TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team arrives on home roads for Rally Japan on November 6-9 looking to celebrate its manufacturers’ title success in style while its drivers’ continue their thrilling championship fight.
The team secured the manufacturers’ crown for the fifth successive year at the previous round, the Central European Rally, which also set up an exciting showdown for the drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles over the two remaining rallies in Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Elfyn Evans, targeting his first drivers’ championship, has a lead of 13 points over two of his team-mates – eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier and two-time winner Kalle Rovanperä – who are tied on points following the latter’s win on the asphalt roads of Central Europe.
Evans has won the last two editions of Rally Japan, leading a TGR-WRT 1-2-3 ahead of Ogier and Rovanperä in 2023 before Ogier once more joined him on the podium in a one-two finish one year ago.
Takamoto Katsuta arrives at his home rally – where he finished on the podium at the first attempt in 2022 – boosted by a strong run to fourth place at the Central European Rally. TGR-WRT2 driver Sami Pajari contests the event in Rally1 machinery for the first time, a year after securing the WRC2 title on Rally Japan driving the GR Yaris Rally2 car.
Eight GR Yaris Rally2 cars are entered into this year’s event, representing over half of the Rally2 field, led by this year’s WRC2 champion Oliver Solberg (Printsport). Competing for WRC2 honours on this event will be three drivers run by Spanish team Teo Martín Motorsport – Jan Solans, Alejandro Cachón and Diego Domínguez – plus TGR WRC Challenge Program driver Yuki Yamamoto on his home event and a trio of regular competitors from the Japanese Rally Championship, including this year’s champion Heikki Kovalainen (Rally Team Aicello) as well as Norihiko Katsuta (LUCK with ROOKIE Racing) and Fumio Nutahara (Nutahara Rally Team).
Since returning to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar in 2022, Rally Japan has been held on mainly narrow and twisting asphalt roads in the forest-covered mountains of the Aichi and Gifu prefectures, around the city of Nagoya. The Toyota Stadium once more hosts the service park.
Shakedown and the opening competitive stage take place on Thursday at Kuragaike Park prior to a welcome show in the heart of Toyota City in the evening. Friday features a loop of three familiar stages to the east – Inabu/Shitara, Shinshiro and Isegami’s Tunnel – that will each be repeated following mid-day service. Saturday takes crews north-east for the new Obara stage plus more familiar Ena and Mt Kasagi tests, all of which will be repeated in reverse order after a tyre-fitting zone at Enakyo Park. A new super special stage in Toyota City rounds out the day.
Sunday’s final leg takes place towards the south-east near Okazaki, which hosts two passes of a super special and a tyre-fitting zone. These separate two runs over the Nukata and Lake Mikawako stages.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“Rally Japan is always an exciting and important rally for our team. This year, it’s great to be going there with the manufacturers’ championship secured, and to have the chance to celebrate that with all the Japanese fans. The fight for the drivers’ title is also now incredibly tight between our guys: Elfyn has been doing a great job and has won Rally Japan the last two years, but we also know that Seb will be very motivated to bounce back after Central Europe and that Kalle is looking very quick on asphalt at the moment. I think it’s a rally that any of them could win and it’s going to be exciting for everyone to follow. Of course, it’s also a very special rally for Taka and we hope he too can perform well.”