World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans leads Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier by 17.8s into the final day of Rally Japan after Oliver Solberg crashed out of victory contention.
Evans headed into the longest leg of the rally with a 15.6s advantage over Solberg, but soon came under severe pressure from the Swede, who reduced the margin to 10.6s by midday.
Solberg however was unable to add to his pair of stage wins in the morning loop and make any further inroads. In stage 10 (Mt. Kasagi) he slid wide at a left-hander and clouted a tree which caused terminal damage to his GR Yaris’ right-rear suspension.
Evans admitted he lost time passing Solberg’s stricken car, but the Welshman remained composed across a punishing afternoon as rising temperatures and tyre wear became increasingly difficult to manage.
Evans responded on the second pass of Ena, going 3.1sec faster than Ogier, before adding another stage win on Obara to rebuild his lead to 20.0s. Evans dropped time in the Fujioka super special and came close to potentially throwing away his advantage in the second pass of the test, but avoided an Armco barrier by the smallest of margins.
“There was not a lot of room to spare there,” said Evans. “Obviously we need to carry on the same way, that’s all. Big day tomorrow.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“It’s been a tough event. A lot of different type of stages and all. Of course, you always want to be fastest on all of them. It’s been pretty good overall. There is still a long way to go tomorrow. And it’s all pretty close, so nothing is done yet.”
Solberg’s premature demise elevated Ogier to second position but the nine-time world champion surprisingly was unable to heap pressure on Evans.
Last year’s Rally Japan winner struggled to find the sweet spot in his GR Yaris, singling out problems in managing the tyres in the hot temperatures.
“It’s not what we were hoping [for],” said Ogier. “We came here to fight for the win and we’re not fighting. We had a similar rally to Elfyn, except for that one stage [Isegami’s Tunnel 1 on Friday]. It was tough and after that I never had the pace to fight back.
“We will still try something tonight [with the car] and I still have some ideas for tomorrow. I will never give up.”
Sebastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
Sami Pajari was among those to benefit from Solberg’s exit as the Finn slotted into third. Consistent outright speed had eluded Pajari until Saturday afternoon. The 24-year-old reeled off a trio of stage wins, claiming both passes of the Fujioka super special, and was fastest on Ena 2, ending the day 44.4s from Evans and 26.9s clear of Katsuta.
“I’m very pleased with the afternoon loop in general,” Pajari said. “I was hoping to find more pace and that’s exactly what we did. Taking a couple of stage wins, from that side it’s really okay.”
After what he described as his worst day of the season so far on Friday, Takamoto Katsuta produced a much better showing to end Saturday in fourth, 1m11.3s adrift of the lead.
The Japanese driver moved ahead of Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville in the morning and continued to edge closer to Pajari during the afternoon, although he admitted a podium push would require extra risk.
“I’m the same person, the same car,” Katsuta said. “Just a reset – that’s all.”
Adrien Fourmaux ended the day fifth as the leading Hyundai, albeit 2m05.2s from the lead. Team-mate Neuville dropped to sixth after struggling with car balance and an intermittent handbrake problem.
“Despite it being a difficult day we had some fun, pushing hard,” Neuville said. “We never found anything to make it work. Struggling with the feeling, feedback and balance.”
Hayden Paddon completed the day seventh in the third Hyundai, ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong, who reported improved confidence as the day progressed.
Nikolay Gryazin holds ninth overall and leads WRC2 by 5.7s from Alejandro Cachon after another close, day-long battle between the pair.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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