Imperial Toyotas at the Rally Japan: Relive the first day with live text commentary

WRC – Rally Japan 
Relive the first stage with live text

9:48 AM – 👋🏻 Thank you for joining us to experience this second loop of the Rally Live from Japan! Stay tuned throughout the day on our website, social media, and YouTube channel for driver reactions after this first stage. Join us again tomorrow from 06:00 AM for live text commentary right here!

9:47 – 👀 Before we part ways, a look at the WRC2 standings at the end of this first day.

9:45 – 🇯🇵 Third fastest time for Yuki Yamamoto, who therefore secures his provisional 3rd place in WRC2 at the end of the first stage with a 9,8 second lead over Dominguez!

9:42 – 🇪🇸 Provisional fastest time for Alejandro Cachón in WRC2, who regains the lead and now holds an 8,3-second advantage over Nikolay Gryazin! We now have to wait for Yuki Yamamoto to see who will finish the day in 3rd place, as the Japanese driver is battling with Diego Dominguez.

9:36 – 📊 As well as the overall standings at the end of this first stage of the rally.

9:35 – 📊 All the Rally1 cars have finished, let's check the special stage standings in the category:

9:29 – 🧇 Thierry Neuville en also finished in 10:28.4, as did Paddon in 10:39.9. The drivers M-Sport Then those from Rally2 are now expected.

9:24 a.m. – 🇫🇷 Sébastien Ogier He finished the day by setting the 2nd fastest time on the special stage, just 4 tenths of a second behind Sami Pajari! Overall, he is now 1,4 seconds behind Oliver Solberg and has increased his lead over Pajari.

9:22 AM – 🚨 The provisional scratch time goes to Sami Pajari as expected, who sets an impressive 10:22.8, 2,9 seconds faster than Oliver Solberg!

9:21 a.m. – 🇫🇷 Adrien fourmaux arriving in 10:28.8, fourth provisional time, 3,6 seconds behind Solberg in this special stage.

9:20 – 📊 15,7 seconds, that is the gap in the general classification at the end of this stage between Elfyn Evans, the leader, and Oliver Solberg, his runner-up.

9:18 AM – ✔️ Solberg finishes in 10:25.2 with the new provisional best time of the special stage, no fourth best time for Evans!

9:18 AM – 🚨 Sébastien Ogier and Sami Pajari are doing a great job on this stage. The Frenchman had a six-tenths of a second lead over Evans after 6,43 kilometers, while Pajari is 3,5 seconds faster than the Welshman after 13,06 kilometers!

9:16 – ✔️ Takamoto Katsuta finishes in 10:27.8, 2,1 seconds slower than Elfyn Evans.

9:14 am – 🔥 17 seconds improvement compared to the first run for Elfyn Evans, who improves and sets a first benchmark of 10:25.7!

9:13 AM – 🟢 Finally, some green with Sami Pajari, who outperforms Elfyn Evans in the first sector, being six-tenths faster than the Welsh driver. Let's see… At the same time, Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais set off.

9:11 – 🇫🇮 Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen start the special stage. Evans confirms his pace, putting a strain on the gaps for all his rivals! Katsuta is one second behind after 9,48 kilometers.

9:09 AM – 🇫🇷 Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria are now off. Elfyn Evans has set a blistering pace: 4 tenths of a second faster than Solberg at the first split!

9:07 – 🇸🇪 As Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson set off, Katusta had already conceded half a second at the first intermediate checkpoint (3,59km) to Elfyn Evans…

9:05 – 🇯🇵 Now it's the turn of local star Takamoto Katsuta and his co-driver Aaron Johnston to take off. Starts every two minutes today, as a reminder.

9:03 AM – 🚥 The SS6 has officially begun for Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, who have just started. Following them in order: Katsuta, Solberg, Fourmaux, Pajari, Ogier, Neuville, Paddon, Armstrong, McErlean.

9:00 – 🤯 In WRC2, it's incredibly close between Nikolay Gryazin and Alejandro Cacón right now. The two men are separated by only one second, it's no joke!

8:59 – 📊 This morning, as a reminder, Elfyn Evans set the fastest time on SS3 (the run through the upcoming stage will be shown shortly). Sébastien Ogier set the second fastest time ahead of Thierry Neuville. Will the Welshman take his fourth stage win of the weekend?

8:58 – 🛞 A quick reminder of the tire choices made by the competitors of WRC on this second loop of the day. Unsurprisingly, with high temperatures, the competitors mostly opted for the Hard notch of Hankook.

8:53 AM – ⏰ Just 10 more minutes to wait before the start of the sixth special stage of Rally Japan. Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin will be the first to set off on the second pass through Inabu/Shitara, a 17,03-kilometer stage. A quick look at the overall Top 10 after SS5 👇🏻

8:27 a.m. – We'll meet again at 9:03 a.m. French time for SS6, the last special stage of the day! To help pass the time, we invite you to watch the drivers' best memories on Asphalte, interviewed by our special correspondent Pierre Barré. 

 

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8h25 - In WRC2, the match continues between the Toyota Alejandro Cachon and Nikolay Gryazin's Lancia. The Bulgarian is currently the fastest on the stage, 2.7 seconds ahead of his rival. This allows Gryazin to regain the overall lead, which he had relinquished to Cachon after SS4. There is exactly one second between the two men, who are currently in a class of their own!

8h19 - 🏆The general classification after SS5: 

8:17 p.m. – 🏁​ Elfyn Evans confirms his stage win, cementing his lead in the Rally Japan! Here are the results for SS5 in Rally1.

8h15 - 🇧🇪 Thierry Neuville explains that he struggles with the hard tires: « I'm on the limit everywhere. Everywhere I have to slow down to be able to turn. I can't do any more. It's like yesterday in the Shakedown – once we're on the hard tires, the balance is lost. There's not much we can do. It's been the same story with this car from the start. It's not made to go fast in these conditions.

8:13 a.m. – 🇫🇷   Adrien Fourmaux loves this special stage in the Isegami tunnel, even if it hasn't really brought him luck: "This stage is incredible. So enjoyable to drive. Really demanding. You have to manage the tires, the brakes. You can't really push it, it kills everything. We didn't manage it well."

8h11 - 🇧🇪 It's a long way for Thierry Neuville, who concedes 22 seconds over 24 kilometers… As we told you a few minutes ago, the Hyundai are struggling. The Belgian is now 5th overall, 11 seconds behind Sami Pajari, whom he was ahead of before SS5.

8:10 AM – 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 So it will be the scratch for Elfyn Evans, the third in five stages, but we will still wait for the last Rally1 drivers to pass. 

8:08 a.m. – 🇫🇷Sébastien Ogier loses a little over two seconds to Elfyn Evans. The Frenchman remains third overall, now 19.6 seconds behind. Nothing insurmountable, rest assured! 

8h06 - The provisional standings after the arrival of the first five drivers:

8h05 - Okay, now we're waiting for Sébastien Ogier, but things haven't been great at the intermediate stages so far…

8:04 a.m. – 🇫🇷Adrien Fourmaux finishes 15 seconds behind Elfyn Evans. As with the other Hyundai drivers, the start of the rally is difficult for the driver from northern France. 

8:02 AM – 🇸🇪 Oliver Solberg finishes in SS5! The Swede was faster than Evans over the first 13 kilometers, but he lost some time in the second part of the stage and lost an additional 1.1s.

8:01 AM – 🇯🇵 Takamoto Katsuta loses 13 seconds to Elfyn Evans at the finish… A difficult start to the home rally for the Japanese driver, already more than a minute behind the leader.

7:58 PM – ⏱️ Elfyn Evans sets the first benchmark time of 18:15.0, 45 seconds faster than this morning's first run, where he was the fastest!

7h56 - Elfyn Evans passes the 20km mark. Only four more to go!

7h54 - And it's fast for Oliver Solberg who has a 1.3s lead over Elfyn Evans at the halfway point.

7h52 - Oliver Solberg has just passed through the legendary tunnel of this SS5. He is approximately halfway through.

7h50 - The TV broadcast is chaotic at the moment, the cameras are jumping around a lot…

7:46 a.m. – After winning both runs on the Asuke special stage, Oliver Solberg is now on track.

7h45 - Here is the summary of ES4, in case you weren't in front of your television.

Rally Japan – SS4: Oliver Solberg sets the fastest time, Sébastien Ogier stays close

7h44 - After SS4, here is the standings for Rally Japan, dominated by Evans.

7h43 - The first two in the championship, Elfyn Evans and then Takamoto Katsuta, have started this SS5.

7:40 AM - Hello everyone! Welcome to AUTOhebdo.fr to follow together the end of the first stage of the Rally Japan, the last asphalt race of the season already!