Toyota’s domination of the early part of the 2025 World Rally Championship season means little as the series heads west for this week’s Rally Portugal, says technical director Tom Fowler.
The GR Yaris Rally1 has set the pace across the first four rallies of the year, scoring maximum manufacturer points on three of those events, but Fowler insists his squad’s feet are firmly on the floor as they prepare for the gravel roads around Matosinhos.
Fowler told DirtFish: “Immediately after we won in Canarias last month, I was writing my briefing document for the company and I realized something: Portugal is the fifth very different rally of the season so far.
“It’s the fifth different surface and the fifth different tire-car-setup combination.
“Everything that happened before is now completely irrelevant. However good the result was in Canarias, it can be the reverse in Portugal. For sure, there’s no sitting up on a high horse and thinking how legendary we’ve been. What we’ve done so far this year won’t make any difference when we come to Portugal or Sardinia or Greece.”
While the cars have run on gravel this season, Fowler said the Safari-spec GR Yaris Rally1 bears little resemblance to any other setup for this year.
“The road surface is totally different [in Kenya],” added Fowler. “The ride height of the car and the geometry of the car, it’s really far away. Essentially we are starting again in Portugal.”
New setup or not, Toyota’s record on mainland Europe’s westernmost round is impressive, with victory on the last five editions of Rally Portugal.
