Evans takes Rally Japan win as Toyota defend title in last-stage decider

Evans takes Rally Japan win as Toyota defend title in last-stage decider

24th November 2024 0 By Kamron Kent

Elfyn Evans has secured victory at Rally Japan as Toyota clinched the Manufacturer title, denying Hyundai in a last-stage title decider. 

Feature image credit: Red Bull Content Pool

Evans has taken his first win of 2024 at the last time of asking in the World Rally Championship‘s season finale, Rally Japan, in a weekend where Toyota needed a strong result to overcome a 15-point deficit over Hyundai. 

The Welshman was playing second-fiddle to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak who held the rally lead from Friday to Saturday. However, a crash in the opening stage for the Estonian gifted Evans the rally lead and the driver’s title to his teammate, Theirry Neuville. 

For the remaining four stages of the weekend, on Super Sunday, the focus switched solely – for Neuville at least – to the manufacturer’s title. 

The newly-crowned champion joined fellow teammate Andreas Mikkelsen and the Toyota drivers who were already fighting with the team’s title in mind. 

As the sport headed into the final two stages of the weekend, Hyundai and Toyota were tied on points meaning the Wolf Power Stage was going to be the deciding factor. 

Despite Neuville’s best efforts to put in the fastest time, giving Hyundai the edge, Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier went 1.9s faster and took the five power stage points whilst Evans took third, behind Neuville (second).

As a result, it means Toyota take their eighth WRC title – fourth consecutive team’s championship – with 561 points on the board ahead of Hyundai who will finish the season on 558 pts. 

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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.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC

About the author

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.

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