Category: Rally

The final day then of this thirteenth round of the rally championship dawned with rain falling on all the stages bringing an extra dimension of sketchiness to the roads. The plan was for Thierry to return to the action after his retirement at the start of Saturday. However, he would not start as the i20 suffered a failure of the windscreen wipers which would not work. He came back to the service park and parked up for the day. Takamoto and Aaron would therefore open the road throughout the six stages.

 

First up then was SS15 Nukata 1 – 20.23 km and the rain had made the whole stage really tricky for the crews. Takamoto had probably the best conditions and would set the third best time behind Ott and Kalle. Elfyn and Seb continued their fight for victory and in this one the Welshman was a little faster, bringing the gap down to just under six seconds.

 

Onto SS16 Lake Mikawako 1 – 13.98 km and Takamoto was once again third fastest with his teammates Seb and Elfyn the only two to go faster in the dress rehearsal for the powerstage as the Frenchman set the pace and increased his lead by a second. There was drama though for Adrien who went off the road and with that lost the right-hand door. He regained the road and finished the stage but there was no way that he and Alex could continue. Now Sami was into third overall.

 

The first of two runs of SS17 Okazaki SSS 1 – 1.98 km was won by Seb whose time was equalled by Takamoto whilst Ott was third. Elfyn was fourth fastest, but it could have been so much worse as he went down a bank near the end of the stage. He emerged just over a second slower than Seb and maintained his second place overall.

 

The second run of SS18 Okazaki SSS 2 – 1.98 km saw Takamoto set the pace from Ott and Seb with Elfyn keeping his car on the road and finishing just half a second behind Seb. The gap between the two title fighters had grown to just over eight seconds.

 

Now it was time to return to SS19 Nukata 2 – 20.23 km and the rain was still falling. Interestingly, Ott was having a good day so far and was able to set some good pace on these wet stages. Once again Seb was fastest from Elfyn with Ott with the third best time. The gap grew some more between Seb and Elfyn, now 11.5 seconds separating them.

 

We came now to the final stage, SS20 Lake Mikawako 2[Power Stage] – 13.98 km and the question was could Elfyn beat Seb on the stage and take victory? Well, Kalle who was looking to keep him and Jonne in the title fight would set the benchmark time on their final tarmac stage. However, then Elfyn came through and beat this time by over nine seconds. As Seb came through the splits showed that at first Elfyn was slower, but as Seb came closer to the end of the stage it was much closer and Seb won the stage but only one tenth separated them. Ott and Greg completed the top five.

 

Seb had won the rally and also set the fastest time on Sunday’s stages, plus taken the top points in the powerstage. It was a maximum score for him bringing him closer to Elfyn at the top of the championship.

 

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

 

Final Overall Classification – Rally Japan

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 3:21:08.9 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +11.6 3 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:16.6 4 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +3:18.1 5 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +6:48.7 6 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +7:01.5 7 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +9:35.5 8 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +10:41.6 9 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Škoda Fabia RS +11:36.2 10 J. Solans R. Sanjuan Toyota GR Yaris +12:26.0

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“This is the perfect result for us and I’m very happy to win this rally in Japan at home for Toyota. It’s been an intense weekend, especially this last day with very challenging conditions. A big congratulations to the team for giving us a great car again to fight like this, because today we started a completely different rally with a completely different setup, and it worked straight away. Elfyn was pushing me the whole weekend, and great wins only happen when you have great opponents.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a fun and strong weekend overall and another great result for the team at home in Japan. It wasn’t easy today to be in such a big fight in those difficult conditions. We gave it our best shot, but Seb was driving very well and was too tough to beat today. It was so close between the two of us, especially in the Power Stage, and it feels like we’ve missed out on quite a few points, but that’s the name of the game and everything is still to play for going into the final rally.”

Sami Pajari

“This result feels really, really nice. It’s always special to take the first podium, and to do it in Japan and get a 1-2-3 for Toyota at home makes this even more special. There were super tricky conditions today, but we had good pace on the first two days, and today we had some margin that meant we could just make sure that we finish. It’s been a really good event, and we must be really pleased with this. It’s been a super job by all the team, and it shows we are going forwards in a good way.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a tricky weekend overall for us and today conditions got really difficult with a lot of rain and standing water. We tried what we could to get some extra points from Sunday, but it’s not been the weekend or the result that we wanted to have. We’ve just been a bit too inconsistent this year, but we still have the chance to go for it one more time on the final round and we will try to make that a good one and see what happens.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Thank you to the team and the fans for their great support in my home rally. I couldn’t get a good result in the end and I’m sorry for that, but I saw so much support this week and I really appreciate it. Thanks to the team for fixing the car; today I tried my best to drive for the fans. I felt good confidence and pace, but in the Power Stage there was a lot of standing water, and it didn’t work out well. I can see that it’s possible to get a good result here in the future and I will keep trying.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“The conditions today have been demanding but I enjoyed them as the car was driving better than the days before. We didn’t have to push too hard today, but it was much more drivable. We don’t know what was causing our issues over the last few days, but we will investigate with the team. We need to go to Saudi and discover what it’s like, but Hyundai have been good on rough gravel, so these kind of conditions should suit us.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Firstly, and most importantly, both Alex and I are OK. There was a lot of mist on my windscreen which made it difficult to see the road. I didn’t hear Alex’s pacenote warning about a tricky corner, and I didn’t see it either, so we went slightly wide into the trees, which damaged the door and side of the car. Without the door and with the timecard inside, we had no choice but to retire. Of course, I am disappointed, but at the same time, we were able to fight at the front all weekend and make good progress with the car. Overall, we can say it was a really positive weekend.”

Thierry Neuville

“Unfortunately, we experienced an electrical issue on the way to the first stage this morning, which caused the wipers to stop working and forced us to retire from Rally Japan. It’s a real shame, as we were looking forward to gaining more mileage today and continuing to improve the car. Overall, it has been a very disappointing rally for us, but now it’s time to reset and focus on Rally Saudi Arabia, where we hope to be back fighting at the front.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“I’m happy with a top-five finish in Japan. We didn’t start the rally as we had hoped, but the team worked hard on Friday and Saturday to find solutions and get the car into a much better working window. Sunday brought really tricky conditions with the rain, and it was our first time running the Hankook wet tyres. It wasn’t an easy mission, as we had to fight to hold onto fifth with Kalle behind us – finding the right balance to push without making a mistake. Overall, we’re happy to bring a top-five result home after a difficult season, and it’s a strong reward for the team’s efforts.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s really disappointing to end our rally like that. We ran wide and had a big shunt on SS3, but the main thing is that we’re both OK. It’s not the result we wanted after all the effort to get here by the team and our supporters, but we’ll regroup and come back stronger for the exciting challenge of Saudi.”

 

Oliver Solberg

The 24-year-old said: “It was quite strange coming here to compete for the first time. I love this country, I love the people, I love everything about Japan, and I’ve been here so many times, coming since I was a young boy.

“But I’d never driven a rally here!

“With the championship already sorted, the emphasis for me and Elliott was always to take experience for next year. We wanted to understand the roads as much as possible, to understand how the tyres work on the surface and build as much knowledge as possible for next year.

“Of course, we wanted to take another win in the class, but the experience was always most important. So, to be able to do both is something really cool for us. The roads here are quite amazing, so many corners. We had really dry conditions for the first two days, then it rained like crazy today [Sunday].

“It was good to see the roads in different conditions, this was giving us some more data and understanding. Me and Elliott are really happy for the team; once again everybody has been fantastic. The support we had here, like all year, has been incredible.

“But I have to save some words for the people of Toyota City. Like I said, I came here before, we have done the recce and been kind of like tourists and really enjoyed it – but coming here and feeling the amazing appreciation, emotion and passion from all of the fans is something else.

“It’s been an honour to be here competing in a Toyota. Arigatō to everybody and see you all next year.”

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 13

1 E. Evans 272 2 S. Ogier 269 3 K. Rovanperä 248 4 O. Tänak 213 5 T. Neuville 166 6 T. Katsuta 111 7 A. Fourmaux 96 8 S. Pajari 94 9 O. Solberg 70 10 G. Munster 36

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 13

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 692 2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 464 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 191 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 145

 

 

Summary

Well, it’s really close at the top of the championship with just three points between Elfyn who remains at the top of the championship and in the best position to take this year’s world championship and Seb who is looking to take his ninth title.

 

It was a close battle between the two crews for this weekend’s rally victory and I suspect that the championship will be decided potentially on the final day of the final rally.

There were a three drivers who challenged for the final podium position this weekend and it was Sami and Marko who were the one’s who secured their first, and I suspect, not the last overall WRC podium.

 

The final round then is in the middle east as the championship heads to Saudi Arabia which takes place from the twenty-sixth to the twenty-ninth of November.

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

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:32:55.0 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +6.5 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +23.6 4 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +45.4 5 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:34.5 6 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +4:39.6 7 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +6:27.9 8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +6:40.6 9 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +7:54.9 10 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Škoda Fabia RS +8:21.8

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?

The first full day of the penultimate rally of this season with 111km’s over six stages. The first stage of the rally was on the previous day with Kalle holding the lead from Ott and Takamoto. The top eight was also covered by one second with the championship leaders just eight tenths of a second from the rally leaders.

 

First up was SS2 Inabu / Shitara 1 – 17.08 km and Seb made a great start to the first full day of action setting the fastest time from Takamoto and Elfyn. The pace that the three of them set meant that Seb moved up three positions and into the lead from Takamoto and Elfyn who was third. Just 3.1 seconds covered them all. Kalle was the big loser in this one falling to fifth position, the last of the five Toyota crews.

 

Into SS3 Shinshiro 1 – 17.41 km and Takamoto was fastest in this one from Elfyn and Seb and took the lead from Seb whilst Elfyn remained in third and 3.1 from the new leader. Ironically the Welshman was closer to Seb after going half a second faster, but the new overall leader had the same advantage over third place. Adrien was the best placed of the three Hyundai crews holding fifth place. The Frenchman had gained one position after Kalle’s mistake in the stage which left him with broken rear left suspension. The Finn last almost two and a half minutes as he limped his damaged Yaris to the end of the stage. Elsewhere there was bigger drama for Josh in his Puma who went off the road at around the middle of the stage. The damage would mean that he and Eoin would retire from the rally.

The final morning stage then, SS4 Isegami’s Tunnel 1 – 19.66 km which was run in the opposite direction from the previous years and Elfyn was fastest this time from Seb and Takamoto. They both leapfrogged the Japanese driver with Seb going back into the lead from Elfyn. Incredibly the gap between the three of them was now just 1.7 seconds. Adrien closed the gap to Sami for fourth overall by just over two seconds, the gap between them coming down to just over six seconds.

 

After the service break came SS5 Isegami’s Tunnel 2 – 19.66 km. The morning stages were being run in a different way to the morning format. Seb was fastest in this one from Takamoto with Adrien third. This was the first time Toyota’s stranglehold on the top three stage times had been interrupted. Elfyn was fourth fastest and fell to third overall. Meanwhile Adrien great time plus Sami only able to set the fifth best time meant the overall gap between them came down to just 1.2 seconds.

 

Onto the penultimate stage of the day then, SS6 Inabu / Shitara 2 – 17.08 km and Seb again was fastest from Elfyn and Sami. In fact, Takamoto set the same time as Sami but was given fourth fastest in the stage. The young Finn actually doubled the gap to Adrien to 2.4 seconds. It had been a very good day so far for the Frenchman in the Hyundai though as he was only 24 seconds from the lead whilst his champion teammates had really struggled and were in Ott’s case a minute and seven seconds from the lead and Thierry was a further twenty seconds back.

 

We came then to the final stage of the day SS7 Shinshiro 2 – 17.41 km which saw the sun setting as the crews came through. Elfyn finished the day with a great time which could not be beaten and Adrien and Takamoto were second and third fastest respectively, just one tenth slower! Very close! Adrien’s pace saw him move ahead of Sami and into fourth but with just three tenths of a second between them it was certainly not over.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:11:48.2 2 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +7.9 3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +10.2 4 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +24.0 5 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +24.3 6 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:12.3 7 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:33.5 8 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +2:35.9 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +3:22.3 10 A. Cachón B. Rozada Toyota GR Yaris +3:45.5

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I think we can be pleased tonight; it’s been a good day for us. This morning we had a decent rhythm but there was not much between the top drivers. Then we were able to have a bit more of a push this afternoon when we had a bit more certainty in the pacenotes and the grip conditions for the second pass. It’s nice that we’ve been able to build this small gap: it’s not much, but always better to be in this position. There’s a long way to go but for now it’s been the start that we wanted to the rally.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s nice to be at the end of Friday in second place. It has been a bit up and down in terms of the feeling for me: on some stages I was quite happy with the car and in some stages I was struggling for some reason, but we will look into this with the team tonight. Also, on the second pass of Isegami’s Tunnel I didn’t take much risk in the tricky places, and Seb was able to take some time there. Still, it’s a long weekend and I will continue to push where I can; let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Elfyn Evans

“We had a decent start this morning. There were some changeable conditions like we expected, and everything was quite close, but the feeling was OK. Then it wasn’t the best afternoon for us, especially in the opening stage of the loop where we seemed to give away a bit of time in a couple of sections. Otherwise, we have not been too far away, but we can’t be completely happy tonight. Still, there is a long way to go in this rally and we will keep trying everything.”

Sami Pajari

“I think it’s been quite a good day overall. It’s my first time here with the Rally1 car and the pace of my team-mates is really high, but we are not so far away and some of the stage times especially were really close to them. Of course, there were also some sections where we were maybe losing a little bit too much time, but the feeling has not been bad, and we will try to improve in these areas for tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“The feeling was not so good on the first stage this morning, which was kind of expected with such twisty roads, but on the next stage it was starting to feel pretty good. Unfortunately, we went a bit too fast into one corner – the pacenote was probably too optimistic – and we slid into the rail on the outside and broke the suspension. We could make a creative fix to get back to service where the team was able to repair it properly. We tried a few things with the setup this afternoon and the feeling was getting better, and we’ll keep pushing tomorrow and see what we can gain.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m quite pleased with the balance I found this morning, we decided not to change the setup too much and just push which seemed to be the right approach. We overtook Sami, finished in fourth and are not too far away from the podium. The rally is long, but I will keep my head down and focus on driving to the best of my abilities. Now that I’ve got the right balance, we can look into any other setup issues later on.”

Ott Tänak

“The conditions have been really nice and very consistent today; we haven’t been on the pace, but other than that it’s been okay. Adrien is doing very well, and it seems like the potential of the evo car is finally showing itself now – he’s been on the pace.”

Thierry Neuville

“Obviously it’s been a challenging day out there; we were carrying a technical issue all morning, so we were trying to work our setup around that. We got through this afternoon with a fresh rear differential and some new dampers, so we started from scratch trying to find a basic setup to get as much speed as possible. Tomorrow we’ll start again on something new, I have a list of things I want to test.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a really strong day for us,” he said. “We won quite a few stages and really enjoyed driving this amazing Yaris on some very challenging roads. It was quite hard to judge the grip in some places – we were caught out in Isegami’s Tunnel first time through. I caught one of the drainage ditches and it spun the car. We dropped around 12 seconds. That was a little bit frustrating, but otherwise it’s been fantastic.

“It’s amazing to see so many fans at the side of the road and a real pleasure to be here competing for the first time. Let’s see what tomorrow brings now.”

 

Saturday

The second full day of competition will see the crews tackle seven stages and a total of almost 122km’s. What will the second day bring for the championship battle?

The battle between the Toyota teammates has come down to the final two rounds of this season in the World Rally Championship. Elfyn and Scott hold a thirteen-point advantage over their multiple world champion teammates, whilst Ott and Martin are fifty points behind their former M-Sport teammates.

 

Of course, it is worth mentioning at this point that Elfyn and Scott have won in Japan for the last two years, 2023 and 2024 and this along with the fact that they will opening the road on Friday’s stages means that they will have a great opportunity to have a great weekend and hope to increase their championship lead.

Let’s take a look at the stages then.

Weekend at a Glance

Cars take to the stages for the first time on Thursday, with Shakedown at Kuragaike Park followed by the Kuragaike Super Special Stage (SS1, 2.75km) in the evening.

Friday’s action takes crews deep into the mountains of Aichi, featuring two loops of Inabu Shitara (SS2/6, 17.08km), Shinshiro (SS3/7, 17.41km) and Isegami’s Tunnel (SS4/5, 19.66km).

Saturday is the longest and most technical day of the rally, with two runs of Obara (SS8/13, 16.44km), Ena (SS9/12, 21.25km) and Mt. Kasagi (SS10/SS11, 21.74km) – before concluding with a run of Toyota City (SS14, 3.05km).

Sunday will round off the event with Nukata (SS15/19, 20.23km) and Lake Mikawako (SS16/20, 13.98km) split by two attempts of Okazaki (SS17/18, 1.98km).

There are 305km’s over twenty stages this year and as always it will be a big challenge.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“Rally Japan is always a big week as the home event for TGR and there’s a very special atmosphere. It’s not an easy rally with very demanding and twisty stages, and in the last few years we’ve seen some quite difficult conditions at times. Even when it’s dry, there’s very little margin for error and it’s easy to make a small but costly mistake. The first key is to get through without issue, and then it’s about having a good feeling with the car and maintaining concentration for all those corners. We’ve had some good runs there in the past and we’ll be aiming as high as we can again to try and secure a good result for the team at home and for ourselves for the championship.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“I’m really looking forward to competing at Rally Japan again this year. I always enjoy any trip to Japan, and the fans give this event a unique atmosphere compared to other rallies, especially for us as Toyota drivers. The rally itself is a tricky one. There are a few wider and faster sections which are really enjoyable, and a lot of narrow and more technical roads which have maybe not suited me so well in the past. At the moment though I have a really good feeling with this car and tyre on asphalt, so let’s see what we can do this time. The championship is close, and I hope that we can keep pushing hard and score another good result.”

Sébastien Ogier

“Rally Japan is always a special date in the calendar for us, and this year it should be even more interesting for everyone to follow given how close the drivers’ championship is with just two rounds to go. The stages on this rally are very demanding as they are really narrow and technical without much room for error, and we’ve seen that the weather at this time of year can make things even more complicated. The last rally didn’t go our way personally, but we know that we have the speed, and we still have the possibility to fight, and we will be doing our best to achieve a top result in Japan for that and for all of the fans who are giving us such great support there.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“Rally Japan is very special for me as my home rally and I’m really looking forward to driving there again in front of family and friends. It will be the fourth time that we’ve competed in the WRC event in Japan and, after being on the podium in 2022, I would definitely like to try to get back there this year. It’s never an easy rally with the narrow mountain roads, the changing grip levels, and the chance of difficult weather. I can take some confidence from the good stage times and result we did in Central Europe, and I will give everything to get the best result ever for myself, the team and the Japanese rally fans.”

Sami Pajari

“I’m really looking forward to my first Rally Japan as a Rally1 driver with Toyota. I have some good memories from last year when we won the WRC2 title there, and I could already feel the support of the Japanese fans then, so I’m sure that this year it might be on another level. I enjoy the stages in Japan: they are not so fast, but you have to be really precise because they’re so narrow and twisty. We had good speed on some stages in Central Europe and hopefully we can continue that in Japan, where the road generally stays a bit cleaner for each car because there are fewer chances to cut the corners.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Japan is one of the slowest of the tarmac rallies. We’ve only ever competed when the weather is unpredictable, so with the changing conditions, it’s one of the most challenging tarmac events. There’s definitely an optimum way to set up – it’s actually quite a smooth rally, so not much protection is needed. It’s more about precision and managing the low-grip conditions. We’re lucky to be able to go there at a time of year when the nature is so colourful, the atmosphere is always very warm and kind, so I love going there. For sure, I hope to give my best in Japan, so let’s see how it goes, and hopefully the minor changes we’ve made to the car since CER will help us get a good feeling right away to fight at the top.”

Thierry Neuville

“We’ve definitely had some great memories in Japan. We’re very keen to go back and target another good result, but in our current position we have to focus on improving the car and learning as much as we can from this event, rather than on a top result. We know how technically challenging the event is – it is probably the most twisty event I’ve ever done on tarmac! It’s very demanding and requires a lot of energy and concentration. Due to the time of year, we’re expecting lots of leaves, tricky road conditions and lots of humidity – everything is possible in Japan!”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Rally Japan is unique. The mountain stages are twisty, narrow, and quite dark due to the high trees. In the dry, it is demanding on the tyres, but in the rain it is a completely different challenge. There is a lot of pollution on the roads, which get really slippery, and combined with the visibility it can be really tricky. We struggled for some performance in CER, so we want to show the steps we have made since that rally. Last year was a great event for us, and we would like to replicate that result and be back on the podium in Japan.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Rally Japan is very special to us because it’s where we took our first WRC2 win. It’s a rally that really suits me because there are so many corners and generally narrow stages. The rain can make it tricky, as we often have to choose a mixed tyre package. Japan is quite unique and very different from what we see in Europe, so it’s always great to come here, try the local food, and experience the culture. The fans – whether in the service park, on the stages, or along the liaison sections – are incredibly supportive. It’s amazing to see so many passionate people and fans.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s great to be back in Japan! I competed here in a Rally2 car last year, so I know how tricky, and also rewarding, these stages can be. After a positive run in Central Europe, the aim is to keep that momentum going and end the event in a good place with M-Sport whilst improving our tarmac pace. I love Japan and its culture, plus the fans are incredible; it’s one of the best places to visit of the season.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“I drive a GR Yaris on the road,” said Oliver. “It’s the most fantastic street car I think I ever had. It would be really cool to try to meet some of the people who made it and make it to say thank you to them! For the rally car, of course, like always it’s prepared by Printsport. What can we say about these guys? They have done the most amazing job for the whole season – the championship me and Elliott won is as much for them as for us.

“The feeling on the last rally (Central European Rally) was a little bit strange. We won the championship in Chile and then we went to Germany and didn’t take any of the pressure for the title race. Me and Elliott focused well and drove it like it was any normal rally – it was nice to take another class win.

“But coming here to Japan, we really have quite a job to do. Like I mentioned, this is the first time here for us and we need to understand the roads and how things change with the weather and how much cutting is going on. There’s a lot to do, a lot of experience to take – and that’s the priority for us here: we want to learn about this rally.

“At the same time, we’re travelling a little bit earlier so we can stay in Tokyo for a while, to enjoy the place, the people and the amazing food. But then we take a test on Sunday and a big focus on the job with the recce and the rally. But all the time, surrounded by these lovely smiling people. I can’t wait!”

Summary

This is going to be a great rally on the roads around Tokyo City and any of the top drivers could stand on the podium. As the championship leaders Elfyn and Scott will want to repeat the victories from the last two years.

 

There are a group of fans who are hoping that they will take this year’s title. I know they’ll be really excited to see if the crew they support can take a closer step to the championship.

We came then to the final day of this event and with 77.78km’s over four stages this was not over and with Seb and Vincent returning to the action and opening the road throughout the day, what would they be able to do with the clean roads ahead of them?

First up was SS15 Beyond Borders 1 – 12.37 km and only three crews finished the stage at competitive speed with Seb setting the pace from Josh and Greg. The reason they were the only three crews which completed the stage was because Thierry crashed on the entry onto a bridge just after a sharp left-hand corner. The rest of the crews were given a notional time.

Next up was SS16 Mühltal 1 – 26.52 km the first run through what would be the power stage. Seb was fastest in this one from Elfyn and Kalle. Ott was the best placed Hyundai with the fourth best time and the gap between him and Elfyn came down to just a little over five seconds. The Welshman had started the day well. Meanwhile Kalle continued to hold the lead with no problems.

Now it was back to SS17 Beyond Borders 2 – 12.37 km and the question was would the knowledge of the stage which Seb completed earlier give him the advantage over those who’d not done the stage, but had fresh tyres? Well, the fact was that with Seb going fastest from Kalle and Elfyn it was clear that the knowledge was the key thing. Ott was only seventh fastest and saw the gap between him and Elfyn fall to just 1.1 seconds.

Onto the final stage then, SS18 Mühltal 2[Power Stage] – 26.52 km and Seb would set the pace from Elfyn, Kalle and Takamoto. The Toyota team occupied the full top five in the stage which saw the Toyota take their fifth manufacturers championship in a row. Meanwhile Elfyn’s pace took him ahead of Ott and into second overall as the Estonian was only sixth in the stage.

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Central European Rally

1 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:36:20.1 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +43.7 3 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +49.3 4 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:06.8 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:04.6 6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +2:13.9 7 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +5:48.8 8 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +8:56.2 9 J. Černý O. Krajča Škoda Fabia RS +10:51.1 10 F. Mareš R. Bucha Toyota GR Yaris +11:21.2

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“Huge congratulations to the whole team, including everybody in the workshop and here in the service park. To win the manufacturers’ championship again proves that we are the best team. Everyone is working super well together, so thank you. It has been a really good weekend for us. It was nice to be back on asphalt and the pace that we had was pretty fast, so we have done a great job together with the team. The drivers’ championship still won’t be easy, but we have at least increased our chances with this result, and we will try to continue like this on the next rally in Japan.”

Elfyn Evans

“I’m overjoyed for this team winning the manufacturers’ championship once again. There’s a massive effort behind this and everybody is working very hard to deliver us the best car and give us the best chances, so I have to say a huge thank you and well done. For me it maybe wasn’t quite the weekend we really hoped for. I think we should have had the potential to do more, so I’m a bit frustrated. It was important to turn things around a bit today and it was a much better day. We managed to grab the second place back from Ott, so I’m happy with how things turned out.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s fantastic that we won the manufacturers’ title again this year. A huge thanks to everybody in the team, they are working so hard, and my team-mates who have done a great job also. For me it has been nice to have a good drive like this here in Central Europe and get a good feeling with the car and the tyres before Rally Japan. I can’t be fully happy and there are still some areas I need to improve, but I will keep working and pushing as much as I can for Rally Japan, which is very important to me.”

Sami Pajari

“A big thank you and congratulations to the team on winning the manufacturers’ championship. It has been quite an OK weekend on my side. I think we had some really good stage times during the weekend. There was also quite a bit of learning still, especially when the conditions were more tricky, but that’s a part of the game for us this season. Overall, I think there are a lot of positive things we can take away from this event, looking towards the next one in Japan and also for the future.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels fantastic to win another manufacturers’ title with this team. It’s never easy to keep improving and keep winning but that’s the spirit that this whole team has and I’m very proud of that. We need to celebrate it because nothing ever comes easy, and we will keep pushing and try to continue this success. The car was perfect today, so thank you to the team for fixing it and giving us the tools to recover the maximum points that we could after the incident yesterday. Of course, we would have preferred to come away from this rally with a better result, but we still have a real possibility to fight for the title and we can look forward to the next event in Japan.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“We did everything we could this weekend, and we need to be happy with this outcome. It’s been a tough weekend, we struggled on Friday and gave away a lot, but yesterday we were able to fight back a bit. Today had some very high grip conditions, it was also getting very racy, and we just didn’t have the answer to the Toyotas. I enjoyed the fight, but I didn’t enjoy losing it. We learnt a lot ahead of Japan, so let’s see if we can do some minor changes to improve a bit more.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“We were running well for the first few stages of the rally, but we just didn’t perform well enough on the slippery and bumpy sections. Over the weekend, we made some progress with the flat roads, but we lost time anywhere else. Today was harder, I was fighting the car a lot, but I think we have made some important progress to try and find the right setup for Japan. We still need to work on it, but I’m hoping it’s not going to be the same as this weekend.”

Thierry Neuville

“Martijn and I had quite a big hit this morning. We have completed our medical checks thanks to the ambulance crew and hospital staff who did a great job to make sure we were okay and get us cleared. Everything was normal, and then I made a mistake just before the bridge. It was our mistake; we were too optimistic with a pace note and understeered into the bridge barriers. We know that in rallying the smallest errors can have massive consequences, and that’s what happened today. We will do everything we can to come back stronger in Japan.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a big learning experience – we’ve had a bit of everything this weekend, running at the front and the back of the field. It was great to see Grégoire back out after his mishap on Friday so we could properly compare times. From the start of the rally to now, we’ve closed that gap to him, and that was one of our main goals coming into this event.”

Grégoire Munster

“It’s not the result we wanted after my mistake on Friday – we landed a jump and broke the suspension, but we had to try something on that stage. Overall, we’ve seen that we’re much closer to the others than we were in Gran Canaria, which is very encouraging. It’s nice to see that even in tricky Tarmac conditions we can be right there with the rest, and I think in Japan we’ll have another opportunity to show that.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“I’m really happy for this one – my first Rally2 win on Tarmac! The Printsport team has done a fantastic job, Elliott has been perfect again and, of course, the Toyota is the perfect car!

“The car has been so consistent for us through the weekend. Even when the weather was a little bit complicated with the rain on Saturday, we could still make everything work. We only drove Canarias on Tarmac with this car before this week, so the experience wasn’t so high for me – but, like I said, the team helped so much to give me so much confidence.”

Arriving at the history-making CER – the first ever world championship round to include competition across three countries in one day – with the WRC2 title sewn up made for a different approach for the 24-year-old.

“It was a little bit strange coming in here,” admitted Oliver. “But Elliott and me wanted to treat this like any other rally and that’s exactly what we did. When you start the event, you put your head down and do your job – this is what we’ve done all year. I’m so proud of what we have achieved.”

Summary

Well, it’s been a great drive by Kalle and Jonne this weekend. They took the most stage wins, kept the mistakes to a minimum and took a very good win. They have brought themselves right back into the championship fight. They remain third in the championship but are on the same points as Seb and Vincent.

 

Elfyn and Scott had their moments of pace and kept it safe when they didn’t feel it was the right thing to do. The penalty on Friday certainly didn’t help but they held their nerve and took a well-deserved second overall which put them back into the lead of the championship.

 

Ott and Martin did enough to take third place after their teammates either made mistakes or just did not have good enough pace throughout the whole weekend to be able to deliver a strong result. They almost had enough for second overall but didn’t have the pace to hold off Elfyn and Scott.

Next up is Rally Japan for the thirteenth round of this year’s championship over the sixth to ninth of November.

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 12

1 E. Evans 247 2 S. Ogier 234 3 K. Rovanperä 234 4 O. Tänak 197 5 T. Neuville 166 6 T. Katsuta 110 7 A. Fourmaux 96 8 S. Pajari 79 9 O. Solberg 64 10 J. McErlean 26

 

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 12

1 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 632 2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 464 3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 176 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2 127

Onto the second day of the rally and with 103km’s over six stages the crews had an interesting challenge ahead of them. Four of the stages were run in Czech Republic with the first and last stages in Germany. Seb of course was leading Kalle by just six tenths of a second coming into Saturday’s action.

 

First up was SS9 Made in FRG 1 – 14.30 km and Kalle was fastest from Ott and Seb. The Finns pace took him ahead of his teammate and into the lead. There was some drama in the early part of the stage as Greg had a spin.

 

Into SS10 Keply 1 – 21.95 km and Kalle took another fastest time from Elfyn and Ott. There was big drama for Seb and Vincent though. Just before 17 or so kilometres the car understeered on a right-hander before hitting a bank on the left-hand side of the road, then colliding with a small tree which then spun the car 180 degrees, the result of which meant the Yaris was damaged on the left-hand side with the front wheel and suspension pulled out. He was frustrated, angry and out for the rest of the day. The team would need to check the car when it arrived back at the service to be sure they could restart on Sunday. Also having a moment was Greg, although at least they were able to continue.

 

The final morning stage then before the tyre fitting zone and Takamoto was fastest from Ott and Kalle. Elfyn was fourth fastest and lost a little bit of time to Ott as the Estonian moved a little closer to passing the Welshman.

 

After the break, SS12 Keply 2 – 21.95 km was next and Ott was fastest from Kalle and Elfyn. There was a position change as Ott moved ahead of Elfyn and into second place. Further back Greg was showing some good pace setting the seventh best time even ahead of Sami in this one. His teammate Josh was continuing to run well inside the top ten, holding eighth position.

Onto the penultimate stage then, SS13 Klatovy 2 – 15.57 km and Takamoto was fastest again from Ott and Sami. Elfyn set the fifth best time, actually faster than the rally leader with Kalle only able to set the sixth best time. He remained firmly in charge though with the lead now 38.2 seconds to Ott.

 

It was back then into Germany for the final stage of the day, SS14 Made in FRG 2 – 14.30 km just as the sun was setting. Thierry set the early pace which even his teammate Ott could not beat whilst Takamoto was third quickest. Elfyn lost more time to Ott as he set the seventh best time, the gap now having grown to 8.4 seconds between them.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Three

1 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:56:14.7 2 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +36.3 3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +44.7 4 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +58.3 5 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:37.7 6 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:59.0 7 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +2:30.9 8 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +4:39.3 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +6:32.5 10 J. Černý O. Krajča Škoda Fabia RS +8:26.1

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s been a good day for us. We had a really good and tight fight going on with Seb and it’s never easy against him. It was not nice to see what happened to him, and the best thing is that he and Vincent are both OK. After that we just had to focus on our own job and I think we did pretty well, as there was a lot of dirt coming onto the road with every car. We still kept a good pace and rhythm and enjoyed the driving without taking any risk. Tomorrow will be a big day at this point of the season, with four of us who need all the points we can get. We also have the rally win to secure, so it won’t be easy, but we’ll try our best.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been an OK day but I’m naturally not happy with the pace that we were able to show, especially this afternoon. We were pushing but not really able to deliver the pace, and we haven’t been at the level that I want to be at. We tried to change some things on the car during the day, but it didn’t necessarily go in the right direction. So we need to try and find out why tonight and have another go at it tomorrow, with a lot of points available.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a good day overall. I can’t be fully happy, as I lost quite a bit of time on the second stage this morning. The conditions were very tricky in sections, and I was not really committed enough in those places. Otherwise, we could do two fastest times in Klatovy – things were working well in that stage. In the other stages too, the car feels good and when I’m pushing, the times are there so that’s a good sign. There is still a long Sunday to come, and I will try to keep pushing.”

Sami Pajari

“It has again been a tricky day. Like yesterday, I think we had some strong stage times and some that were not so great. So, there is plenty of learning to take from that, but I’m generally satisfied that we had no mistakes or issues and some steady pace, getting closer to the front. There are still quite many kilometres tomorrow, especially in the Power Stage, which is quite long, but they’re nice stages so I’m looking forward to them.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I knew that this second stage of the day would be the most difficult with the rain and the leaves on the road, but we were driving with a good rhythm and feeling. Unfortunately, we started to lose pressure from the front-left tyre close to the end of the stage. Going through a fast right-hander, I couldn’t do anything, and we just understeered into the ditch and hit a tree. It’s frustrating but I don’t think I could have done anything differently and sometimes it’s just a matter of luck. The good news is that we should be able to restart tomorrow, and we will do our best to take the full 10 bonus points.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Today was consistent, but we’re still missing a bit in the trickier conditions. We managed to improve the balance a bit to carry some more speed over the stages, but we’re still not able to match the fastest cars. I don’t know if tomorrow’s stages are going to suit us, but I’ll give it my best to take everything I can to protect the position we are in at the end of today.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“We found some direction today with Thierry, he found a slightly better setup than us, so we now understand what we are missing. We’ve found really good pace on the flat roads that we didn’t have in the Canaries, but now we’re struggling on the bumpier, greasier sections. I want to enjoy tomorrow, so we will take our learnings from today and go for it.”

Thierry Neuville

“We learned a lot today, there was definitely some improvement for us in the afternoon. Tomorrow is another day to maximise the information we can take from this weekend. Ott is feeling much more comfortable today, especially in the trickier places, so these are all steps forward. We will keep testing different setups tomorrow, we are already in Japan with our thinking – those few extra points may change the season.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“We’d never driven this car with a cross-tyre set-up,” said Oliver. “When the rain was coming on the second stage this morning, we crossed wet tyres with the soft – it was interesting and really good experience. If I’m honest, maybe I was a little bit slow, but we learned some more and that’s what we’re here for.

“We’ve been working a lot with the set-up of the car as well, just discovering more and more on how to get the best out of it. From what we hear, the weather could be getting colder tonight, which could make the morning stages even more interesting tomorrow.”

 

Sunday

Well, the final day will see the crews take on 77km’s over four stages between Germany and Austria. This includes the longest stage run ever as the power stage on tarmac at 26.52km’s. The reports suggest the day will have cooler conditions in the morning. What will this mean for the crews and who will best master these conditions to take the higher number of points for the final day?

The first full day of action then would see the crews tackle six stages. However there had already been two stages run on Thursday afternoon and this gave a leaderboard and Seb was holding the lead from Kalle and Adrien. Now Elfyn was given a five second penalty after colliding with a hay bale in a chicane. The Welshman was holding eighth place and 11 seconds from the leader. With 99km’s to run who would hold the lead at the end of the first full day?

 

First up was SS3 Granit und Wald 1 – 10.86 km and Thierry was fastest from Ott and Adrien. The Belgian’s pace took them up three positions to fourth overall. The top three overall was Seb, Kalle 2.7 seconds and second overall whilst Adrien was third.

 

Into the middle morning stage then, SS4 Böhmerwald 1 – 15.27 km and Kalle set the pace from Sami and Takamoto. Thierry could only manage the sixth best time and fell behind his Estonia teammates to fifth overall. This was an interesting stage as the first and second cars into the stage, that’s Seb and Elfyn could only manage the seventh and eighth fastest times. Kalle was finding some speed though and feeling comfortable and was now just six tenths of a second from Seb.

 

The stages were getting longer and next up was SS5 Col de Jan 1 – 23.37 km and this was a stage which Seb felt confident in as he flew through beating Kalle by 3.3 seconds and Elfyn by 12.9 seconds. Normally this would be quite bad but there was more drama for Thierry, and he had a small off giving him damage to the front right-hand side, then a puncture and damage to his steering after hitting a bank. There was even more drama for Greg as he landed heavily after a jump on a section of bank next to the road breaking suspension on the right-hand side and suffering punctures as well.

 

After the service break came SS6 Col de Jan 2 – 23.37 km and with the stages run in the opposite way from the morning this certainly changed things. Kalle was fastest from Seb and Elfyn. The Finnish driver closed the gap on Seb now just 2.4 seconds behind whilst Elfyn was falling away from them both, the gap sadly growing to his teammates. The top three overall positions were held by Seb, Kalle and Ott although Elfyn was now just half a second behind the Hyundai driver.

 

Next up was SS7 Böhmerwald 2 – 15.27 km and Kalle set the pace from Adrien and Takamoto. Elfyn was fifth fastest, whilst Ott was only eighth and was passed by Elfyn who moved into third overall. Kalle’s pace took him really close to his teammate, now just three tenths behind Seb. Further back Josh held ninth overall and was just out there learning the stages and getting experience for the future.

Onto the final stage of the day then, SS8 Granit und Wald 2 – 10.86 km and Elfyn found some pace albeit not a huge amount, going fastest by 1.1 seconds from Seb and Kalle. Still, it was a confidence boosting stage win. The gap between the top two was six tenths of a second.

 

Let’s take a look at the top ten and hear from the drivers.

 

Classification after Friday

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 1:03:29.8 2 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +0.6 3 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +29.5 4 O. Tänak M. Järveoja Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +32.8 5 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +35.7 6 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +46.1 7 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +56.0 8 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +1:55.8 9 J. McErlean E. Treacy Ford Puma Rally1 +2:50.2 10 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +3:37.6

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’ve enjoyed today and this exciting fight with Kalle. We fought the whole day to try and stay in the lead and even though it’s a very small gap, it’s very positive to still be in the lead. Today I don’t think we always had the usual advantage being first on the road on asphalt because it’s been dry and quite dusty, so I think conditions have been more or less fair for everyone which is what we like to see. Tomorrow will not be any easier, and if it rains it can be even more challenging, but we will keep fighting.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It has been an enjoyable day driving some really nice stages and being in a big fight through the whole day. Starting third on the road I think we have managed the situation well so far, to be this close to Seb, so I’m pretty happy with the day. We had some good stages and some good times and it’s a tight battle. Tomorrow we have the challenge of being further back in the starting order and seeing how conditions evolve, but I’m sure it will stay really close, and we will keep fighting.”

 

Elfyn Evans

“I think we had some strong moments during the day but overall, it didn’t go as well as we would have hoped – especially on Col de Jan, where we lost a bit of time to Seb and Kalle. On the first pass I was a bit tentative at the start and then had a little overshoot and didn’t get as close as I would have liked on the second pass either. I seemed to be losing more today in the dirtier sections, so we need to look at that tonight and see why that was. It’s good to get up to third but it’s still very tight and we need to keep pushing.”

 

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a very challenging day as we expected, especially stages five and six which had a lot more dirt on the road. But we managed to get through with some quite OK stage times. I think we probably lost some time because of our road position, which was not ideal, but we are only six seconds away from the podium, so we will keep pushing. It’s not been a bad day, and we will try to be even better tomorrow.”

 

Sami Pajari

“It has been a mixed day in terms of the stages and also for our performance. We had some really good stage times but also some stages where I feel we were a bit too far away from the pace. Of course, I would like to do better but we still need to go step by step and we will try to find something to be more consistent tomorrow. The road position should improve which can help us, but let’s see how the conditions are.”

 

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“Today definitely had some very demanding stages, and we didn’t have enough speed. It’s not so much to do with the setup, but more performance we are missing. We all want to be competitive, so it can be frustrating to just survive, but we did everything we could and tried our best.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“When we’re flowing on the flat roads, we are on the pace, but as soon as we get to a bumpy, dirty stage we really struggle. We need to analyse why this is happening and why we are slower in these conditions – that’s our target for now. We are missing really good testing in these conditions, so I’m not really surprised, but that’s a part of motorsport.”

 

Thierry Neuville

“Today was challenging. We made a small mistake this morning when we went over the jump with the wrong line and got some damage and a puncture. We started working on the car, but there still isn’t much improvement, despite the hard work from everybody. We tried a couple of things and we’re going to continue trying, it’s the only thing we can do at the moment, and we know we have some work left.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“It’s been a good day today – it’s really nice to be getting back into driving on asphalt again. The stages in Germany and Austria were quite clean and giving pretty good grip, but the road in Czech Republic was really different. We knew from the recce this would be a tricky one with the grip level changing a lot – and it was exactly like this: a real test. But it was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it.

“I was learning more all of the time with the car. We made some changes to the set-up, but, really, every stage today was different. We’re going to talk to the team tonight and think about what we want to do with the car for tomorrow – but a lot of the set-up is depending on what the weather does. We’ll see if we get some rain, that could make tomorrow even more interesting.”

Saturday

The second full day of action will see the crews tackle 103km’s over six stages which are in Germany and Czech Republic. Can the reversed top ten help Elfyn and Scott to close the gap to their teammates?

We really are getting to the crunch time in this seasons championship battle for the world title for driver and co-drivers. Coming into this round which is made up of roads in Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. Just two points separate the top two crews at the top of the championship with Seb and Vincent ahead of teammates Elfyn and Scott.

 

Meanwhile their other teammates, Kalle and Jonne are twenty-one points from their French teammates as they begin the end of their rally careers at the top of the rallying world. Yes it was announced towards the end of last week that the double Finnish world champions will retire at the end of the year.

 

At Hyundai the gap between Ott and Martin to the championship leaders is thirty-three points. Mathematically they could still win their second title and would need to win the last three rounds to take this year’s title, whilst the reigning champions have given up any chance of retaining their title.

 

The M-Sport crews will be learning again on this round, but both of the crews know how to drive on tarmac surfaces. It will be interesting to see how they get on this weekend.

 

Let’s take a look at the stages and hear from the drivers.

Weekend at a Glance

• Cars take to the stages for the first time on Thursday evening, with two loops of Golf und Therme (SS1/2, 12.83km) marking the start of the weekend.
• Friday’s action takes crews across all three countries, with two loops of Granit und Wald (SS3/8, 10.86km), Böhmerwald (SS4/7, 15.27km) and Col de Jan (SS5/6, 23.37km).
• Saturday is the longest day of the weekend, with two loops of Made in FRG (SS9/14, 14.30km), Keply (SS10/12, 21.95km) and Klatovy (SS11/13, 15.57km) covering 103.64km.
• Sunday concludes the penultimate tarmac round of the season with two loops of Beyond Borders (SS15/17, 12.37km) and Mühltal (SS16/18, 26.52km).

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It was good to get back on the podium in both South American rallies after a long run of gravel rounds, and now we’re looking forward to being back on asphalt and to a different challenge in these next events. There’s an element of the unknown with conditions that will be very different to the last asphalt event in the Canaries. The Central European Rally covers quite a large area so there’s a few variations in surface and character, and the grip levels can be quite mixed. There’s sections that are out in the open and others that are more narrow under the trees. There can also be muddy places, especially if there’s rain in the build-up to the rally, but we have to wait and see how the stages look this year and give it our best.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It feels very good to be where we are and fighting for this championship, but things are still very close, and I know that these last rallies are going to be tough. I expect everyone will be giving their best, and I know that our competitors can be strong on asphalt, so it’s very much game on and I’m looking forward to an intense battle. It’s nice to have this rally in Central Europe, close to my current home and with lots of fan support. It can be a demanding rally but we had great speed last year, we’ve had some good pre-event testing and a good feeling in the car, and I’ll definitely try my best to bring a top result.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“The South American events didn’t go our way but with three rallies to go, we are still in the fight and we’re not giving up. It’s going to be interesting to go back to asphalt. The Central European Rally doesn’t have nice clean asphalt like we had in Canaries, as there’s quite a lot of cuts and mud. So it’s definitely a tricky rally, but it’s a nice event all the same and we’ll try to make it a good one. We had good pace in 2023, and we have good memories from then of when we won the title. We’ve had a nice pre-event test and the feeling with the car is quite good, so let’s see what this year’s rally brings.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I’m very happy to be going back to asphalt for the next two rallies. They’re both difficult rallies in terms of the conditions and the changing grip levels. Central Europe especially is quite a unique challenge with stages in three different countries, and a lot of cutting and mud on the road. We need to prepare well, particularly as it’s our first time driving with this year’s tyres on this kind of rally. After our test we have quite a good feeling and hopefully everything works well. Last year it was a good rally for me, and we took maximum points on Sunday. We’ll try to repeat that speed and get a good result, also looking towards Rally Japan.”

Sami Pajari

“We have had some really positive rallies recently with some good speed, and it’s been enjoyable to be pushing hard and fighting for positions. Now we come to a totally different challenge, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t have another good rally. I enjoy driving on asphalt and I feel my performance so far on this surface has been quite fine: already last year when we drove this event in Rally1, some stages were really good, and in Canaries too the speed was really good, even if we unfortunately didn’t get the result at the end. This can be a really tricky rally in places and the weather can be hard to predict, but I’m looking forward to it.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“We’ve competed at Central European Rally a few times now, so we have a good sense of what to expect. This is an event that is very dependent on the weather conditions; there’s a lot of cuts and the road can become extremely dirty. The further back you are in the road order, the more surprises you encounter – every car pulls more dirt on to the road. Driving style is also key, especially with grip levels changing dramatically, particularly after rain. Experience really counts here. We are still in the hunt for the championship, so delivering a top performance is absolutely essential.”

Thierry Neuville

“I always enjoy Central European Rally, because it’s not too far from home, but it’s an unpredictable event. Running in October means the weather conditions and changing temperatures make this event particularly challenging. We’ve experienced a lot of rain in previous years, which make grip levels really hard for us to predict. This, combined with the amount of cuts we take, increases the risk of punctures. It’s all about finding the right balance of risk and reward, and ideally we’ll have drier, more stable conditions. The recce will be crucial in helping us assess this. I’m determined to continue our podium streak at Central European Rally, so we’ll be pushing for the win until the very end.”

Adrien Fourmaux

“Central European Rally is one of the toughest events on the calendar. With low grip levels and stages that span three countries, it can feel like doing multiple rallies in one weekend. The stages in Czechia are narrow and bumpy with muddy cuts, while Germany and Austria have smoother and wider roads. This contrast makes it harder to judge the grip and choose the right tyres, especially with the leaves that tend to pollute the roads. After seven gravel rallies, switching back to tarmac requires a completely different driving style and tyre strategy; precision is everything at this event. I won in Rally2 here in 2023, but last year was tough. As the season winds down, we’re aiming to push hard and target the podium steps.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“Central Europe is a special event to me because it’s the first Tarmac event I competed on in the Rally1 car back in 2024. We’ve had some good results here in the past, and the conditions are quite similar to what I used to drive in Belgium and Luxembourg, so coming back to my roots with the Puma is always very special. We’ve worked hard to have a good feeling with the car on Tarmac, so let’s see how it goes; the weather across the three countries can certainly pose a challenge on this event.”

Josh McErlean

“The Central European Rally is a demanding Tarmac event, and a great opportunity to continue building my experience in the Puma Rally1 across all three countries. The goal is to find a strong rhythm, adapt to the changing grip levels, and develop confidence in the car across all conditions and hopefully end with a strong result.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“The time since winning the championship in Chile has been really nice. We had time to really share the moment with the team at Printsport, all of our partners, friends and family and, of course, everybody at Toyota for making this amazing car.

“But now, it’s back to the business. Elliott and me are really looking forward to this week, Central European Rally is always a big challenge. The roads vary quite a lot from day-to-day and country-to-country and then there’s the weather… if it stays dry and quite warm then the stages themselves can stay quite clean and keep some grip.

“It’s quite unlikely to stay dry and the roads will get a lot of mud and gravel pulled to them – it’s a big part of the challenge on this event.

“I think it’s fair to say I don’t have so much experience for the Tarmac, I didn’t do this event for the first year and I have missed some other asphalt rounds in the last few years. I want to use this week to find out more from the car and to understand how we can push, what we can do with the set-up for the car and, basically, what we can do to go faster.

“This week is a lot about taking more experience for me.

“At the same time, we always see a lot of fans coming from the three countries and from further away – that’s fantastic! It’s one of the things I love from rallying in this part of the world, we see and get to meet fans from so many places. It’s going to be a cool week.”

 

Summary

It’s going to be a very interesting round and being first or second on the road will be crucial to the hopes of the top two crews in the championship. The road will get messier as there will be lots of road cutting.

Onto the final day then and with a little under 55km’s over four stages. Two of the M-Sport crews would return as well as Ott and Martin in their Hyundai. They would be looking to set the highest possible pace from third on the road.

 

First up then was SS13 Laraquete 1 – 18.62 km and Seb set the pace from Elfyn and Kalle. Ott was fourth despite reporting that his engine was overheating. He reported that he was a bit ragged, but clearly something was working! Greg in the Puma was running in eighth overall.

 

Into SS14 BioBío 1 – 8.78 km and Elfyn who was trying to catch his rally leading teammate was fastest from Takamoto and Seb. The gap came down a little and with two stages to go was now a little under six seconds. Ott was eighth fastest after setting the benchmark before all the other crews came through beating his time.

 

We came then to the final stage, SS16 BioBío 2[Power Stage] – 8.78 km and Seb set the pace from Thierry and Elfyn. The Belgian was only three tenths faster than Elfyn as the Welshman who had a larger time gap earlier in the stage and came through the final sectors much faster. It was not quite enough though giving him the third fastest time, whilst Sami and Kalle rounded out the top five.

 

Seb and Vincent had taken a second victory in a row in Seb’s two-hundredth WRC round. It was also Seb’s sixty-sixth win. Also taking a well-deserved victory in WRC2 were Oliver and Elliot and with it the 2025 WRC2 crown. Elliot becomes the first British co-driver to take a WRC crown since Robert Reid in 2001 when the late great Richard Burns took the WRC for Subaru in Wales Rally GB.

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Chile

1	S. Ogier	V. Landais	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	2:55:42.1
2	E. Evans	S. Martin	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+11.0
3	A. Fourmaux	A. Coria	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+46.5
4	T. Neuville	M. Wydaeghe	Hyundai i20 N Rally1	+59.0
5	S. Pajari	M. Salminen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:03.4
6	K. Rovanperä	J. Halttunen	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+1:35.7
7	T. Katsuta	A. Johnston	Toyota GR Yaris Rally1	+2:14.0
8	G. Munster	L. Louka	Ford Puma Rally1	+2:44.1
9	O. Solberg	E. Edmondson	Toyota GR Yaris	+8:18.8
10	N. Gryazin	K. Aleksandrov	Škoda Fabia RS	+8:59.0

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I’m very happy to take another win in South America and to also come away with the maximum points this time: I think they are well deserved after the ones we lost because of the weather in Paraguay. To take the lead of the championship with three rallies to go is definitely positive too. I’m also very happy for everybody at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing that we could achieve this record win. Thanks to our Chairman, Akio Toyoda, for the great support that means we can keep pushing the limits for better. We can be very proud of what we’ve achieved so far and I’m sure that we can keep adding to these great numbers in the coming rallies.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s mixed feelings for us at the finish because we always want to win, but the big positive is that after struggling for pace two weeks ago in Paraguay we were able to come here and show good speed. I think we paid a big price for being first on the road on Friday afternoon but otherwise I think we’ve done a really solid job. Of course, I would have liked to fight Seb harder over the last day or so, but he is always very strong and tough to beat. Well done to him, as well as the team on a record win for Toyota. The championship is still close and we’re looking forward to the next rallies on asphalt and continuing to give it our best shot.”

Sami Pajari

“It’s been a really positive weekend for us. We’ve had good speed in some other rallies but here I was really trying to fight until the very end. I was on a mission to try and catch Neuville, and we could catch him a little bit but not quite by enough. Still, it’s been nice to see that we are able to fight like this. To be fourth on the Power Stage and Super Sunday is also nice to see because everyone is pushing to catch the points. It feels good to be pushing yourself to the limits and there were some really enjoyable moments this weekend. The next rallies are a totally different challenge on asphalt, but we’ll try to continue like this.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It’s not been a good weekend for us. We needed to get a good result here but unfortunately it didn’t come after what happened on Friday morning. Today we were trying to push hard again and take as many points as we could. It wasn’t going to be easy with our road position and we couldn’t challenge the top times, but I think we did what we could. The championship starts to get more difficult for us now and it’s clear that we need to try to get some wins in the next rallies, but we’ll keep giving it our best.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been quite a difficult weekend for us, but at least we could end with something positive today. Both of the stages were new for me, but we were still able to match the pace of the others sometimes: on the first pass of the Power Stage, we were second fastest. As usual on the second pass we had narrower lines to follow and I think it was getting faster with every car, but still our time was not too far away. I’m glad to finish this rally and now I will move on and start preparing for the coming rallies on asphalt which are important to me, especially Rally Japan, and I will try to do my best.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“I’m happy to be on the podium after missing out in Paraguay, which was really hard to accept. Overall, I would say it has been two strong rallies in South America for me. We ended Friday in the lead and held it well on Saturday morning, but then the advantage shifted to Toyota. However, we managed to keep a world champion in the same car behind, so I am pleased with that. Of course, there are things we need to improve on the car, but I am confident we will be able to push at the remaining events.”

Thierry Neuville

“We survived the day. After three stages, Adrien and I were more or less equal – the gap was pretty steady, and I couldn’t have done much more. I tried a few different settings today that allowed me to push quite well in some places, but the times just weren’t coming. Even though the Power Stage had high grip and was quite abrasive, I knew my tyres weren’t too bad, so I pushed hard. It was a scary run at times, but it paid off!”

Ott Tänak

“It has been a long and frustrating weekend here in Chile. Friday was hard, but it was going quite well for us until our rally went off track. Since then, it’s been a difficult couple of days. The last few rallies have been challenging for us, but we are determined to finish the season strongly. As always, we will go into the final three rallies with full commitment; hopefully, we can finish with some strong results.”

 

M-Sport Ford WRT

Grégoire Munster

“It’s been a good weekend overall and I think we showed some strong pace. We pushed from start to finish without making mistakes, and while there’s always room for improvement, I feel that both the team and I have made a real step forward in performance. It’s a positive way to end the gravel events, and now we look ahead to Central European Rally – an event I really enjoy and one I’m looking forward to.”

Josh McErlean

“It’s been a challenging weekend, obviously it was a shame to miss out on both Saturdays in Paraguay and now Chile. But we still go to do the recce and write the pacenotes, and we got through Friday and Sunday’s stages, but we still need to work on the pace and performance. In Chile it’s been hard to compete with the boys at the top, and we’ve got a lot to take home from the weekend.”

Alberto Heller

“It was a really good rally for us, and we enjoyed it a lot with the team. We learned a great deal, and with all the fans here in Chile it was an amazing experience – the support on the stages was incredible. We gained some valuable kilometres and learned a lot about driving in this category, which is very different and at such a high level. Of course, it was a shame about what happened on Saturday, but that’s part of motorsport and sometimes these things happen. It was nice to be able to restart on Sunday and continue learning, and overall, it’s been a very positive rally for us.”

Oliver Solberg

“What can I say?” smiled Oliver. “This has been my dream for as long as I can remember. We came so close last year, but that ended with disappointment, to do it like we have this year is so important for me. I said at the start of the year that I wanted the title this season and we really had to do it this time – the way we have done it is really nice. Winning five rallies from the seven WRC2 rounds we started is something special.

“I think we deserve this one.

“The rally has been a tough one, we had to play lots of strategy with the tyres, but Toyota, the whole Printsport team, Elliott, everybody back at home – all of my family and my fiancée Chloe – I can’t thank them enough for the support they’ve given me.

“And the same for Monster Energy, HTB Racing, Quadrant, 4F, Autopay, OMP and Bell – all of our partners are so, so important to us. We couldn’t have done this without all of you!

 

“This has been the most amazing year for us, winning Rally Estonia in the [GR Yaris] Rally1 car and now this. Honestly, I’m a little bit lost for words and it’s definitely going to take some time for this to sink in.

“But to bring another world championship – a fourth one – home for the Solberg family. That makes me very proud. I guess we still have one more step to make before I can really equal my dad, but tonight we will definitely be celebrating as world champions!”

Elliot Edmondson

“This one is definitely going to take a moment to sink in. I’ve been so impressed – not just on this rally but for the whole season – with how cool, calm and collected Oliver has been. We knew what we wanted to achieve this year, we knew how close we’d come last year, but we had a plan for 2025 and we stuck to it.

“Well, I say we stuck to it… winning Rally Estonia in a Rally1 car wasn’t part of the plan at the start of the season, but we’ll definitely take it! Like Oliver said, it’s been one very special year – but we still have more to achieve. I would like to thank him, the whole team and all of my family and friends for the support.”

 

Summary

What a drive then from the new leaders of this years world championship. Seb and Vincent had a very good drive to take their fifth victory this year. They did benefit from good road positions to take these wins, but nevertheless it has been quite remarkable.

 

For Elfyn and Scott though, this for me was an even better drive than their teammates. They opened the road throughout Friday and were even leading at the mid-day service on the first day. Then on Saturday’s first stage they moved up two positions in the first stage to hold third place before taking the lead in the last morning stage. They then continued to set great pace throughout Saturday’s stages finishing second overall at the end of the day. Then Sunday saw them take a stage win, their second of the rally and then finish second overall, securing very good points for their championship challenge. They are now just two points from the championship leaders as the next round moves to asphalt for two rounds.

 

Finally, Adrien and Alex had a great result taking a well-deserved podium. They’d lead a rally for the first time on the overnight halt from Friday to Saturday’s stages. Then in the morning stages on Saturday they lost time, but not as badly as their teammates and took a very good result, especially after they were ‘retired’ following the end of the last rally.

 

There is a gap now before the next round, the Central European Rally over the weekend of the 16 to 19 of October. The teams will use that time to head back to their bases and prepare for this event.

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers’ Standings
After round 11

1	S. Ogier	224
2	E. Evans	222
3	K. Rovanperä	203
4	O. Tänak	181
5	T. Neuville	166
6	T. Katsuta	94
7	A. Fourmaux	86
8	S. Pajari	70
9	O. Solberg	60
10	G. Munster	25

 

2025 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers’ Standings
After round 11

1	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team	572
2	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	447
3	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	157
4	Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team 2	111

The second full day then of this southern hemisphere springtime rally and the crews faced 139km’s over six stages which included the longest stage of the event at just a little under 30km’s. Ott and Martin returned to the action and would open the road.

 

First up then was SS7 Pelún 1 – 15.65 km and the rain which had been falling overnight was still falling. It would really make this first stage super tricky and slippery. Ott would set the pace despite opening the road, with Elfyn going second fastest just 1.4 seconds off the pace of the Estonian’s, whilst Kalle was third fastest. Elfyn and Scott’s pace brought them up two positions and into third overall as Seb and Sami slipped behind, now holding fourth and fifth respectively. Sadly, we lost two of the M-Sport crews as Josh and Alberto both had mechanical problems with their Puma’s. Greg was still running though, now in eighth place after being passed by Kalle after the Puma slid into a bank.

 

Onwards then into SS8 Lota 1 – 25.64 km and Ott was again fastest in the stage. There was no rain in this stage, but there were still sections with were damp. Kalle and Seb were second and third fastest. There were some changes on the leaderboard as Elfyn who set the fourth fastest time passed Thierry for second overall as the Belgian was around five seconds slower with the sixth best time. The Welshman’s pace took him and Scott really close to rally leaders Adrien and Alex, just nine tenths of a second now separating first and second positions. Also moving up the top ten were Kalle and Greg who both passed Takamoto as they moved into sixth and seventh respectively.

Now to the final stage of the morning loop and the longest stage of the whole weekend, SS9 María Las Cruces 1 – 28.31 km. Before the stage started Ott and Martin who were on their way to the start of the stage, then turned around and headed back to the service park. There was no problem with their car, and this was a decision it seemed to protect their car and look to Sunday’s stages and the points available. Kalle was fastest from Elfyn and Seb. Elfyn’s time saw him move into the lead passing Adrien, whilst Seb also moved into second overall. Adrien fell to third and Thierry was now fourth. The two Hyundai crews were not quite able to show the pace on this one.

 

Into the afternoon stages then, SS10 Pelún 2 – 15.65 km and Seb set the pace again from Elfyn and Thierry. It was an encouraging run from the Belgian crew who hoped that the afternoon would show that they were back on the pace after the struggles in the morning. With Seb setting the pace, he and Vincent halved the gap to Elfyn who remained 2.7 ahead of his teammate in the lead.

 

Onto the middle stage of the day then, SS11 Lota 2 – 25.64 km and Seb was again fastest from Elfyn and Sami. The Frenchman’s pace took him into the lead as Elfyn was 3.7 seconds slower with the gap now one second between them. The Hyundai crews really struggled on this one, going 7.8 and 10.3 seconds slower than Seb.

 

Onto the final stage of the day then, SS12 María Las Cruces 2 – 28.31 km and Seb was again fastest from Elfyn and Adrien who were 5.3 and 8 seconds slower than the leader. Thierry lost a huge 13.6 seconds in this one and was now over 40 seconds back from the lead.

 

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

1 S. Ogier V. Landais Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 2:23:13.9 2 E. Evans S. Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +6.3 3 A. Fourmaux A. Coria Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +26.8 4 T. Neuville M. Wydaeghe Hyundai i20 N Rally1 +41.7 5 S. Pajari M. Salminen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +50.4 6 K. Rovanperä J. Halttunen Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:23.2 7 T. Katsuta A. Johnston Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 +1:54.3 8 G. Munster L. Louka Ford Puma Rally1 +2:00.4 9 O. Solberg E. Edmondson Toyota GR Yaris +6:12.7 10 N. Gryazin K. Aleksandrov Škoda Fabia RS +6:42.9

 

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Sébastien Ogier

“I can be pleased to be in the lead tonight but not with my whole day. The conditions were not easy this morning and unfortunately I was not in the right rhythm in the first stage. I was just too cautious and lost a lot of time. That was a frustrating start, but we managed to react well and find a good rhythm. Elfyn was very strong in those conditions this morning, but we managed to turn it around in the afternoon. Tomorrow will still be very intense: the fight for the win is very much on and there are a lot of extra points to try and secure too. Every stage will be important, so I will need to be awake and on it from the first one.”

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a very positive day overall today. We had a really good run this morning in difficult conditions. It rained a lot overnight and during the first stage, and it was there where we were able to make the biggest difference, so I was happy with that. This afternoon the tyre wear wasn’t as bad as expected and I was maybe a bit conservative, especially at the start of the loop. Seb’s driven really well and taken some time back, but it’s still pretty close and all to play for tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to the fight.”

Sami Pajari

“This morning the conditions were surprisingly tricky. Like everyone, we were expecting the rain and the muddy sections, but the tyre wear was also quite high, and I quickly realised that I had to be clever and not just push like crazy everywhere. I don’t think we did too badly, and we were able to catch Thierry a little bit. I was hoping we could have done even more this afternoon, but we do have some new tyres available and will do all we can to try and catch him tomorrow.”

Kalle Rovanperä

“It was pretty good for us this morning when the rain came: in those conditions it was not so bad to be at the front of the pack and we were able to do some good times and catch up quite a lot. But after all, three cars running in front of us dropped out, the afternoon was tough as first car on the road. It was drying up a lot, especially the last stage, and with so much loose gravel we lost a lot of time. Hopefully everyone restarts tomorrow, and we have more cars in front of us and we’ll try to get what we can from the final day.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It was a difficult start today with the conditions. The first two stages of the loop were new for me, and we did the recce for them in fog, so it was not easy to trust the pacenotes and we had to accept that we would lose some time there. The last stage of the loop wasn’t so bad, so I knew that the pace was there, and the speed was quite OK in sections this afternoon too. Overall, I can’t be satisfied but the rally is not over yet and I’ll try to make tomorrow a good day.”

 

Hyundai Motorsport

Adrien Fourmaux

“We were aiming for the win here in Chile, and while today has been frustrating, the rally is not yet over. Let’s see what tomorrow brings – it will be a big fight with Séb and Elfyn, as well as Thierry. We gave it everything today, but the times just weren’t there; we are definitely missing something. However, I will not give up, and tonight we will try to improve the car to be on the pace tomorrow.”

Thierry Neuville

“I took a gamble this afternoon by running with one more soft tyre than Adrien, but the conditions were still humid and tricky. We were quicker on the first stage of the afternoon, but he was faster on the second. Ideally, I would have had four hard tyres on the final stage, and I lost a bit of time. Overall, today, I was on the limit and couldn’t have gone much faster. Tomorrow is going to be a close fight with Adrien, and we’re going to enjoy it.”

Ott Tänak

“We returned to service after the first two stages today to save the engine for tomorrow. We gained good data from this morning that will aid in our preparations for Sunday, where we are aiming to score as many points as possible. It is not the position we want to be in, but we will do everything in our power to get the best out of this event and the remaining rallies this season.”

 

Oliver Solberg

“There was quite a lot of rain around in the first stage this morning,” said Oliver. “It was quite muddy and dirty in places, but after that the road was drying quickly and we had to look after the tyre. I was maybe taking it a little bit too easy in some places.

“The middle stage this afternoon, I was a little bit cautious, so we were back pushing harder on the last one – just to keep the gap. Now the focus is on tomorrow and not taking any major risks. The team, Elliott, everybody has done a fantastic job, and it would be amazing to bring this thing home tomorrow.”

 

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle 54km’s over four stages. Can Elfyn and Scott pass their teammates and take victory, or will the French crew hold on and take another win? Can the Hyundai crews fight back after a poor Saturday?