MAKINEN: CAR TEST ON TRACK COLIN CLARK

BRC PRESENTER “Mid Wales Stages lived up to the hype”

Tommi Makinen has scotched rumours that Toyota’s World Rally Championship development programme has fallen behind – the Yaris WRC will be testing early in April.

The car was scheduled to be running on March 17, but that date has been put back after transmission parts couldn’t be supplied in time. These parts aside, Makinen told MN the car is sitting in his workshop in Finland ready to run.

The four-time world champion said: “The original plan for the test was in April. Then there was a chance it could be March and we tried for this, but it wasn’t possible so we go back to the original plan. We are not late, everything is still on track just as it should be.

“This is just a very small thing. Everything is ready. The engine is in the car and now we are just waiting for some small components. Really, I’m telling you, this is not a drama at all.”

The initial roll out and shakedown testing will take place in central Finland before moving further afield.

“By early May we should be testing in the south of Europe and in central Europe,” added Makinen. “And then we are going to be doing a lot of kilometres.”

The intention is to run two separate test teams simultaneously to build up data on the car in a wide variety of conditions.

The Yaris WRC is scheduled to make its debut in the World Rally Championship at January’s Monte Carlo Rally – but homologation and production deadlines mean the car’s final specification will have to be set and signed-off by the end of the summer.

Makinen has already made it clear that missing Monte Carlo is not an option for the Japanese car giant on its WRC return after 17 years away from rallying’s top flight.

The pressure is on at the Toyota Gazoo base in Puuppola, with significant overtime being done to get the test cars built in time. A largely Finnish workforce has been supplemented by Brits, including some technicians from M-sport.