Rally Japan – SS19: Fastest time for Oliver Solberg, Sébastien Ogier doesn't give up!

After four special stages run this morning, having seen Sébastien Ogier (twice), Takamoto Katsuta and Oliver Solberg won them, the competitors entered in this Rally The Japanese drivers returned to the service area and were able to make a final tire choice for the last two stages of the rally. Unsurprisingly, and as was the case this morning, the hard tires were unanimously chosen by the entire field.

As was the case on their first run through this special stage, Oliver Solberg and Elliott Edmondson set the fastest time, extending their lead in the Super Sunday standings over their rivals and teammates from Toyota Gazoo Racing. The second fastest time on the stage went to Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston, who were currently second in Super Sunday at the time of writing. But the main takeaway from this stage was the third fastest time set by Sébastien Ogier and Vincent Landais, 2,2 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. While the latter two retain their overall lead, they will only have a 13,3-second advantage going into the Power Stage: they cannot afford any mistakes!

Behind the Toyotas, the Hyundai continue on their merry way with Adrien fourmaux – Alexandre Coria in 5th place, Thierry Neuville Martijn Wydaeghe finished 6th and Hayden Paddon and John Kennard seventh. The other major topic of conversation this weekend concerns WRC2, where Nikolay Gryazin and Konstantin Aleksandrov now hold only a 2,8-second lead over Alejandro Cachón and Borja Rozada. The latter, driving their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, delivered a perfect SS19, setting the 10th fastest time overall, ahead of Thierry Neuville. We will therefore have to wait to see the final standings in both the top category and WRC2. In WRC3, however, things are a bit clearer, as the French duo of Ghjuvanni and Ghjuvanni are in 6th place. Rossi – Kylian Sarmezan was still in the lead at the end of the previous loop in the Ford Fiesta Rally3 of Chazel Technologie Course.

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WRC – Rally Japan
The classification of ES19 (Rally1)

The overall standings after SS19 (Rally1)

The overall standings after SS19 (WRC2)