WRC Rally Japan: Neuville tops rally to hinder Toyota’s chances
12th November 2022Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville jumped to the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, to hamper the Japanese team’s chance to win on home soil, in Rally Japan.
How the morning unfolded…
Evans remained a force to be reckoned with as the Welshman extended his rally lead by securing the first stage win of the day, on SS8 – Nukata Forest 1. The Toyota driver topped the course with a 14:17.1, 2.9 seconds quicker than his closest rival, Neuville.
Although Sebastien Ogier’s chances to secure back-to-back wins in Japan – albeit, 12 years apart – appeared to be slim the Frenchman was on resurging form after his early drama on stage two, on Friday morning.
The Toyota driver occupied a place the top three positions, in stages; eight, nine and 10, and worked his way up to P6 in the overall standings – 5.7 seconds behind M-Sport Ford’s Gus Greensmith who was fifth.
The world champion, Kalle Rovanpera, suffered some mechanical damage on the eighth stage as the Finnish driver veered into the side of a cliff-face. The Yaris’ steering was affected by the contact which meant the Finn bled time compared to those in front.
By end of the morning loop, Rovanpera fell from P3 to P12.
Toyota’s home hero, Takamoto Katsuta nearly saw his home rally come to a crashing end on Stage nine – Lake Mikawako – as the Japanese driver outbroke himself into a tight, 90-degree, right-hander. Katsuta’s Yaris rode up a grass bank, discarding chunks of soil in the process, but the Toyota was able to bounce back onto the asphalt and continue on.
The Japanese driver finished the morning in P5, after Rovanpera’s early drama.
Hyundai’s Ott Tanak remained just out of contention for the rally win, but the Estonian still made his presence known. Tanak managed to secure the final stage win, of the morning loop: SS10 – Shinshiro City, 0.1 seconds quicker than Ogier who finished second on the course.
As the morning came to a close, 26.9 seconds separated Tanak (P3) from Evans who sat as rally leader.
The morning’s top five:
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai
- Ott Tanak, Hyundai
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota
- Gus Greensmith, M-Sport Ford
How the afternoon unfolded…
Only asphalt two stages lined up Saturday afternoon, Nukata Forest 2 and Lake Mikawako 2, ahead of two Super Special Stages in Okazaki City which lined up SS13 and SS14.
Ogier’s rocketed through the SS11 and SS12 to secure both stage wins. This promoted the outgoing World Champion to fifth in the timing sheets, ahead of Greensmith but the Toyota driver was still over two-minutes away from Neuville’s lead.
However, the fight between the two at the front (Evans and Neuville) saw the lead change hands. While Ogier secured wins in both the 11th and 12th stages, Neuville dethroned Evans from the top spot to hinder Toyota’s chances of securing a much-hoped win on home soil.
The Belgian secured second place in both SS11 and SS12, going 2.6 and 5.9 seconds clear of Evans in both stages – respectively.
After a stage delay, for SS13, the drivers were only going to get one run of the super-special stage to finish off the third day of action.
M-Sport Ford’s Craig Breen was the first driver to venture onto the super-special, following his shunt in the barrier on SS4. As such, the Irishman was the first to set the benchmark with a 1:21.1.
However, this was soon beaten by Ogier who was the next driver to venture out onto the super-special stage which featured a mix of gravel and tarmac. The Frenchman reset the benchmark as he went 1.7 seconds quicker than Breen (1:19.4).
Out of the two rally leaders, Neuville set the fastest time on the board with a 1:18.8, ahead of Tanak (P2) and Ogier (P3) who rounded out the top three for the 14th stage.
While Evans could only manage to put in the fifth fastest time on the final stage and found himself behind Rovanpera, in P4 – two-seconds off Neuville’s pace.
As such, Hyundai’s Belgian rally leader edged out his gap over Evans by four-seconds in the overall standings.
Top five:
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai (1:51:28.3)
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota (+4.0)
- Ott Tanak, Hyundai (+39.9)
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota (+1:04.5)
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota (+2:46.7)
That’s all for the article; WRC Rally Japan: Neuville tops rally to hinder Toyota’s chances! Who do you think will be victorious in Japan, on the final day of running? Let us know in the comments!
Read more WRC here:
- WRC Rally Japan: Evans leads as Sordo sees fiery exit
- 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
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
