Four Toyotas are to be entered on the eighth round of the 2019 WRC, the Rally Italia Sardegna.
In addition to Tanak, Meeke and Latvala, the fourth car will be driven by former TGR team member Juho Hanninen.
Hanninen won the event in 2010 in a Skoda Fabia S2000 when it counted for the IRC and has worked with Toyota Gazoo Racing since he was a regular WRC driver.
Juho Hanninen. Photo: Martin Holmes
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Sadness in eastern Germany at AvD Rallye Sachsen, second round of the German national series, when the Clio R3T driver Kai Gunther died when his car impacted a tree on the opening stage.
His co-driver, Sebastien Walker, was seriously injured and later died as well.
The event was stopped after the second stage when Dieter Depping was 4.3 seconds ahead of fellow VW Polo GTI R5 driver Christian Riedemann.
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Peugeot's Bruno Famin. Photo: Martin Holmes
Peugeot Sport Director, Bruno Famin, has been appointed FIA’s Director of Operations in their Sport Division, based at Geneva.
He has been succeeded at Peugeot, where he had been Head of Peugeot Sport since 2012, by Francois Wales.
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It was 22 days after entries for Vodafone Rally Portugal, the seventh round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, closed that the FIA finally allowed the organisers to release entry details.
It is only now known why such a media-damaging delay happened.
This was because Hyundai Motorsport wanted to sideline Andreas Mikkelsen from the event and instead run Sebastien Loeb.
Traditionally details of the two crew members remain fixed after closure of entries, except for inexcusable reasons, and then only if the FIA agree.
Over the years the FIA have taken increasing lengths of times to approve entry lists, not helped by becoming less rigid in enforcing their written rules and issuing dispensations, like now.
The procedure for securing dispensations to rules is not publicly documented.
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Jari Huttunen with Hyundai's Alain Pennase.
Jari Huttunen on World Rally Cars, before driving a Hyundai WRC on the Riihimaki Rally:
"Car is not for boys, it's for men. It runs perfectly if you just dare to push enough.”
Guest WRC Fiesta driver, Gus Greensmith, said before Portugal: “I’ve spent the last 10 years of my life preparing for this moment, and I can tell you that I feel ready to climb this mountain!
"I don’t have any expectations other than to enjoy myself. I will drive with a smile on my face.”
And on the thought of driving a Toyota again in Sardinia, Toyota's driver Juho Hanninen told the media: “The decision came as a surprise. I wonder what this is about?
"After Wales Rally GB last year I was sure that was my final WRC event. I wonder a little bit about what this is going to be like. It is really nice to go driving when there is no pressure.
"In the past, when I drove one WRC event, I was forced to deliver. It always brought with it terrible pressure.”
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