty of experience of team orders – both assisting him and holding him back – from his ultra-successful driving career. During his spells at Lancia, Kankkunen’s team boss was the formidable Cesare Fiorio; famous for his tactical acumen and ruthless decision making.
Indeed, on his debut for the team in 1987, Kankkunen was forced to cede victory on the Monte Carlo Rally to team-mate Miki Biasion – despite being the reigning world champion. On other occasions, it was Kankkunen who benefited from the intervention of team managers.
Kankkunen had to bow to team orders on his very first event with Lancia, and as the reigning world champion
So does the 65-year-old think team orders should be used more at Toyota?
“No,” is Kankkunen’s initial response before he qualifies it. “That’s… OK, it depends what kind of situation or whatever happens and what time comes and things.”
He does, however, suggest that there is less need for teams to pull such moves in the WRC’s modern era of more reliable cars, shorter rallies and less emphasis on endurance.
He continued: “But the team orders at the time [I was driving], in the early days, they were more, let’s say, important somehow to help somebody… because there were so many teams, so many more cars.
“It’s quite straightforward nowadays and everybody is going basically flat out from the start to the end so there is not really… everybody is trying the best that they can do.”
Maybe Kankkunen doesn’t expect to need team orders, especially early in the season. But you get the impression that should the situation present itself later in the year, he might not be as reluctant to make the big calls as has traditionally been the case at Toyota.
Additional reporting by David Evans.
