Sebastien Ogier will finally do his test debut with the Toyota Rally1 car for Rallye Monte Carlo this weekend with Tom Fowler being excited for this test and Jari-Matti Latvala reflecting on his driver's program for next season.
The French driver is in Alsace and he will spend two days behind the wheel of Yaris while it will be his first time inside this new car.
Toyota was forced to postpone Ogier's test with the Yaris last month due to Elfyn Evans's crash during his testing as the team did not have spare parts to repair the car and to continue its test in France.
"It really is a bit like that", the technical director of Toyota, Tom Fowler, said.
"We’ve had mixed, but generally positive feedback from Elfyn and Kalle already, but now we want to see what Séb thinks.
"How do I feel?
"I think it would be a combination of excitement and nerves.
"It’ll be great to get him in the car and driving.
"When you bring a new car like this, you’re always on tenterhooks until they come through that first proper run.
"Obviously Sébastien is the driver with the most experience in the team and his voice is really important".
Finally, the team principal of Toyota, Jari-Matti Latvala, referred to Ogier's program for 2022: "We have been discussing this, but he couldn’t give a completely clear answer.
"I am assuming he would want to do some rallies where he could benefit from the road position.
"In my opinion, Sardinia and New Zealand could be interesting for him.
"Nobody has been to New Zealand for a long time, so that would be interesting, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to do the Estonia or Finland rallies.
"This is only my opinion after talking to him quite briefly.
"He wants a break and then think more about these things.
"Rally Japan will be really important for us.
"I think, for sure, Toyota would be very keen to see him in Japan.
"Let’s see what he does with World Endurance Championship and see how that fits to the WRC calendar.
"If he wants a break, Monte, then Croatia, Sardinia, New Zealand in September and Japan in November gives quite a nice break between".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Julien Pixelrallye
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