There was hardly a better way for Toyota to close the World Rally Championship (WRC) season. Elfyn Evans secured victory in the Rally of Japan on Sunday, with the entire podium occupied by drivers from the manufacturer, in addition to clinching the distinction of vice-champion.
On the final day of the race and the season, six stages were contested. The favoritism was with Evans, who had a lead of over a minute. A margin that continued to extend during the first part of Sunday, despite Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) winning SS 17 and 18 before Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) set the pace in SS 19.
It was in SS 20 (Ena City 2) that Evans lost ground to Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) for the first time on this last day, but he made up for it in the next stage. Neuville and Katsuta were the fastest, respectively. The Power Stage remained, and all Evans had to do was stay clear of major problems.
Neuville set the pace, beating Ott Tänak (M-Sport Ford) by 2.4s, which allowed him to score five points in a race where he had already retired on Friday. Esapekka Lappi (Hyundai) was third in the stage, followed by Katsuta and Ogier. Seventh place was more than enough for Evans to win the rally 1m17.7s ahead of Ogier. Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), who was already champion before this round, completed the podium in third – ahead of Lappi and Katsuta, with Tänak finishing sixth in his farewell to M-Sport Ford.
In WRC2, Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda) only didn’t set the pace in the last two stages of the day, won by Nikolay Gryazin (Skoda). Still, the already champion managed a clear victory 1m15.9s ahead of the Russian… who prevailed in the WRC2 Challenger. He achieved a clean sweep of stage wins in the category this Sunday to secure the final victory 10m36.3s ahead of Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda) – who clinched the WRC2 Challenger title. Jason Bailey, the only WRC3 driver, finished 22nd overall.
Rally summary
The first leader of the Rally of Japan was Neuville, who set the pace on Thursday in the first of three passes through the super-special stage at the Toyota Stadium. The next day, with treacherous conditions due to rain, proved to be a nightmare for several of the contenders for the top positions. Evans took the lead in SS 2 (Isegami’s Tunnel 1), in which there were two accidents: Dani Sordo (Hyundai) and Adrien Fourmaux (M-Sport Ford).
At an early stage, there were two Rally2 cars in the top five overall, while the Rally1 drivers had some problems – Tänak suffered technical setbacks that delayed him, while in SS 5, Ogier hit a barrier and fell behind. In the next stage, Neuville had an incident that took him out of the race.
Evans, who did not get involved in major problems, was not affected by the situation and continued to distance himself in the lead, even without winning many stages, ending Friday with a lead of almost two minutes over Ogier – who managed to recover to second despite being delayed by a one-minute penalty.
Yesterday, the Frenchman gradually approached, while Evans seemed to be more in management mode, since with the progress he had made and the difficult conditions, the most important thing was not to take unnecessary risks. Even so, the British arrived on the last day with a lead of over a minute, which he gradually extended throughout this Sunday.
In the end, Evans beat Ogier by 1m17.7s, achieving not only his third victory of the season, but also the runner-up position. Rovanperä, who also fell behind in the early stages, managed to finish the season with a third-place podium, ahead of Lappi who was a constant presence in the fight for the top five… as well as Katsuta, who narrowly missed an exclusive top four for Toyota, despite showing good speed in his home stages. After falling behind in the early stages, Tänak could only manage sixth place, in a somewhat bitter farewell from M-Sport Ford.
Seventh overall was Mikkelsen, who had a clear victory in the WRC2. The Norwegian dominated the category in which he was already champion, never allowing the opposition to threaten him. Gryazin, the initial leader of the class, was the first leader, but from SS2 onwards it was always Mikkelsen at the top ahead of the Russian. The latter, in turn, dominated the WRC2 Challenger, in which initially Heikki Kovalainen (Skoda) was his main pursuer, although at a considerable distance.
The former Formula 1 driver was out of the fight for the WRC2 and WRC2 Challenger podiums when he suffered transmission problems in SS14. From then on, Kajetanowicz was the main pursuer of Gryazin in the Challenger, but at multiple minutes away, unable even to dream of catching up with the rival under normal conditions. Osama Fukunaga (Skoda) closed the podium and imposed himself in the WRC Masters Cup. Bailey, the only one starting in WRC3, had a solid Rally Japan without major setbacks and frequently within the top 25 overall to finish 22nd.
Final top ten:
