Elfyn Evans extended his lead in the World Rally Championship standings with victory at the Forum8 Rally Japan.
In an event dominated by Toyota in their homeland, the Welshman took the lead on stage two and never looked back. He showed great consistency and skill to take his his third Rally Japan win , the 13th of his career, and on the final tarmac event of the Rally1 era.
Held on tarmac over the course of 20 stages, Rally Japan is set on tight and twisty asphalt roads lined by trees; there’s little room for error.
It was reigning champion Seb Ogier who was fastest on the pre-event shakedown, with Toyota laying down the marker from the start.
Home hero Takamoto Katsuta couldn’t have had a worse start to the rally. A puncture on Special Stage One before he slid off on SS3, losing him 43 seconds and with it, a chance of victory.
Hyundai, fresh off victory in the previous round in Portugal with Thierry Neuville, struggled throughout the event, with Neuville, Hayden Paddon and Adrien Fourmaux all suffering with understeer on day one. The hard tyres once the rain cleared just weren’t giving Neuville the grip he needed.
Evans ended Day One with a 15 second lead over Oliver Solberg with Ogier third. Neuville sat fourth after a difficult opening day.
Solberg came out firing on Day Two, he went fastest on SS7, the first run through Obara before Evans fought back taking victory on SS8. Solberg responded once again with another stage win on SS9, another run through Obara. However that would be the end of Solberg’s involvement on Saturday. He was fighting too hard when he lost the back end on a left hand turn and clipped a tree on the outside, ruining his rear right wheel.
Sami Pajari was having a quiet rally, fifth at the end of Day One, he found pace to win SS11 and stake his claim for a podium spot now Solberg was out.
Hyundai and Ford couldn’t get near the Toyota drivers all weekend, with neither team managing to secure a stage win.
On the Fujoka Special Stage, Evans had his only slip up the whole rally. He took a left hand bend too quickly and almost understeered into a barrier. The Welshman got away with it with an incredible near miss.
He held a 17 second lead over Ogier by the end of Day Two.
Hyundai were settled in fifth, sixth and seventh in the overall standings, as Sunday belonged to the returning Solberg. Reeling from his Day Two retirement, the young Swede fought back to take maximum Sunday points, with victory on the Wolf Power Stage too.
Ogier ended the rally strong, and kept chipping away at Evans’ lead, but it wasn’t enough to overthrow the championship leader. Evans took victory, and extended his championship lead over Katsuta, who finished the event in fourth.
|
Pos |
Name |
Car |
Event |
Sunday |
PS |
Total |
|
1 |
Elfyn EVANS |
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
25 |
2 |
1 |
28 |
|
2 |
Sebastian OGIER |
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
17 |
3 |
3 |
23 |
|
3 |
Sami PAJARI |
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
15 |
1 |
2 |
18 |
|
4 |
Takamoto KATSUTA |
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
12 |
4 |
4 |
20 |
|
5 |
Adrien FOURMAUX |
Hyundai i20N Rally1 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
|
6 |
Thierry NEUVILLE |
Hyundai i20N Rally1 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
|
7 |
Hayden PADDON |
Hyundai i20N Rally1 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
|
8 |
Jon ARMSTRONG |
Ford Puma Rally1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
|
10 |
Josh MCERLEAN |
Ford Puma Rally1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
21 |
Oliver SOLBERG |
Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
10 |
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