Tommi Mäkinen tore into Petter Solberg’s speech.
Tommi Mäkinen couldn’t help but laugh. Vesa Pöppönen / AOP
Tommi Mäkinen quickly put the Toyota WRC team on the road to success in the World Rally Championship.
Mäkinen got Toyota’s WRC project to take to Puuppola in 2015. The team debuted in the World Series in the 2017 season and immediately in the second round of the season in Sweden Jari-Matti Latvala drove a Toyota Yaris WRC to first place.
Mäkinen served as Toyota team manager until the end of 2020. During Mäkinen’s driving responsibility, the Japanese manufacturer achieved two drivers’ world championships and one manufacturer’s World Championship title.
Mäkinen’s former racing partner and team mate Petter Solberg recently told the Swedish newspaper Värmlands Folkbladet that he was close to getting Toyota’s rally operations to withdraw, but in the end the choice fell on Mäkise.
– I had gone to meet the Toyota people in Germany, but Tommi got a deal. I was a little too early in the matter, Solberg said.
Makinen tore
Mäkinen didn’t like it when he heard about Solberg’s statement.
– Heh heh heh! It has probably never even discussed that issue, Mäkinen joked to Iltalehti.
The Finnish champion knows Solberg well, with whom he drove Subaru in 2002-2003 as his teammate.
– Now Petter talks a little about himself. The project was supposed to be carried out in Germany, but Toyota’s CEO (Akio Toyoda) wanted me to lead the project. At some point they said to do it here in Finland, Mäkinen said.
– It was a bit like the head of Germany didn’t want to take me there. That’s why Japan decided to do it here.
Toyota claimed the WRC rally operations from Mäkisi after the 2020 season. After that, Mäkinen officially became an advisor to Toyota’s motorsport department, but the jobs have been few and far between.
This year, Mäkinen visited the World Cup rallies in Belgium and Japan.
– Corona also came and made everyone stuck. Japan has started to open up now, but let’s monitor the situation now. Yes, we have talked, but everyone has been in a bit of a hurry, and we have not yet agreed on what we will do next year and beyond, Mäkinen stated.