Rally Japan - SS1: Oliver Solberg off to a flying start

Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson took the lead in Rally Japan after the first special stage, Asuke, which was new to everyone. Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais set the third fastest time, while Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria were credited with the sixth best performance.

Published 29/05/2026 à 01:32

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Rally Japan – SS1: Oliver Solberg off to a flying start

It's through a special 100% new edition on this Rally Japan's Asuke (12,9 kilometers) was the starting point for the seventh round of the 2026 World Rally Championship. Patched due to overnight rain, the stage was nonetheless relatively dry and clean thanks to the already high temperatures affecting Japan. However, the stage still contained numerous hazards in several places. In this context, tire choices at the start of this first loop were mostly geared towards soft tires, except for Hayden Paddon and the two Ford Puma Rally1s of M-Sportwho had preferred to split the difference with three Soft tires and three Hard tires.

The first major story of this stage was the mistake made by local star Takamoto Katsuta, co-driven by Aaron Johnston. Having slightly slipped on the exit of a wet corner, the winners of Rally Kenya and Rally Croatia suffered a slow puncture on their left rear tire and consequently lost ground to their teammates. However, Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson had better luck: winners of the Monte Carlo Rally in their Toyota The two men in the GR Yaris Rally1 set the fastest time on the stage, ahead of Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) and the reigning World Champions. Sébastien Ogier – Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1). With Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin in 4th place, you have to look down to 5th place to find the first Hyundai i20N Rally1, that of Thierry Neuvillle and Martijn Wydaeghe.

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In WRC2, Alejandro Cachón and Borja Rozada were the quickest off the mark, putting their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at the top of the timesheets, 8 seconds ahead of Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale). The latter two were unhappy with their tire choice, as were Diego Domínguez and Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who were tied for second. Cachón had changed his tires before the start of the stage and thus fared better than Gryazin. It's worth noting that Romet Jürgenson and Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) set the second-fastest time in the Rally2 category, but are not competing in the WRC2 round this weekend.