Marshall, Meeke to headline Toyota Gazoo in WRC next season
SEB MARSHALL, formerly with Hyundai Motorsport, will partner with Kris Meeke at Toyota Gazoo for next season’s World Rally Championship ( WRC).
Meeke announced an amicable split with long- term co- driver Paul Nagle when his Toyota deal was revealed in October. Marshall immediately became favorite to replace Nagle.
Marshall’s move is the second major co-driver switch of the close season. Marko Salminen will replace Mikko Markkula alongside M-Sport Ford’s Teemu Suninen after working with Takamoto Katsuta in WRC 2 for the past two seasons.
The 30-year-old Marshall made almost 50 WRC starts, most recently with Hayden Paddon at Hyundai Motorsport. Next season
Meeke said he owed “a great debt of
WRC wins at Citroën Racing, and looked forward to the fresh challenge in a Yaris World Rally Car by Toyota Gazoo.
“The priority is to build up that relationship between us in the car, of course, and that’ll start in competition terms in Monte Carlo. But we’ll have a fair bit of testing beneath us by the time we get to that point, and that will help,” he said.
The pair will begin testing late next week for the season- opening Rallye and Marshall is eager to start.
“I’ll be stepping into a seat with some
by the prospect of working with Kris and the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team,” he said.
Marshall and Paddon ended their alliance with second place at Kennards Hire Rally Australia.
“My time with him has undoubtedly been my most successful in the sport. It’s tough to call time on a partnership as strong as ours and it’s a decision I deliberated over at length. However, an opportunity arose which I felt I couldn’t ignore,” he added.
Uncertainty over Paddon’s Hyundai future is sure to have played a part in Marshall’s move. The Kiwi hopes to renew a part-time program with the Korean manufacturer but no news has been forthcoming from the Alzenau-based squad.