Toyota arrived in Spain with only one objective: to mop up the all-important 2022 World Rally Championship manufacturers’ title. It did so after an intriguing head-to-head between the newly crowned drivers’ champion Kalle Rovanpera and eight-time title winner Sebastien Ogier. Everybody else was making up the numbers.
Rally Spain is undoubtedly a crowd pleaser, with Spanish fans being the most populous and passionate on the calendar. The service park also bustled with team members’ friends and family seeking out some sunshine around the coastal town of Salou.
Yet out on the stages, Catalunya seldom serves up a fizzer of an event for its huge crowds to savour.
Without the euphoria of Carlos Sainz’s win in 1992, the drama of Colin McRae’s inability to follow team orders in 1995, Philippe Bugalski’s shock
