The second full day of action would see the crews tackle 122km’s over seven stages. Kalle and Jonne would open the road throughout the day due to their time loss in stages three and four after their incident which left the Yaris damaged.
Into the action then with SS8 Obara 1 – 16.44 km first up and it was a great start from Adrien who was fastest from Elfyn and Sami. The Welshman passed Takamoto in this one after the Japanese driver was only fifth fastest. The was drama for Thierry who sadly had a problem with his transmission crawled through the stage and then headed back to service. Without a lunchtime service there was no point in risking the car any further. The good news for Elfyn was that he’d closed the gap to Seb to just 8.9 seconds.
Onto SS9 Ena 1 – 21.25 km Adrien was once again fastest from Elfyn and Takamoto. Meanwhile Seb was again not quite on the pace only setting the fifth best time and was now just 7.4 seconds ahead of his teammate.
Next up was SS10 Mt. Kasagi 1 – 21.74 km and Elfyn was fastest in this one from Takamoto and Adrien. It was a great stage from the Welshman who reduced Seb’s lead to just two seconds. This was not over by any means for Elfyn to take victory and extend his championship lead. Meanwhile his teammate Kalle was making his way up the leaderboard and was now into the top ten.
After the tyre fitting zone came SS11 Mt. Kasagi 2 – 21.74 km and once again Elfyn set the pace from Seb and Adrien. There was drama for Takamoto sadly who made a mistake and collided with some barriers in part of the stage. This impact caused damage to the front of his car and crucially caused damage to the power steering system meaning it failed in the stage. He struggled with the failure losing almost four and a half minutes and falling to seventh position. This meant that Adrien was now into third overall.
Into SS12 Ena 2 – 21.25 km then and Seb hit back on this one with his first fastest time of the day going three tenths faster than Elfyn whilst Adrien was third. Meanwhile Greg was having a better day with the Puma working better than it did on Friday’s stages.
Onto the last proper stage then of Saturday, SS13 Obara 2 – 16.44 km and Seb was fastest again from Adrien and Elfyn and saw his lead grow again over the Welshman to 4.9 seconds. Further back Kalle gained another position, passing Oliver for seventh overall.
All that remained was SS14 Toyota City SSS – 3.05 km and Seb was fastest from Elfyn and Adrien. The Frenchman saw his lead grow to six and a half seconds.
Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.
Classification after Day Two
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Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sébastien Ogier
“I feel that I’ve done a good job this afternoon, but I could have done better this morning – I think that’s the summary of the day. In the end we cannot be unsatisfied with what we’ve done. Elfyn was driving very well with strong pace. In the morning we lost a bit too much ground, especially in the last stage of the loop, but after that we had a good response. The gaps were still incredibly small, but going into the last day in the lead can only be positive. The conditions will probably be extra challenging for everybody, and we will have to be on it straight away.”
Elfyn Evans
“Overall, it’s been a good day. This morning things were going well and working much better than yesterday. I was maybe driving more smoothly also, and we were able to close the gap to Seb. We still had good runs through the first two stages this afternoon, but then probably gave away more than I would have liked in the last two. It’s still pretty close though and all to play for going into tomorrow. It sounds as though the weather could be very difficult, so anything can happen and we’re definitely going to keep fighting.”
Sami Pajari
“I think it has been another solid day. We again had quite consistent stage times and some good sections on most of the stages. At the same time, there are some places where I feel I should be able to improve, but that’s normal. Overall, I think I can be quite satisfied with the pace we have been doing. There’s still one day to go and I guess it will be tricky with the rain that is likely coming; let’s see together with the team how we approach it.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“It’s good that we are at least now back into the top 10 and scoring some points, so it’s been quite an OK day in that sense. Tomorrow we have the extra Sunday and Power Stage points available, and the rain looks to be coming which can make things more tricky. Not many drivers have experience with this year’s wet tyres in such conditions, so it will be something new. There’s a lot at stake in the championship so it will be an interesting day, and also my last day on asphalt with a rally car for now, so I’ll try to enjoy it.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“This morning we were closing the gap to the lead, even though it didn’t feel so fast in the car. Then in the first stage of the afternoon, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I couldn’t get the car slowed enough for the narrow entrance to this arena section. I hit the barrier, and it damaged the cooling and power steering systems. We tried what we could to fix the car; Aaron did an amazing job together with the information the team was giving us. We were able to finish the day but lost too much time. Right now, I just feel so sorry for the team and especially the fans who are supporting me.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Adrien Fourmaux
“I was really satisfied with my pace today; it was one of my best days of the season so far. I felt very comfortable pushing on every stage, and with two stage wins and getting close on the others it’s been really positive. I continued to push with the setup we had, and it’s been working well. Tomorrow will be a difficult day, so I will keep my head down and focus on pushing in the wet.”
Ott Tänak
“We are nowhere on this rally. There’s still one day to go, and that’s the best we can do. We’re almost three minutes behind, so it’s going to be hard to find any opportunity when the rain comes.”
Thierry Neuville
“The failure happened on the road section before the start of the stage, similar to Shakedown, so we will have to investigate. It was very disappointing, because we wanted to use today to get more mileage and try different things, and unfortunately it wasn’t to be. Tomorrow will be a different day with the rain, but we don’t want to risk our chances of Super Sunday points in those conditions.”
Oliver Solberg
“Another great day today,” said Oliver. “I’m not so sure there’s much more to say… The fans have been amazing again and the car has been even better!
“Elliott and me have been really working hard to focus on taking as much experience as possible from this event and these roads – we have to be ready for next year. These roads are really technical, so twisty and so much to understand with the way the grip works and evolves. We’ve taken a lot of data and experience for the tyre.
“And tomorrow, we hear there’s a lot of rain coming, this will give us some very different conditions and the chance to learn more.”
Sunday
The final day will see the crews tackle 72km’s over seven stages. Rain is due to fall throughout the day bringing an extra dimension to the challenge for the crews. Can Elfyn use this to his advantage to take victory, or will we see Seb win this rally? What can Kalle do to keep him in the fight for the title as he begins his last day of rallying on tarmac?
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