Elfyn Evans ended a tricky opening day of FORUM8 Rally Japan with a 15.7-second lead as Toyota Gazoo Racing filled the top four places on Friday evening.
The championship leader made the most of a clean road position and a composed day on Aichi’s narrow asphalt stages to head team-mate Oliver Solberg, with defending Rally Japan winner Sébastien Ogier just 1.4 seconds further back in third.
Sami Pajari completed Toyota’s top-four lockout, 41.5 seconds from the lead, after winning the day’s final stage on Inabu / Shitara.
Evans had been fourth-fastest on the brand-new Asuke opener, where overnight rain left damp patches under the trees and immediately made tyre choice difficult. But his day turned on the first pass of Isegami’s Tunnel, where he produced a decisive time 7.5 seconds faster than anybody else to move into the lead.
From there, the Welshman kept the rally under control. He added another stage win on the morning’s Inabu / Shitara test, then protected his margin across the afternoon repeat loop as conditions became drier but remained unpredictable in places.
“Road position. It is always road position,” Evans said after the final stage. “It has been an okay day for us overall. It has been relatively clean and we managed to keep a good rhythm, so other than that it has been okay.”
Solberg had made the perfect start by winning Asuke and later repeated that success on the afternoon pass, but lost time on SS3 when he slowed to avoid a deer on the road. A late moment on the final stage went unpunished and he reached the overnight halt second overall.
“It was a horrible stage,” Solberg admitted at the end of SS6. “I had way too many small mistakes. That was probably the worst stage today. I was a bit surprised by the time. I’m very disappointed. I’m a bit sad today. Instead of being 16 seconds behind, it could have been 10 seconds, but that’s life.”
Ogier, who won FORUM8 Rally Japan last year, spent much of the day chasing a better feeling from his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. The nine-time world champion was frustrated by his road position after dropping 16.7 seconds to Evans on the morning pass of Isegami’s Tunnel, then kept Solberg under pressure through the afternoon to end Friday 17.1 seconds off the lead.
“Not ideal for sure,” Ogier said. “We were hoping for better. We did what we could. We still have to work to find the sweet spot in the car. I was fighting it all day.”
Pajari was fifth at midday but moved ahead of Thierry Neuville during the afternoon and signed off with the fastest time on SS6. The Finn is 24.4 seconds behind Ogier and 16.7 seconds clear of Neuville heading into Saturday.
Neuville ended the day as the leading Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team driver in fifth, 58.2 seconds from Evans. The Belgian showed competitive speed in the damp and greasy sections but struggled for balance once conditions dried and he switched to the hard compound Hankook tire.
“Once we are on the hard tyre the balance is gone,” said Neuville. “It is the same story with this car. This car is not meant to go fast in these conditions.”
Home hero Takamoto Katsuta endured a frustrating start to the rally he wants to win most. The Japanese driver clipped a bank on a damp right-hander in the opening stage and picked up a left-rear puncture, then struggled for confidence through the morning before ending the day sixth overall, 1 minute and 3.8 seconds from the lead.
“It was one of the worst days I have had,” Katsuta said. “It is very bad and it was very frustrating. There are still two days to go.”
Adrien Fourmaux holds seventh after a difficult day in the second Hyundai. The Frenchman spun at a hairpin on the morning pass of Isegami’s Tunnel and never found the balance he wanted, while teammate Hayden Paddon completed his first day on the asphalt version of FORUM8 Rally Japan in eighth.
Jon Armstrong is ninth for M-Sport Ford, despite grazing a barrier on the afternoon Asuke stage and later battling an intercom issue. Team-mate Josh McErlean lost more than two and a half minutes when he stopped to change a front-right puncture on SS5 and lies 15th.
Alejandro Cachón completes the top 10 overall and leads WRC2 by 8.3 seconds from Nikolay Gryazin after a day-long fight between the pair. Gryazin had reclaimed the category lead on the second pass of Isegami’s Tunnel, but Cachón moved back ahead on the final stage of the day.
