WRC Rally Japan: Evans leads as Sordo sees fiery exit
11th November 2022Toyota’s Elfyn Evans leads the second day of Rally Japan as Hyundai’s Dani Sordo watches his car go up in flames, on the opening stage of the day.
How the morning unfolded…
The morning was filled with interruptions as the second stage of the day came to a blazing halt, thanks to Dani Sordo’s burning Hyundai. The Spaniard stopped out on the stage to contend with a fire which had erupted inside his right-rear tyre.
M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith was the first to approach the burning Hyundai. The Briton provided Sordo with his fire extinguisher as the Spaniard’s on-board canister was not enough to put the fire out. Despite the help, the two canisters were still not enough to control the blaze.
The Hyundai pairing of Sordo and Candido Carrera, his co-driver, were forced to yield defeat and established a safe distance from their burning wreck while Greensmith reversed his Rally1 Ford Puma away from danger.
Toyota’s newly-crowned champion, Kalle Rovanpera, managed to complete the first stage of the day before the stage was interrupted. As such, the Finnish driver quickly jumped to the top of the timing boards as his teammate, Sebastien Ogier, was forced to replace a tyre out on the course.
This dropped the eight-time world champion from the top of the timing sheets, following his SS1 stage win, down to bottom of the field – 2 minutes and 43 seconds off Rovanpera’s time.
As a result of Sordo’s inferno, SS3 was cancelled and the teams – and their drivers – headed to SS4: Shitara Town.
By the lunchtime service, the rally had a new leader in Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville who shared the top spot with Evans. Both drivers were equal on their overall times with an elapsed time of 34:21.6.
How the afternoon unfolded…
After a flawless morning, Evans soon became the one to beat. The Welshman hasn’t secured a win all season and the team will be hoping he will be the one to provide them with a win on home soil.
By the end of the day, Evans had established a three-second gap over Neuville.
Three Toyota’s lined-up the top five drivers, with Evans, Rovanpera and Takamoto Katsuta in P1, P3 and P5 respectively. While the Hyundai’s of Neuville (P2) and Ott Tanak (P4) filled in the gaps.
M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen saw a crashing end to his Rally Japan weekend as the Irishman crashed into the barrier on SS4, 5.5 miles into the stage. The Ford driver went in too quick, into a tight right-hander and crashed into the barrier before sliding down the hillside.
The Irish driver was fortunately stopped by a tree, on the other side of the barrier. Like Sordo before him, Greensmith was the first to arrive on the scene.
On the repeated loop, SS7 joined the third stage on being cancelled as a result of the damage sustained to the barrier following Breen’s incident.
Top three:
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai
- Kalle Rovanpera, Toyota
That’s all for the article; WRC Rally Japan: Evans leads as Sordo sees fiery exit! What did you think of Friday’s running? Let us know in the comments!
Read more WRC here:
- WRC Rally Japan: Sordo’s blazing car brings SS2 to a stop
- WRC Rally Japan: Ogier puts Toyota on top in day one
- WRC Rally Japan: Rally returns to Land of the Rising Sun
- How Rovanpera secured the title in New Zealand
- WRC Rally New Zealand – Day 3: Rovanpera clears out front after Greensmith crash
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