Ogier heads Toyota 1-2-3 on WRC Rally Japan shakedown

Sebastien Ogier picked up from where he left off in Japan last season, the nine-time and reigning FIA World Rally champion setting the pace in Thursday morning’s shakedown ahead of Rally Japan.

Ogier’s victory on last year’s Rally Japan was his sixth win of the 2025 campaign. Then, the all-asphalt event occupied a late-season slot in the WRC calendar, meaning leaf-strewn, slippery surface conditions as the norm.

This year, it’s the seventh event of the 14-round WRC schedule, and while it’s still the final sealed-surface rally of the season, a move to a late-spring date means cleaner, drier stages and higher temperatures.

But despite the reboot on road conditions, the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver topped the times on the 1.57-mile Kurugaike Park test stage with a benchmark of 1m55.3s in his GR Yaris Rally1, exactly 1.0s faster than teammate and WRC points leader Elfyn Evans.

Sami Pajari completed a Toyota 1-2-3 with a time 0.5s back from Evans, while Adrien Fourmaux was best of the three-car factory Hyundai roster in fourth. The Frenchman’s i20 N Rally1 matched the 1m57.1s set by Takamoto Katsuta’s GR Yaris, the Japanese driver being classified fifth on his home event.

Ogier is running only a part-time campaign in 2026, with Japan as his fifth start of the season, but he made his intentions clear at the end of his opening run.

“The only thing that matters is I get the same result as last year, and I'm here for that,” said the fired-up 42-year-old French ace.

Evans starts the rally with a 12-point lead in the WRC drivers’ standings and will run first on the road for Friday’s first leg. But much of the attention from the enthusiastic Japanese fans will sit with Katsuta, who is second in the championship after two wins in the first half of the season and heads into the opening day’s stages right behind his teammate.

Katsuta, who finished on the podium when Rally Japan returned to the WRC calendar in 2022, acknowledged the spotlight he’s under, but insisted it would not change his approach.

"Of course it is a lot of pressure, but it’s nothing disturbing,” explained the 33-year-old native of the rally-hosting Aichi prefecture. “It’s a nice atmosphere and I need to push as much as possible. It’s not an easy rally, but I will try to bring the best result possible."

Josh McErlean was sixth fastest and best of the M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 drivers, albeit 2.1s off Ogier’s pace. Oliver Solberg followed in seventh, last of the five-car factory GR Yaris fleet, with Jon Armstrong eighth in the second Puma.

Hayden Paddon placed ninth in his third start of the season for Hyundai, one position ahead of teammate Thierry Neuville. The Belgian arrives in Japan fresh from victory at Rally Portugal earlier this month, but ended shakedown a perplexed 3.0s away from the outright pace.

Thierry Neuville was slowest of the Rally1 contenders on shakedown, the Belgian a perplexed 10th overall in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1. Red Bull Content Pool

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin was fastest of the class contenders as he seeks to give Lancia’s Ypsilon HF its third asphalt win of the season on the Italian marque’s return to the WRC. The Bulgarian-flagged driver stopped the clocks with a 2m00.8s run.

Based out of Toyota City, Rally Japan’s 20 special stages and 188.2 competitive miles begin with Friday’s opening leg that takes in six stages including the brand-new, 8.02-mile Asuke test and the 15.1 miles of the famous Isegami’s Tunnel. Saturday is the longest day, featuring eight stages and 74.7 competitive miles, with Sunday’s six-stage finale wrapping things up when the 8.69-mile Lake Mikawako test hosts the rally-ending, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage.

WRC Rally Japan, leading shakedown times/Thursday, May 28
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1m55.3s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1m56.3s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1m56.8s
4 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1m57.1s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1m57.1s
6 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1) 1m57.4s
7 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1m57.5s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) 1m57.7s
9 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1m57.9s 
10 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 1m58.3s
11 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon HF – WRC2) 2m00.8s 

• Catch WRC action from all rounds of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship on RACER Network and the RACER+ App. Tune in on Monday, June 1 at 9.00pm ET for full highlights from Rally Japan.  
• RACER Network is also your home for the WRC Magazine show. With new episodes landing on the Thursday before every WRC event, you can get up to speed for the all-asphalt action from Rally Japan on Thursday, May 28 at 10:30pm ET.   
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