The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team heads to the Rally de España for the penultimate round of the 2022 season on 21-23 October with the goal of securing the manufacturers’ championship to add to the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles won by Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen earlier this month in New Zealand.

Dolgellau’s Elfyn Evans is looking for another strong showing on asphalt to help his team.

He said: “Spain is a really enjoyable rally now that it’s fully on asphalt again since last year.

“The stages will be by-far the raciest asphalt roads we’ve encountered with this car.

“We were strong on the last asphalt event in Belgium but Spain could hardly be more different in character.

“Arguably Monte Carlo is actually the most similar, but the temperatures and conditions will obviously be completely different in Spain. It’s a rally where the margins tend to be quite tight so we can expect it to be a hard-fought weekend.

“The manufacturers’ championship is an important target for the team and the easiest way to achieve it will be with good results.

“Hopefully we will manage to score a top one for the team.”

The team has a lead of 81 points in the manufacturers’ standings with a maximum of 52 available from each of the final two rounds.

It means a score of 23 points in Spain – equivalent to having one car finishing on the podium and another inside the top six – would be enough to clinch the title ahead of the season-closing round in Japan.

Rovanperä will be joined in the team’s line-up in Spain as usual by Evans, who finished second on the asphalt event one year ago, as well as Sébastien Ogier, a three-time previous winner of the rally.

Takamoto Katsuta makes his fifth Spanish start – his third at rallying’s top level – in his TGR WRT Next Generation entry.

The Rally de España is based in Salou on the Costa Daurada around an hour south of Barcelona.

After 10 editions as a mixed-surface event, the rally last year returned to being run solely on the smooth and flowing asphalt roads of the Catalunya region for which the event is best-known.

Much of the itinerary is similar to last year, but the rally begins with two new stages directly to the north of Salou.

Two more familiar stages conclude a loop of four tests to be repeated in the afternoon after service. Saturday is almost identical to previous years, with a trio of tests to the north-east to be run twice followed by a stage on the Salou seafront to round out the day.

The Pratdip and Riudecanyes stages are run twice to form the final day and the second pass of the latter test – known for its crowd-pleasing roundabouts – will host the rally-ending Power Stage.