Toyota chairman congratulates team success at Acropolis Rally Greece
29th June 2026Toyota’s chairman, Akio Toyoda, has praised the team on a successful weekend at the World Rally Championship’s Acropolis Rally Greece, with an update on his own health.
Feature image credit: Toyota GR
The WRC’s eighth round of the season, Acropolis Rally Greece, saw Toyota maintain its position on the top step of the podium as Sebastien Ogier secured his second victory of the season, prevailing over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Toyota’s nine-time world champion found himself in a fight for the victory across the event, battling it out with Hyundai’s world champion, Neuville. However, this fight came crashing to an end on Sunday morning after the Belgian suffered punctures.
In turn, it dropped him to 54 seconds behind Ogier, who went on to extend that lead to 58 seconds by the end of the rally.
Ogier finished the rally with maximum points, promoting him to third in the championship, 33 points behind the standings leader, Elfyn Evans. Neuville and Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.
On the team’s win, Toyoda said:
“Seb and Vincent — thank you for securing a great comeback win on the final day! Winning Super Sunday, winning the Power Stage, taking the maximum points, and climbing to third in the championship standings… that’s the Seb and Vincent we all know.
“Takamoto, congratulations on another podium in third place. This season, we have seen you on the podium in half of the rallies so far. I am looking forward to seeing more of you in the second half of the season.
“One of my favourite memories from Rally Japan was Seb coming over to talk with me. Looking at this result, I’d be very happy if our conversation in that moment played even a small part in helping him achieve it. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do in the second half of the season. Keep pushing!”
It wasn’t just the drivers that the chairman wanted to congratulate. His message also included praise to the teams deputy and official team principals, Juha Kankkunen and Jari-Matti Latvala.
At the same time, the chairman gave an update on his own health, confirming he is ‘on the road to recovery,’ helped by the teams success.
“At Rally Japan I also had the opportunity to have many conversations with Juha and Jari-Matti as well,” Toyoda continued. “Those conversations meant a great deal to me. I would once again like to thank those two for helping create such a wonderful team. I hope we will have another chance to sit down and talk somewhere during the second half of the season.
“Actually, I underwent surgery to repair my own “failure” recently, and I’m still on the road to recovery. The team’s awesome performances like this are the best medicine I could ask for. Thank you very much, everyone on the team!”
Read more WRC here:
- Sebastien Ogier wins Acropolis Rally Greece as Neuville suffers puncture
- Neuville remains leader of Acropolis Rally Greece as the fight tightens
- Neuville takes overnight lead of Rally Greece as other punished
- Ogier takes overnight lead after sole Rally Greece stage
- Thierry Neuville tops shakedown ahead of Rally Greece
- Thierry Neuville tops first pass of shakedown at Rally Greece
- Solberg looking to put asphalt troubles ‘behind me’ ahead of Rally Greece
- Acropolis Rally Greece: the latest WRC weather forecast
- Ogier looking forward to Rally Greece challenge with new base
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
