Elfyn Evans secured a 17.8‑second advantage over teammate Sébastien Ogier heading into the final day of Rally Japan after Oliver Solberg’s Toyota GR Yaris suffered terminal rear‑suspension damage.
Evans stretches lead while Solberg’s rally ends abruptly
Entering the longest leg, Evans held a 15.6‑second cushion over the Finn, but Solberg narrowed the gap to 10.6 seconds before crashing at the Mt. Kasagi left‑hander, slamming into a tree and wrecking the right‑rear suspension. Passing the stricken car cost Evans time, yet he kept composure as temperatures rose and tyre wear intensified.
On the second Ena pass, Evans out‑paced Ogier by 3.1 seconds and later claimed the Obara stage, expanding his lead to 20.0 seconds. A near‑miss at the Fujioka super‑special saw him thread the smallest margin past an Armco barrier, prompting Evans to note the limited margin for error and the need to maintain his pace tomorrow.
Ogier battles tyre degradation, fails to pressure leader
The nine‑time champion, last year’s Rally Japan winner, struggled to locate optimal grip in the hot conditions, conceding that tyre management hampered his ability to challenge Evans. “We came here to fight for the win and we’re not fighting,” Ogier admitted after a solid but unthreatening performance.
Despite experimenting with setup adjustments for the night, Ogier’s pace on the Isegami Tunnel 1 stage proved insufficient to close the gap, leaving him in a static second place.
Pajari, Katsuta and other contenders climb the standings
Sami Pajari capitalized on Solberg’s exit, delivering three consecutive stage victories, including both Fujioka passes and a win on Ena 2, finishing 44.4 seconds behind Evans and 26.9 ahead of Takamoto Katsuta. The 24‑year‑old praised the afternoon loop for finally delivering the pace he sought.
Katsuta rebounded from a difficult Friday to secure fourth place, 1 minute 11.3 seconds off the lead, while overtaking Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville in the morning. He acknowledged that a podium bid would demand additional risk.
Adrien Fourmaux rounded out the top five as the leading Hyundai, 2 minutes 5.2 seconds down, with Neuville dropping to sixth after dealing with car balance issues and an intermittent handbrake fault. Behind them, Hayden Paddon held seventh, and M‑Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong reported growing confidence through the day. In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin led the class by 5.7 seconds over Alejandro Cachón after a tightly fought battle.
With Evans poised to start the final stage on a sizable margin, the remaining contenders must extract every ounce of performance from their GR Yaris and Hyundai machines before the rally concludes tomorrow.
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