Sebastien Ogier has moved into a slender Rally Japan lead from World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans after fellow title contender Kalle Rovanpera hit trouble.
Ogier snatched the rally lead on stage four [Isegami’s Tunnel 1,19.66km] taking a 1.0s advantage over Evans heading into the midday service, with Toyota’s Japanese star Takamoto Katsuta in third, 1.7s adrift.
Title contender Rovanpera witnessed his championship hopes take a blow after being forced to limp through much of the morning loop, after a brush with a barrier damaged the left rear suspension on his GR Yaris.
Eight-time world champion Ogier admitted he wasn’t 100% happy with his car after the Friday morning’s first test, but the Frenchman emerged at the top of the timing screens to move into the rally lead.
That advantage was lost to team-mate Katsuta, who won stage three to move into a 0.5s lead over Ogier before the latter regained the lead after stage four.
“It has been very intense and close the whole morning, and it felt ok,” Ogier said. “I wasn’t pushing the maximum risk of course, and I was trying to find the right rhythm and feeling with the car. One second is nothing with Elfyn, and Takamoto is just behind, so we need to carry on doing the same.”
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Evans posted top three times in each of the three morning stages, before winning stage four. The Welshman’s only issue arrived in stage two when he backed off briefly in the opening set to avoid a deer.
“I was not super close, but I was coming flat out in fifth gear and there was a wall on one side and barrier on the other and he [the deer] was looking a bit nervous as I was coming,” Evans explained. “I wasn’t going to trust he was going to stay put so I wasn’t brave enough to keep my foot in.
“That final stage [where I set the fastest time] was the first time we have driven in that direction, so we were trying to use our head and drive well. Of course, there is always more risk you can add but there is a limit out there.”
That limit was overstepped by Rovanpera, who clipped an Armco barrier in stage three, which resulted in the two-time world champion and his co-driver Jonne Halttunen carrying out an emergency suspension repair. Rovanpera managed to nurse the car through to service in 23rd overall, 5m13.2s adrift of the lead.
“Obviously we are disappointed but we need everything we can get so that is the next goal,” said Rovanpera, who faces a tough task to keep his championship dreams alive.
Rovanpera’s issue aside, Toyota dominated the morning while rivals Hyundai continued to struggle on the narrow and technical asphalt stages. Toyota’s dominance was further outlined by Sami Pajari enjoying a strong run to sit fourth, 9.5s adrift.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai Motorsport
Hyundai’s difficult morning
Adrien Fourmaux led Hyundai’s charge in fifth position with the Frenchman surprised by the margin he had over his struggling team-mates Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville.
Once again, the i20 N struggled to deliver pace when the road surface became dirty, but Fourmaux managed to adapt his driving style the best to end the morning 15.8s behind.
“I don’t really have the answer [as to why I’m the fastest of the Hyundai drivers] but we do have really good pace on the clean conditions,” Fourmaux said. “But we will really struggle when the road becomes polluted. We need to work on it.
“I’m surprised especially to be ahead of Ott as he has the car from last year, so I would expect him to be really strong here.”
Tanak didn’t report any fundamental technical or mechanical issue with his older generation i20 N, known to generally have more pace than the upgraded version that Forumaux and Neuville are driving.
“Quite a lot is needed [on the car in service] but if it is possible I don’t know,” said Tanak, who ended Friday morning in sixth, 45.8s in arrears.
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Reigning world champion Neuville fared even worse than Tanak on his way to seventh, more than a minute adrift. The Belgian declared his car undrivable after stage three, before it then developed an issue that left him with only two-wheel drive at times.
“We had a lot of wheel spin or diff slip on the rear and on the last one we were partially on two-wheel drive, so we are going to swap the transmission and then we go again,” said Neuville.
M-Sport-Ford also endured a difficult start to the rally which began with Josh McErlean crashing heavily in stage three. McErlean and co-driver Eoin Treacy were reported ok before being transported to hospital for precautionary checks.
Team-mate Gregoire Munster survived the stages to hold eighth [+1m22.3s] but was having to fight with his Ford Puma throughout the morning. The top 10 was rounded out by WRC2 runners Nikolay Gryazin and Alejandro Cachon.
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