Rally Japan – SS9: New fastest time for Oliver Solberg, Elfyn Evans still leads

The ninth special of Rally Japan marked the final stretch of the morning loop for this second leg of the rally. Oliver Solberg had already distinguished himself by setting the fastest time on SS7, a performance subsequently matched by Elfyn Evans in SS8. For this first run through Mt. Kasagi (19,32 kilometers), a stage that proved more problematic than anticipated, with almost all the crews complaining of poor driving conditions, it was Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson who had the honor of setting the fastest time. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, for their part, recorded the third fastest time in the time trial.

With this new fastest time, crew #99 closes the gap to 10,6 seconds behind Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, who remain leaders of Rally Japan after these first three stages of the day. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais finished the morning loop 20,1 seconds behind Evans and Martin, and 9,5 seconds behind Solberg and Edmondson. Further down the standings, Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen remain in 4th place, now with Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston right behind them. The gap between the two crews is 18,4 seconds, allowing Toyota to place… his five cars in the top five positions in the hierarchy, on his home turf.

Rally Japan: Adrien Fourmaux the best of the rest

In what could be called the "Cup" Hyundai » Adrien fourmaux Alexandre Coria and Alexandre Coria are in the lead. The two men finished the morning loop in 6th place overall, ahead of their teammates. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe by just 6,8 seconds. However, Thierry Neuville complained of a technical problem on his i20N Rally1, which he will have to try to resolve during the upcoming Tire Fitting Zone, a remote service area where mechanical interventions are limited. At Hyundai, if things return to normal, they will have to be content with this internal battle, in which Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, on the other hand, will not really be able to participate: the two men are now nearly one minute and twenty seconds behind Neuville and Wydaeghe. Following behind the three Hyundais are the two Ford Puma Rally1s of M-Sport, first that of Jon Armstrong – Shane Byrne then that of Josh McErlean – Eoin Tracy.

WRC2: Nikolay Gryazin leads at Rally Japan

The other news from the morning loop concerns WRC2, where Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) have regained the lead in the provisional overall standings from Alejandro Cachón and Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2). However, things could have turned out differently for the Russian driver competing under the Bulgarian flag, who went off the road in SS7, damaging his right front suspension. Fortunately for him, this did not affect his performance, and he now holds a 6,4-second lead over his Spanish rival. Third place in the standings is currently held by local driver Yuki Yamamoto, co-driven by James Fulton (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2).

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