Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Jari-Matti Latvala will make his American rallying debut at next month’s Olympus Rally, presented by DirtFish.
The Finn will contest the April 17-19 event in a sister GR Corolla Rally RC2 to that of Toyota’s already confirmed ARA National Championship driver Seth Quintero.
Latvala said: “This will be my first time ever competing on American soil – I’m really excited to see the stages and the atmosphere at the Olympus Rally.”
While Latvala hasn’t competed in America, he has, of course, competed in the Americas with 26 World Rally Championship starts between Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The 18-time world rally winner was an integral part of the test and development of the GR Corolla Rally RC2 through last season.
Quintero gave the Corolla its debut at Missouri’s Rally in the 100 Acre Wood earlier this month, but missed out on a finish after the car’s air intake was broken after hitting a seventh-stage watersplash.
Latvala gets back behind the wheel of the GR Corolla he helped develop last year
While Latvala brings pace and experience to the Shelton-based Olympus Rally, the team is quick to point out that this is only the Corolla’s second ever outing and running a second car is another part of the development process.
Toyota’s technical director Tom Fowler explained the thinking after 100 Acre Wood, saying: “It’s important to note this isn’t a car where we’re going into America in a ‘yee-haa’ fashion looking to show everyone what we can do. This is about developing a car for customers in a cost-effective fashion.
“It’s maybe a hard learning point to go out of the first rally in this way, but right now this is about the process of further developing the car more than it is about the result.”
The 2026 Olympus Rally, presented by DirtFish is set to break records as America’s most popular event. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1986 event – a rally which brought the Group B category to a close – with an expanded 200-mile competitive route, ensured entries were sold out in days.
