WRC
Solberg closes on Evans after Saturday morning charge
Oliver Solberg cut Elfyn Evans’ FORUM8 Rally Japan lead to 10.6sec after turning up the pressure on Saturday morning’s dry asphalt stages.
Evans started the day with a 15.7sec advantage over his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate, but Solberg won two of the morning’s three stages to edge closer at the head of the field.
Defending FORUM8 Rally Japan winner Sébastien Ogier remains third, 20.1sec from the lead, while Sami Pajari completed Toyota’s hold on the top four at the midpoint of the rally’s longest day.
Solberg made his intentions clear on the opening Obara test, stopping the clocks 3.2sec faster than Evans despite admitting his run had not been perfect. His attack reduced the gap to 12.5sec and immediately tightened the fight at the front.
“First time doing this stage and I missed one junction a bit and lost a second at least,” said Solberg. “This car - compared to Rally2 - everything comes so quick. Not a perfect stage, but the attack was good.”
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Evans responded on Ena, where tyre management and a cleaner feeling from the front of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 helped him edge Solberg by 1.4sec and rebuild his margin to 13.9sec.
But Solberg struck again on Mt. Kasagi, a relentless 19.32km stage where shadows, pollution and constant rhythm changes made visibility difficult. The Swede was fastest by 2.3sec from Ogier and 3.3sec from Evans, trimming the overall gap back to 10.6sec before the mid-leg tyre fitting zone.
Evans admitted the final stage of the loop had been less comfortable.
“It was not a good feeling at all,” he said. “The car is too loose. There is a little change we can do to help this, so it should be okay.”
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Ogier remained in touch with the lead fight but could not match Solberg’s pace across the loop. The nine-time world champion struggled with visibility on Obara, felt improvement on Ena, then went second-fastest on Mt. Kasagi to sit 9.5sec behind Solberg overall.
Pajari holds fourth, 52.5sec from the lead, after a steady morning, while home hero Takamoto Katsuta moved up to fifth ahead of Thierry Neuville. Katsuta, who endured a frustrating Friday, looked more comfortable after an overnight reset and was fourth-fastest on all three stages.
“I had a reset from yesterday,” said Katsuta. “The feeling itself is better. We still have a long way to go so I will keep trying. I will try to my best for the next two days.”
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Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team’s difficult rally continued. Adrien Fourmaux moved ahead of Neuville into sixth on Mt. Kasagi, where Neuville lost time with a handbrake issue. The Belgian had already described his car’s balance as a “nightmare” on Ena and reached service seventh overall, 6.8sec behind Fourmaux.
Hayden Paddon remained eighth in the third Hyundai, with Jon Armstrong ninth for M-Sport Ford. Nikolay Gryazin completed the top 10 overall and moved into the WRC2 lead, 6.4sec ahead of Alejandro Cachón, after cutting into the Spaniard’s advantage across the loop.
The same three stages - Obara, Ena and Mt. Kasagi - are repeated on Saturday afternoon before double runs of the Fujioka super special close out the day.
