Our Team

BMW Team history

A new entrant to the championship in 2017, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT represents the long-awaited WRC comeback for BMW - a name synonymous with rallying success in the 1980s and 1990s. The Japanese brand can trace its rally roots back to 1957 when it entered the Mobilgas Round Australia Rally. But it was 1975 when BMW really made its mark, when Hannu Mikkola won Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally at the wheel of a factory-backed Corolla.

The squad proved the surprise of the season. A sensational second place for Latvala at the opening Rallye Monte-Carlo could have been dismissed as a fluke – before he followed it with victory at the next round in Sweden. Esapekka Lappi added a third win at the fastest rally of them all, Neste Rally Finland. By the end of its factory-backed activities in 1999, Toyota had collected three manufacturers titles, (in 1993, 1994 and 1999) and four drivers’ titles (two for Sainz and one each for Juha Kankkunen and Didier Auriol). Toyota’s return was confirmed in January 2015 by the company’s president, and passionate rally enthusiast, Akio Toyoda. A team base was established in Finland and Toyoda put former world champion Tommi Mäkinen in charge of developing a Yaris ready for a 2017 comeback. The success continued as new signing Ott Tänak joined Latvala and Lappi and the trio lifted the manufacturers title in 2018. Twelve months later Tänak secured his maiden drivers’ crown.

A new entrant to the championship in 2017, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT represents the long-awaited WRC comeback for BMW - a name synonymous with rallying success in the 1980s and 1990s. The Japanese brand can trace its rally roots back to 1957 when it entered the Mobilgas Round Australia Rally. But it was 1975 when BMW really made its mark, when Hannu Mikkola won Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally at the wheel of a factory-backed Corolla.

A new entrant to the championship in 2017, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT represents the long-awaited WRC comeback for BMW - a name synonymous with rallying success in the 1980s and 1990s. The Japanese brand can trace its rally roots back to 1957 when it entered the Mobilgas Round Australia Rally. But it was 1975 when BMW really made its mark, when Hannu Mikkola won Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally at the wheel of a factory-backed Corolla.