Relive the second day of the Rally Japan with live text commentary

Leading the overall standings by a second, Sébastien Ogier is indeed ahead of a very consistent Elfyn Evans before the start of the fifth special stage of this Rally of Japan. Leader of WRCThe Welshman is indeed participating in a three-way battle with his French competitor, but also alongside the local favorite, Takamoto Katsuta. The three drivers Toyota They are separated by only a few seconds, while Kalle Rovanperä has been eliminated from the race for victory. Losing nearly five minutes during SS3, the Finn made a costly mistake.

WRC – Rally Japan
Follow the second day with live commentary

9h00 - 👋 Thank you all for following us for this morning's loop! The Rally Japan will now resume late this Friday evening (French time), while the night's recap will be available – as it was this morning – this Saturday morning on AUTOhebdo.fr before the live text coverage of the upcoming stages!

8:59 am – 📊 Here are the standings after this seventh special stage of the Rally Japan!

8:58 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Nikolay Gryazin, 10,4 seconds behind Oliver Solberg, continues to express his discontent.

8:56 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Gus Greensmith is once again 11,7 seconds behind the Swede.

8:54 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Oliver Solberg is not slowing down on this day of Rally Japan! 10:00.9 for the Swede.

8:51 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Grégoire Munster reaches the finish line in 9:57.0.

8:49 p.m. – ES7 – ???? Adrien fourmaux confirms the statements of Thierry Neuville a few minutes before him: "To be honest, I really gave it my all. We took a step forward today."

8:47 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Fifth, 2,8 seconds behind the leader, and 2,7 seconds behind Adrien Fourmaux, Sami Pajari has some regrets after this special stage in difficult conditions.

8:45 p.m. – ES7 – 💬 Thierry Neuville indicated this a few minutes ago after the end of his attempt: "We are heading in the right direction." On Hyundai They made up for it after a mixed start to the Rally.

8:44 AM – SS7 – ⏱️ This stage is definitely full of surprises! Adrien Fourmaux is just a tenth of a second behind Elfyn Evans!

8:41 AM – SS7 – ⏱️ Takamoto Katsuta tightens the grip! The Japanese driver takes second place in this stage, just one-tenth of a second behind Elfyn Evans!

8:39 p.m. – ES7 – In conditions that are starting to become less bright, Takamoto Katsuta, Sami Pajari and Adrien Fourmaux are on the track!

8:38 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Thierry Neuville confirms Hyundai's deficit despite a strong finish to the stage. The Belgian completes the stage in 9:41.1, eight-tenths of a second behindOtt Tänak.

8:35 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Ott Tänak in 9:40.3, 5,6 seconds behind the leader.

8:33 p.m. – ES7 – 💬 Elfyn Evans hasn't given up hopes of victory at the end of this loop! "Seb is really fast this afternoon, but the rally is long; not too bad so far."

8:31 p.m. – ES7 – ⏱️ Leading in the first few kilometers, Kalle Rovanperä ultimately conceded 5,9 seconds behind Elfyn Evans.

8:29 AM – SS7 – ⏱️ Sébastien Ogier doesn't improve on the Welshman's time but remains close! He misses out by three tenths of a second to his rival, and maintains his overall lead while awaiting the other competitors.

8:27 – SS7 – ⏱️ Elfyn Evans sets the first mark in 9:34.7, but Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä are ahead!

8:25 p.m. – ES7 – Sébastien Ogier is seven tenths ahead of Elfyn Evans as they approach the final sections.

8:23 p.m. – ES7 – At this stage, the two drivers are roughly at the same pace, while Kalle Rovanperä is slightly ahead in the first two sections.

8:19 am – SS7 – Sébastien Ogier is off, leading this Rally!

8:16 am – SS7 – Elfyn Evans opens the road for this seventh special stage!

7h55 - 📊 The seventh special stage of this Rally Japan, measuring 17,41 km, is identical to SS3. The top three on SS3 were Takamoto Katsuta, Elfyn Evans, and Sébastien Ogier. Can the Japanese driver finally make up some of the time he lost today?

7h45 - 🕒 The next special will start at 8:16 AM (French time). It will be 16:16 PM in Japan.

7:41 a.m. – SS6 – 📊 Sébastien Ogier back in the lead, Elfyn Evans back on Takamoto Katsuta, here are the standings at the end of this sixth special stage.

7:39 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Alejandro Cachon, one second faster than his compatriot, says he is very happy with the behavior of his car, while his competitors appear particularly disappointed.

7:36 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Jan Solans gains six tenths on Nikolay Gryazin.

7:35 p.m. – ES6 –⏱️ Nikolay Gryazin does better than Gus Greensmith but is still nine seconds behind the WRC2 benchmark.

7:33 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Gus Greensmith in 10:55.1, continues to lose a lot of time behind Solberg.

7:30 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Olier Solberg sets the first time in WRC2: 10:43.8 for the Swede, who sees Nikolay Gryazin losing ground since the third section.

7:28 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Grégoire Munster significantly improves his effort on this special stage but still remains 18 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier.

7:25 am – SS6 – ⏱️ Sami Pajari accepts the challenge, and achieves the same time as Takamoto Katsuta! The Finn is 1,2 seconds ahead of Fourmaux.

7:24 p.m. – ES6 – For the Hyundai driver, the objective is clear: to stay ahead of Sami Pajari! The Finn is now approaching the final section.

7:22 – SS6 – ⏱️ Fourth in this special stage, Adrien Fourmaux completes his effort in 10:23.3. Eight tenths of a second behind Takamoto Katsuta.

7:21 p.m. – ES6 – 💬 Constantly nurturing high ambitions, the Japanese player states that he wants to finish the day in first place.

7:19 AM – SS6 – ⏱️Third, Katsuta Takamoto sets his benchmark time of 10:22.1, just behind Elfyn Evans! Two tenths of a second separate the two drivers!

7:16 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Fifth and sixth, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak are also more than 8 seconds behind Ogier and are behind Kalle Rovanperä.

7:14 p.m. – ES6 – While Adrien Fourmaux is nine tenths of a second behind the reference time after 6 km.

7:13 p.m. – ES6 – 💬 Kalle Rovanperä, not inclined to be optimistic after his mistake, explains his time loss during this special stage: "On the high-speed section, we don't have an optimal configuration."

7:10 p.m. – ES6 – For his part, Sébastien Ogier confirms that he pushed harder during this attempt, as during each of his second runs on a course.

7:08 p.m. – ES6 – ⏱️ Third, Kalle Rovanperä concedes 8 seconds to Sébastien Ogier and is provisionally ranked 3rd.

7:06 AM – SS6 – ⏱️ Logically faster than Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier regains a three-second lead over his rival!

7:04 AM – SS6 – ⏱️ First time set by Elfyn Evans: 10:21.9! Watch out for the Welshman, Sébastien Ogier is more than two seconds ahead of this mark!

7:00 p.m. – ES6 – Nine tenths of a second lead for Sébastien Ogier after 6 km, while Kalle Rovanperä begins his special stage.

6:58 p.m. – ES6 – The Frenchman is already four tenths ahead at the end of the second section.

6:56 am – SS6 – Leader of SS2 on this same route, Sébastien Ogier sets off!

6:53 am – SS6 – Elfyn Evans is off on this stage! The Welshman slides at the start but does not lose control of his car.

6h47 - 📊 The sixth special stage, Inabu / Shitara 2, covers 17,08 km. During SS2, Sébastien Ogier set the fastest time with a 10:20.9, ahead of Takamoto Katsuta.

6h33 - The next special stage will now start at 6:53 (French time).

6:27 AM – SS5 – 📊 Here are the results of this fifth special stage of the Rally Japan! Sébastien Ogier has a great advantage going into SS6!

6:25 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Alejandro Cachon is the first to get close to Oliver Solberg's time! Despite being 9,9 seconds behind, he is doing better than his competitors.

6:23 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Jan Solans is also 16 seconds behind in WRC2. A notable performance from Oliver Solberg!

6:21 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ In turn, Nikolay Gryazin is significantly behind Solberg: 18 seconds in this case.

6:19 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Gus Greensmith, already well behind Oliver Solberg, sets a time of 15:42.2

6:17 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Oliver Solberg sets an initial time of 15:18.0 in WRC2. The Swede is faster than Grégoire Munster.

6:15 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Grégoire Munster arrives in turn and completes his special stage in 15:21.1. 31 seconds behind the reference time.

6:14 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 For Sami Pajari, the situation is clear for the rest of the day: "I am surprised by the scale of our defeat; we must redouble our efforts in the next stage."

6:12 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 Very close to Sébastien Ogier for many kilometers, Adrien Fourmaux explains the gap at the end of the special stage: "I pushed a bit harder at the end because I was enjoying driving."

6:10 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Despite keeping pace for much of the stage, Sami Pajari crossed the finish line in fifth position, 9,1 seconds behind the leader.

6:08 AM – SS5 – ⏱️ Adrien Fourmaux is keeping pace with the other Hyundai drivers! Just 4 seconds behind his compatriot, he sits in 3rd position behind Ogier and Katsuta.

6:07 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 With the ambition of staying in touch with Sébastien Ogier, Takamoto Katsuta claims not to have taken any risks in the narrowest sections.

6:06 p.m. – ES5 – Just like Katsuta, Sami Pajari lost ground as he entered the second half of his run.

6:05 am – SS5 – ⏱️ Takamoto Katsuta is provisionally 2nd in this special stage, 3,2 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier!

6:03 p.m. – ES5 – Sami Pajari is slightly ahead of Takamoto Katsuta!

6:02 p.m. – SS5 – ⏱️ Thierry Neuville reaches the finish of the special stage in 15:05.8. 18 seconds behind for the Belgian.

6:01 p.m. – ES5 – Takamoto Katsuta has lost time on the benchmark. The Japanese rider is 1,5 seconds behind at the fifth section.

6:00 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 Ott Tänak notes improvements compared to his start to the Rally, but remains disappointed with the performance extracted this Japanese afternoon.

5:59 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ 15:00.4 for Ott Tänak, provisionally 3rd in this special stage, 12,6 behind Sébastien Ogier.

5:58 p.m. – ES5 – ⏱️ Kalle Rovanperä is 15 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier.

5:57 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 The Frenchman is nonetheless satisfied after his attempt: "The first attempt was cautious. Now I've accelerated. It was fun."

5:56 AM – SS5 – After 7 km, Takamoto Katsuta is slightly ahead of Sébastien Ogier! Six tenths of a second separate the Japanese driver and the Frenchman!

5:53 – SS5 – ⏱️ With a time set at 14:47.8, Sébastien Ogier takes a 6,5 second lead over Elfyn Evans!

5:51 p.m. – ES5 – 💬 Logically, the Toyota driver is disappointed with his pace at the end of this special stage: "I pushed hard, but I couldn't confirm it."

5:50 am – SS5 – ⏱️ 14:54.3, that's the time set by Elfyn Evans before Sébastien Ogier's arrival! The Welshman is improved compared to SS4 but it doesn't seem enough.

5:47 p.m. – ES5 – Kalle Rovanperä is four seconds behind at the third section.

5:45 p.m. – ES5 – In the position of follower of Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier is ahead of his pursuers in the first kilometers of this fifth special stage.

5:41 p.m. – ES5 – With a repaired car, Kalle Rovanperä begins his special stage.

5:37 p.m. – ES5 – Now it's Sébastien Ogier's turn to start.

5:35 AM – SS5 – Elfyn Evans is off in this special stage!

5h32 - 📹 Main image from this Japanese morning, rediscover the mistake made by Kalle Rovanperä during ES3.

SS3 was not kind to Rovanperä 😳#WRC | #RallyJapan 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/w1mTrFKDJM

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) November 7, 2025

5h31 - 📊 This fifth special stage takes place on the same road as the fourth. 19,66 km await the drivers.

5h30 - Hello everyone, welcome to AUTOhebdo.fr to follow this WRC Rally Japan! Before the start of SS5, a quick reminder of the standings at the end of the fourth stage.