Sebastien Ogier lays down the gauntlet in Rally Japan shakedown
28th May 2026Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier has laid down the gauntlet ahead of the World Rally Championship’s Rally Japan, after going quickest in shakedown.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Ogier took top honours on the first pass of shakedown with a time that was 0.6s better than his closest rival and teammate, Elfyn Evans and Oliver Solberg, who set identical times on the first pass.
However, the nine-time world champion went a step better on the second and final pass of shakedown that he completed, setting a time no one could beat. Ogier went on to secure a run time of 1m 55.3s, beating his previous best by 2.1 seconds.
The Toyota driver’s new best time was better than Evans, who remained second, by one second, who could only best a 1m 56.3s run on his second attempt.
Toyota’s Sami Pajari moved up into third place overall in the shakedown standings, ahead of Hyundai’s fourth-placed Adrien Fourmaux, who separated the Finnish Toyota from Takamoto Katsuta, who rounded out the top five times.
M-Sport improved their best times to finish shakedown in sixth and eighth, with Joshua McErlean leading the way ahead of Jon Armstrong, respectively. Toyota’s Oliver Solberg, who had secured a top-three time on his first pass, fell to seventh, separating the two Ford drivers.
Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon and Thierry Neuville completed the top 10 of Rally1 contenders with times their best times 2.6 and 3 seconds off the pace, in ninth and 10th, respectively.
The action will get underway officially with an early morning start of 8:03am local time for SS1: Asuke 1.
Read more WRC here:
- Sebastien Ogier fastest first pass in WRC Rally Japan Shakedown
- 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
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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.
