Rally Japan: 3 Winners and Losers
11th November 2025Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier tightened the gap on Elfyn Evan’s championship lead after winning the World Rally Championship’s Rally Japan, and here are three winners and losers of the event.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Winners
Sebastien Ogier
Rally Japan stands as Sebastien Ogier’s sixth win of the season, and the French eight-time world champion has redeemed his championship chances after the Central European Rally, where he lost his advantage to championship rival Elfyn Evans. The Frenchman put in a commanding drive to withstand the Welshman’s advances
As it stands, Ogier trails Evans by three points heading into the season finale.
Elfyn Evans
The current points leader in the WRC drivers’ title fight, Evans, remains the provisional champion heading into the season finale in Saudi Arabia, having regained his championship lead after the Central European round.
Despite a low start to the weekend, the Welshman bounced back and found himself in contention for the rally win. Although this was not possible on this occasion, Evans heads into Saudi Arabia with a slight advantage over Ogier.
Sami Pajari
Toyota’s younger Finnish driver, Sami Pajari, kept himself out of trouble to claim his first-ever podium finish in the WRC, having benefitted from Takamoto Katsuta’s damage on Saturday, and Adrien Fourmaux’s crash on Sunday
The Finnish driver completed a 1-2-3 for Toyota in their home event, finishing behind both Ogier and Evans, respectively.
Losers
Kalle Rovanpera
Kalle Rovanpera remains in championship contention following the conclusion of Rally Japan, but the Finn’s crash on day two of the event has made this more challenging as he prepares to depart the WRC.
Despite a recovery drive to finish sixth place overall, the two-time world champion remains third in the drivers title, 24 points behind Evans.
Takamoto Katsuta
Japan’s home hero, Takamoto Katsuta, suffered heartbreak on stage 11 after the Japanese driver hit a water-filled barrier and damaged the power steering on his Yaris. It knocked him out of contention for third of the rally, and ultimately, the Toyota driver fell out of the points.
Joshua McErlean
It was a tough weekend for the Irish duo of Joshua McErlean and Eoin Treacy after the M-Sport duo crashed out heavily on the third stage of the weekend and the second stage of Friday.
Fortunately, the crews were okay but did not rejoin the rally. As such, it means that the Irishman loses ground to his teammate of Gregoire Munster, in the drivers’ championship, trailing by 10 points.
Read more WRC here:
- Toyota confirms 2026 driver line-up as Oliver Solberg gets promotion
- Ott Tanak to take a break after 2025 WRC season
- Sebastien Ogier wins Rally Japan to tighten gap on Elfyn Evans
- Rovanpera has incident as McErlean crashes on third stage of Rally Japan
- Kalle Rovanpera takes overnight lead of WRC Rally Japan after opening stage
- Evans tops first pass of Rally Japan shakedown as championship rivals remain on heels
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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.
