Welsh ace Elfyn Evans took his third victory in the FORUM8 Rally Japan to strengthen his lead in the World Rally Championship with a controlled drive as he led home a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 quartet. Moving into the lead on Friday’s second stage he was never headed and finished 12.8s ahead of last year’s winner and teammate Sébastien Ogier with Sami Pajari completed the podium – 38.6s further behind.
Home hero Takamoto Katsuta and his Fintona co-driver Aaron Johnston, who lost time with a puncture on Friday, recovered to finish fourth. Evans, with his 50th career WRC podium is twenty points ahead of Katsuta at the halfway mark of the fourteen-round series. The Irish crews of Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne and Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy both onboard Ford Puma Rally1 cars were eighth and tenth respectively.
Evans began Saturday’s leg – the longest leg of the rally – with a 15.7sec advantage over Solberg, who had cut the margin to 10.6s by midday. However, on the afternoon’s first stage Solberg’s Toyota slid wide got caught in a cut on a left-hander, hit a pole and damaged the right-rear of his car.
His demise saw Ogier move into second followed Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta in a Toyota top four. Evans ended the day with a 17.8s advantage over Ogier as Pajari, with a pair of stage wins strengthened his hold on third. Katsuta reeled in Thierry Neuville for fourth as the latter dropped to sixth as he continued to struggle with the balance of his Hyundai as well as some handbrake issues.
Hayden Paddon completed the day in seventh in the third Hyundai, ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong, whose confidence improved as the day progressed. McErlean was eleventh overnight – he lost about five seconds when he did one revolution to many on the donut on the penultimate stage.
On the final leg where Oliver Solberg (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) returned to claim the maximum ten points on offer between Super Sunday and the Power Stage, Ogier kept the pressure on Evans, however, the Welshman withstood the challenge. Pajari showed fine form too with a fifth podium in seven starts.
Armstrong reflected on his eighth place. “We’re a little bit far away from where we want to be pace wise, but still we got some points on the board which is important to keep getting some top ten (finishes). One of our goals for this event was to have a clean rally and I think you can say that we’ve done that.”
McErlean said, “I managed to get tenth in the end. I’ve tried many things. I kept the rhythm and kept trying to improve. I’m looking forward to the seven gravel events down the line this year.”
Meanwhile, Monaghan’s Josh Moffett and his Limerick co-driver Keith Moriarty (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) took a start to finish victory in the Annacotty based IPS Packaging Circuit of Munster Rally, round four of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship. They finished 5.8s ahead of the Leitrim/Galway pairing of Keelan Grogan /Ayrton Sherlock with the Longford/Leitrim duo of Shane Quinn/Stephen Reynolds 24.1s further behind, both crews in Ford Fiesta Rally2 cars.
In dusty and gravely conditions, just 0.8s covered the top three after the opening stage with Moffett leading the similar Toyota of Donegal’s Eamonn Kelly by half a second with Grogan third. Moffett extended his lead to 6.4s on SS2 where Grogan slotted into second only for Kelly to post the best time on SS3 to regain second – 5.5s behind Moffett and 0.5s in front of Grogan. Shane Quinn (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and Donegal’s Matthew Boyle (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), who felt unwell, completed the top five at the Annacotty service park.
On the repeat loop Grogan punched in a stage win on SS4 where Kelly and leader Moffett were within a half second of the Leitrim driver, Kelly reckoning his Toyota was more stable on the stage. Kelly crashed out on SS6 as Moffett led Grogan at the final service by 20.8s.
Moffett eased off (almost too much) to take the spoils as Grogan, with his best drive of the season, narrowed the deficit to just 5.8s Quinn completed the podium places as Cathan McCourt, who suffered brake issues on the first loop, displaced Matthew Boyle for fourth.
1. E. Evans/S. Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)3h. 17m. 08.0s
2. S. Ogier/V. Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+12.8s
3. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+51.4s
4. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+1m. 03.5s
5. A. Fourmaux/A. Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+2m. 34.8s
6. T. Neuville/M. Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+3m. 13.6s
7. H. Paddon/J. Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+4m. 44.8s
8. J. Armstrong/S. Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1)+5m. 45.2s
9. N. Gryazin/K. Aleksandrov (Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2)+9m. 21.3s
10. J. McErlean/E. Treacy (Ford Puma Rally1)+9m. 23.0s.
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 370 pts
2. Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT 243 pts
3. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 106 pts;
4. M-Sport Ford WRT 85 pts.
1.E. Evans 151pts
2. T. Katsuta 131pts
3. O. Solberg 102pts
4. S. Pajari 96pts
5.S. Ogier 90pts
6. A. Fourmaux 89pts
7. T. Neuville 73 pts
8. E. Lappi 21pts
9. H. Paddon 21pts
10. Y. Rossel 20pts.
1. J. Moffett/K. Moriarty (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) 1h. 02m. 25.0s
2. K. Grogan/A. Sherlock (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+5.8s
3. S. Quinn/S. Reynolds (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+29.9s
4. C. McCourt/B. McNulty (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+1m. 21.5s
5. M. Boyle/G. Byrne (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+1m. 24.1s
6. D. Boyle/K. Treanor (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+1m. 38.6s
7. D. Cronin/P. O’Donovan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+1m. 56.5s
8. G. Kiernan/J. McCabe (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+2m. 04.0s
9. K. Eves/C. Melly (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+2m. 37.4s
10. J. Warren/R. O’Connor (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3m. 07.2s.