Sebastien Ogier fastest first pass in WRC Rally Japan Shakedown
28th May 2026Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier topped the timing boards on the first pass of shakedown ahead of the World Rally Championship’s Rally Japan.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Rally Japan, now moved further up in the year, brings new challenges to the crews. However, after the first pass of shakedown, it is business as usual for the nine-time world champion, Ogier.
Ogier was the sixth driver to take to the short, Kuragaike Park test, and the multiple world champion put in the best run of 1m 57.4s, beating his teammates Elfyn Evans and Oliver Solberg by 0.6s, who put in identical times to go second and third.
Evans was the first driver to head out on shakedown, given his championship position, and the Welshman set the benchmark for the rest to beat, setting a run of 1m 58s.
Initially, it looked like the championship leader may have had the best conditions, as no one was able to beat the Welshman’s first timed run. However, on the sixth run of the Rally1 contenders, Ogier was able to find the extra speed and grip required to go faster.
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux was the fastest driver for the South Korean marquee, finishing the first pass of shakedown in fifth, finishing ahead of Toyota’s home hero, Takamoto Katsuta.
It left both Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon to occupy seventh and eighth, ahead of the two M-Sport boys, Joshua McErlean and Jon Armstrong, who finished ninth and 10th in the Rally1 classification.
Who topped the first pass of Shakedown?
- Sébastien Ogier, Toyota – 1m 57.4s
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota +0.6s
- Oliver Solberg, Toyota +0.6s
- Sami Pajari, Toyota +1.5s
- Adrien Fourmaux +1.9s
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +2.2s
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +2.9s
- Hayden Paddon, Hyundai +3s
- Joshua McErlean, M-Sport Ford +3.7s
- Jon Armstrong, M-Sport Ford +4.5s
Read more WRC here:
- Rally Japan 2026: Full WRC weekend weather forecast
- WRC 2026 Rally Japan: The full WRC stage guide and times
- WRC 2026 Rally Japan: full Rally1 entry list
- Rally Portugal given €15,000 suspended fine after tow truck incident
- Sebastien Ogier regains Rally Portugal lead ahead of Thierry Neuville
- Sebastien Ogier profits from Adrien Fourmaux mistake at Rally Portugal
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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.
