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Rallying-Former champion Makinen to lead Toyota team

July 7 (Reuters) - Retired four times world champion Tommi Makinen will be Toyota's team principal when the Japanese manufacturer returns to the world rally championship in 2017, Toyota said on Tuesday. The 51-year-old Finn won his four successive titles with Mitsubishi between 1996 and 1999. Toyota said in a statement that Toyota president Akio Toyoda, a keen amateur racer who has had instruction from Makinen in the past, will be chairman of the team returning after an 18 year absence. Toyota, who won four drivers' and three manufacturers' world titles in the 1990s before leaving the series as champions in 1999, are returning with a Yaris WRC car prepared in Germany. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Patrick Johnston)