WRC 2024 result after Round 8: Rally Latvia

Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team continued its 2024 FIA World Rally Championship campaign with a second successive one-two finish in a remarkable – and enthusiastically supported – debut for Rally Latvia. How did this storming WRC 2024 result for Toyota drivers Kalle Rovanperä and Sébastien Ogier affect the overall championship? Read on to find out.

WRC 2024 result: Rally Latvia

This year marked Latvia’s debut in the WRC, having replaced neighbouring Estonia in the 2024 schedule. With the notable exception of reigning world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who’s a two-time winner of the Latvian national championship, most of the drivers had not competed there previously. So the three days of reconnaissance were invaluable in creating pace notes for the stages ahead.

The action began with a shakedown stage in the southern coastal city of Liepāja, after which the crews travelled east for the official starting ceremony in the capital Riga. The opening super special stage was unusually long at almost seven miles and consisted of two laps of an asphalt circuit and a gravel rallycross track. This led to differences in tyre choices across the teams but Rovanperä proved fastest by 2.4 seconds, while the three other Toyota crews in this event’s four-strong driver line-up all finished within the top six.

Day two followed the opening night in being usually long – in this instance seven stages and 75 miles in distance – and with no service opportunities between the morning and afternoon loops. Rovanperä (above) extended his early lead by winning the morning’s first stage, though competition remained tight and his advantage stood at a relatively slender 3.2 seconds after the initial loop of three tests. He went on to win three of the afternoon’s four stages (stage five was won by teammate Sébastien Ogier, who was the highest-placed driver new to Latvian roads) to increase that advantage to 15.7 seconds.

Day three saw Rovanperä more than double his advantage over local favourite Mārtiņš Sesks (M-Sport Ford) to 34.8 seconds with three stage wins out of four in the longer first loop – despite carrying an additional second spare tyre compared to his rivals. For those who are counting, the second of those wins represented Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen’s 200th in the WRC as well as the pair’s 50th start in the sport’s top tier. And they weren’t about to rest on their laurels, because after another three stage wins in the afternoon loop the duo extended their lead to 42.5 seconds by the end of the day.

Ogier took second place from Sesks in the third test and maintained that position through to the end of the day, which set the bar for taking maximum manufacturers’ championship points the following day.

Day four saw Rovanperä and Ogier and their respective co-drivers maintain that one-two result – an especially impressive result for Ogier (above) as it was his first fast European gravel rally for almost three years. And with the rally-ending Power Stage results also factored in, Toyota now closes to within just one point of the lead among the manufacturers.

Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin (above) finished fifth overall on an event where road position was a significant factor on the loose gravel stages. Running second on the road on Friday, Evans did well relative to his championship rivals and, finishing fourth in the Super Sunday classification, has closed to within 13 points of the series leader. Meanwhile, Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston showed confidence and pace from the start of the rally, holding fourth position at the end of Friday before a small overshoot on Saturday caused damage to the power steering system, leaving them sixth at the finish.

WRC 2024 result in Round 8: Rally Latvia

WRC 2024 championship standings: drivers and co-drivers

Where is the WRC heading next?

Round nine sees the WRC juggernaut cross to the other side of the Baltic and head north for Rally Finland. Revered as the fastest rally on the calendar, this event takes place on 1-4 August and represents the third of three consecutive rounds to be conducted on gravel roads. It’s also a home rally for TGR-WRT, which has its headquarters close to the service park in Jyväskylä.