Elfyn Evans wins Rally Japan ahead of Sebastien Ogier
31st May 2026Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has won the World Rally Championship’s Rally Japan, leading a Toyota 1-2-3-4, ahead of teammates Sebastien Ogier and Sami Pajari.
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
Toyota’s championship leader, Evans, has controlled his way to victory after he took the lead of the Rally on Friday morning, after the first pass of Isegami’s Tunnel, and the Welshman looked untouchable from there.
His and co-driver Scott Martin’s closest rival was Oliver Solberg in the early stages of the event, with the young Swede chasing after the Welshman on Saturday morning.
However, that came crashing to an end when Solberg crashed in the woods on the second pass of Mt. Kasagi. From there, Ogier became his closest rival, who failed to really make inroads on Evans’ leading time.
By the end of the event, the British pair won the rally by 12.8 seconds over Ogier, with Pajari finishing third, securing his fifth podium of the season.
Takamoto Katsuta rounded out the top four positions for Toyota, finishing fourth overall after a troublesome opening day on home soil.
Katsuta marked the last Toyota driver inside the top 10 after Solberg rejoined the event on Sunday morning, but finished 21st overall, securing all 10 points on Super Sunday, including the Wolf Power Stage.
Adrien Fourmaux was the leading Hyundai driver by the end of Sunday’s action, in fifth, finishing ahead of Thierry Neuville and Hayden Paddon, who finished sixth and seventh overall.
M-Sport Ford recovered to a double top-10 finish after Joshua McErlean struggled through the opening days of the event. The Irishman finished 10th overall, behind Jon Armstrong in eighth.
Nikolay Gryazin, competing in the WRC2 series, separated the Cumbrian squads’ two drivers in ninth.
Evans now holds a 20-point advantage over Katsuta in the drivers’ standings, who increases his championship lead to 151 points. Toyota itself extends its championship lead to 370 points in the manufacturers’ standings, 127 points ahead of its closest rivals, Hyundai (243 points).
Rally Japan has now concluded the asphalt events in the WRC season, with the rest of the upcoming rounds being held solely on gravel surfaces.
Next up is the Acropolis Rally Greece, which will get underway on June 25-28.
Read more WRC here:
- Oliver Solberg crashes out of Rally Japan on SS10
- Elfyn Evans keeps Oliver Solberg at bay after Rally Japan morning loop
- Elfyn Evans tops opening day of Rally Japan ahead of Oliver Solberg
- Takamoto Katsuta looking forward to different Rally Japan conditions
- Thierry Neuville expecting ‘difficult’ weekend in Rally Japan after securing first 2026 win
- Ogier lays down the gauntlet in Rally Japan shakedown
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