Evans heads Toyota sweep on Rally Japan, extends WRC points lead

Elfyn Evans claimed his third Rally Japan victory on Sunday and extended his FIA World Rally Championship points lead with a controlled drive on Toyota Gazoo Racing’s home roads.

The Welshman (above) took the lead of the WRC’s final all-asphalt event of the season on Friday morning’s second stage. After that, he led all the way in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, beating teammate and 2025 Rally Japan winner Sebastien Ogier by 12.8s after 20 tight and twisty asphalt stages in the Aichi and Gifu prefectures.

Sami Pajari completed the all-Toyota podium, 51.4s off the lead, with local hero Takamoto Katsuta fourth as the Japanese marque locked out the top four places on its home event.

Evans’ win was his second of the season and also marked his 50th career WRC podium. It moves him to 151 points in the drivers’ standings, 20 clear of Katsuta after seven of the season’s 14 rounds.

“What a great weekend,” said Evans. “I have to say a huge thanks to the team – amazing car again on [asphalt,] and thank you to [Toyota president Akio Toyoda] for all your support. Hopefully, this win is a token of appreciation.

“There’s a long way to go in the championship yet. It’s too early to really talk about [the title], but we have to just enjoy this win.”

Evans built the foundation for victory on Friday morning, when a decisive run through the rally’s signature stage, 15.1-mile Isegami’s Tunnel, moved him into the lead. From there, he managed changing grip, rising temperatures across the event’s new late-spring slot, and sustained pressure from his Toyota teammates in the final asphalt event for the current breed of Rally1 machinery.

Elfyn Evans led a Toyota top-four lockout on the Japanese marque’s home event. It was his third Rally Japan win. Red Bull Content Pool

Oliver Solberg had been Evans’ closest challenger on Saturday morning, reducing the gap to 10.6s before crashing his GR Yaris out of the lead fight on the afternoon’s opening Mt. Kasagi stage.

That promoted Ogier to second and left Evans to control the gap to the nine-time and reigning WRC champ. The Frenchman continued to push through Sunday’s final six stages, trimming the margin to 13.3s ahead of the rally-ending, bonus-points paying Wolf Power Stage, but Evans had enough in hand to secure his third Rally Japan win in four years.

Ogier, who’d set fastest time in the pre-event shakedown test, admitted the rally hadn’t delivered the fight he wanted, his challenge effectively shaped by time lost in Friday’s first pass of Isegami’s Tunnel.

“I know the reason, but that’s the way it is,” he said. “Didn’t manage it this weekend, but not a bad rally either. The gap to Elfyn was made in one stage with the road position. The rest was, even with the struggle, not far away.”

Pajari completed the top three after a strong second half of the rally. The 24-year-old Finn claimed several stage wins across Saturday and Sunday in his GR Yaris to secure his fifth podium from seven WRC starts this season.

“The feeling is good and it is nice to get back on the podium,” said Pajari, who is still looking for his breakthrough overall WRC win. “It was a shame we lost that [podium] in Portugal [last time out] as it would have been a good streak. It’s a big shame that it is the last rally for these [Rally1] cars on [asphalt.]”

Katsuta finished fourth, 12.1s behind Pajari after a determined final day push in front of his home fans. The Japanese Toyota driver won the first pass of the 8.69-mile Lake Mikawako stage and was second fastest on the Super Sunday classification and the closing Wolf Power Stage, but early confidence struggles during a disappointing Friday leg had left him too much to recover.

“Sorry for the Japanese fans,” said Katsuta, whose hero status in Japan had reached new levels after his 2026 wins in Kenya and Croatia. “We are not able to even take a podium, but my dream continues and I keep pushing. I’ll try next year to get a victory for you.”

Adrien Fourmaux finished fifth overall, best of the trio of factory Hyundai i20 N Rally1s, albeit 2m34.8s from the lead. His teammate, 2024 WRC champ Thierry Neuville, completed a difficult weekend in sixth after struggling to find the balance to push, with part-timer Hayden Paddon bringing the third i20 N home seventh.

Jon Armstrong finished eighth for M-Sport Ford on his Japanese debut, two spots ahead of his teammate Josh McErlean. Second-year Puma Rally1 driver McErlean had worked his way back into the overall top 10 after losing time to a wheel change on Saturday.

Jon Armstrong finished eighth overall for M-Sport Ford in a rally where, if you weren’t in a Toyota, you weren’t really in with a chance. Red Bull Content Pool

Solberg, who rejoined the rally for the final leg, salvaged maximum bonus points from a frustrating weekend by winning the Super Sunday classification and the Wolf Power Stage in his rebuilt GR Yaris. The Swede topped the final-day classification by 8.6s from Katsuta and was fastest on the Wolf Power Stage by 1.1s.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Nikolay Gryazin claimed his maiden victory for WRC returnee Lancia after fending off a spirited Alejandro Cachon challenge.

The Ypsilon HF driver started the final day with a slender 5.7s advantage over Cachon’s Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, but saw that margin reduced to 4.2s after the opening pass of Nukata.

Gryazin responded on the following Lake Mikawako test to push the gap back beyond five seconds, where it remained through both runs of the 1.59-mile Kuragaike Park super special. On the first pass, the pair couldn’t be split, setting identical times.

Cachon began his final push for back-to-back Japan victories on the penultimate stage, going 2.9s faster than Gryazin to reduce the gap to just 2.8s ahead of the Wolf Power Stage.

“It feels like a proper push,” said the Spaniard. “I’m going to win, I’m completely sure. It will be epic.”

But the prediction failed to come true. Cachon caught a wheel in a drainage ditch on the final stage, spinning his Yaris and nudging a tree. Although the damage was only cosmetic and he was able to continue, the incident ended his hopes of victory and left Gryazin to win by 18.3s.

Nikolay Gryazin soaked up the pressure until the final stage to deliver Lancia the WRC2 class win in Japan. Red Bull Content Pool

Next up, the WRC heads into the second half of its season at next month’s Acropolis Rally Greece, June 25-28. One of the championship’s most iconic events, the Loutraki-based car-breaker begins a long run of gravel fixtures.

WRC Rally Japan, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS20
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3h17m08.0s
2 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +12.8s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +51.4s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m03.5s
5 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m34.8s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m13.6s
7 Hayden Paddon/John Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +4m44.8s
8 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +5m45.2s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2 – WRC2 winner) +9m21.3s
10 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy (Ford Puma Rally) +9m23.0s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 7 of 14 rounds
1 Evans 151 points
2 Katsuta 131
3 Oliver Solberg 102
4 Pajari 96
5 Ogier 90
6 Fourmaux 89   WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 7 of 14 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 370 points   
2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 243 
3 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 106
4  M-Sport Ford 85 

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