Through his test and development role, Ott Tänak has completed significantly more mileage in Toyota’s new Rally1 car than any of his 2027 World Rally Championship team-mates.
Does that automatically make him the favorite for next year’s title?
Tänak will be one of (at least) three drivers to pilot a GR Yaris Rally1 for Gazoo Racing Toyota in 2027, alongside Takamoto Katsuta and Kalle Rovanperä who’ll complete a partial campaign. Sébastien Ogier and other youngsters are expected to tackle the events Rovanperä misses.
Toyota, however, has elected to run two cars and two teams next year, with world champion Elfyn Evans, Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari driving a GR Celica Rally1 (identical to the Yaris underneath) for Toyota Racing.
All of Toyota’s drivers are rally winners and three of them are world champions, but Tänak’s testing advantage is countered by the other full-time drivers competing for all of this season.
The only competitive outing Tänak had was Overmountain Rally Tennessee in America. But many see Tänak’s greater knowledge of the car as a decisive factor that makes him pre-season title favorite.
“Yeah, but I haven’t done any competition this year, so definitely, yeah, it takes a bit of effort to get back in the rhythm,” Tänak told DirtFish.
“But other than that, I mean, it’s been a lot of work. We can say one year is quite a long time, but to develop a car from a blank page like this, you know, it’s never an easy job.
“And I’m sure when we start Monte, you know, we will immediately face some conditions the car has never been. So there is still quite a lot to discover during the season.”
Tänak admitted his sabbatical from the WRC in 2026 has left him re-energized, however.
“Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward, motivated, that’s why we are here. The energy is there, the desire to compete, probably, yeah.
Tänak has done more testing than any of the other Toyota drivers
“This on-stage competition was something I missed the most and also probably something I’m looking forward to the most.”
The expert view
DirtFish’s David Evans and Colin Clark discussed Tänak’s return, and title favorite status, on a recent episode of SPIN, The Rally Pod – available to listen to on all major podcast platforms, or ad-free via Club DirtFish on Patreon.
Clark praised Tänak for his “wonderfully strategic move” to return to Toyota, seven years after he left.
“He understood exactly what the situation was at Hyundai,” Clark said. “He understood what his ambitions were in terms of rallying. He understood that perhaps he could have another eight or nine years at the very top level in rallying.
“He also understood that he had the opportunity to actually take a year out, spend some time with the family, develop new relationships or re-reconnect old relationships, and put himself in a far better position to be world champion again.
“Tänak’s absolutely played a blinder, and I can’t wait to see him back.”
Evans doesn’t believe Tänak could have envisaged the Toyota move back when he confirmed his decision to sit out 2026, but agreed he’s placed himself perfectly for a second world title.
“I would say that when he made his decision and walked away that night in Japan, I think you’re right,” he said. “He fully intended to come back. Who he was going to be coming back with, I think was less sure.
“I think he was reasonably surprised to get the call from Toyota. And when he did it, just everything fitted because nobody in the Toyota team really wanted to do that development work.
“I think the drivers saw that Tänak was there and thought, ‘Right, well, why not talk to him?’ This now could firmly come back and bite them on the backside because he’s spent so long in the car – and if you talk to anybody about it, this is the really interesting debate.
“Do you want recent experience of rallies, as in all of this year? Or do you want massive experience of that car and of that car on every surface apart from snow? Tänak knows the car inside out. The others are very, very, very much playing catch up.
“So I would say that Tänak has to be the favorite because he’s got so much experience of WRC. OK, he took a year out, but what does that really matter?
“There weren’t any new events in 2026 next season – everybody’s going to Scotland for the first time, everybody’s going to the US for the first time and everybody’s going to Rome for the first time, but Tänak did two of those events this year anyway.
“So how is he anything other than favorite?”
