The Hyundai Motorsport driver blitzed his
rivals on his fourth and final run of the 2.75km warm-up stage as the class of
2023 were greeted by sunny, warm conditions – conditions that are predicted to
change drastically on Friday morning.
“We have no pressure, that is for sure,” opined
the relaxed Belgian at the end of his first run through shakedown. “Our contenders
have a lot more pressure this weekend,” he continued, referencing 2023 manufacturer
champions Toyota Gazoo Racing, who would dearly love to claim victory just mere
kilometres from their global headquarters.
Toyota drivers filled out the next four spots
in the top five, with Elfyn Evans leading team-mates Sébastien Ogier, Takamoto
Katstua and newly crowned world champion Kalle Rovanperä respectively. All four of the Yaris pilots
referenced Friday conditions at stage-end, hinting that predicted rain in the
morning will play a major role in the outcome of the season finale.
Moments before announcing he will be running a
partial programme with Hyundai in 2024, Esapekka Lappi rounded out the top-six on
shakedown, going 1.9sec slower than team-mate Neuville.
Stepping back into the Hyundai in Tarmac-spec
for the first time since Rallye Monte-Carlo this weekend is Dani Sordo. The
Spaniard wasted little time at reacquainting himself with the i20, sharing the seventh
quickest time with Adrien Fourmaux, exactly two seconds down on team-mate Neuville.
It was an impressive showing for Fourmaux who
admitted he was using his six runs of shakedown for ‘testing’ with the Japan
season-closer providing the Frenchman with his maiden start in M-Sport Ford
Puma Rally1 this year. He was two-tenths of a second quicker than team-mate Ott
Tänak who suggested his Puma was “somehow not driving at all at the moment,” following his first of three shakedown runs.
Action begins proper at 19:05 this evening with
tens of thousands of fans are expected to turn out at Toyota Stadium in
downtown Toyota City for a side-by-side 2.10km blast through the super special
stage.
Finland
Italy
Hungary