Rally Japan - SS8: Elfyn Evans sets the fastest time

The provisional overall leader was fastest in the eighth stage of Rally Japan. He set the best time and now holds a 13,9-second lead over Oliver Solberg with one stage remaining in the first loop of the day.

Published 30/05/2026 à 02:43

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Rally Japan – SS8: Elfyn Evans sets the fastest time

The eighth special stage of this Rally The 21,16-kilometer stage in Japan was once again contested in ideal conditions for all crews, as Japan is bathed in sunshine this weekend: the ground temperatures forecast for the morning special stages are already high, around 30°C, although it is still early.

In this context, and although they had left it to their teammates to set the fastest time on the previous stage, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin this time placed the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 #33 tops the timesheets, 1,4 seconds ahead of Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson. As in the previous stage, Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais set the third fastest time in the special stage, 2,4 seconds behind Elfyn Evans and 1 second behind Oliver Solberg.

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Overall, the three crews mentioned earlier also find themselves in this order: Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin now hold a 13,9-second lead over their young teammates, while the gap between the leaders and the reigning World Champions has increased to 21,1 seconds. In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale) set the fastest time despite a minor collision on the previous stage, which apparently had no impact on the overall performance of their car, as the pair also regained the overall lead over Alejandro Cachón and Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) by 6 seconds.