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The final day then of the rally and of the season. What would the day hold? Andreas would again open the road throughout the day.

First up was SS17 Nukata 1 – 20.23 km and Andreas made the best of the cleaner road conditions winning the stage from Elfyn and Thierry. However, there was huge drama as Ott and Martin came into the final kilometre of the stage and went wide on a right-hander. The result of this was that they crashed out from the lead of the rally. There were celebrations with the two Hyundai crews that had finished the stage. Of course, there didn’t seem to be much disappointment with the situation after the crash their teammates suffered as we saw in the

Next up was SS18 Lake Mikawako 1 – 13.98 km the first run of the later to run power stage. Thierry took the stage win from Andreas and Adrien. The Belgian came to the stop line and was of course delighted to have it confirmed that he’d taken the title. However, it was sad to not hear any acknowledgment of the situation with his teammate crashing out.

Onto SS19 Nukata 2 – 20.23 km and Thierry again was fastest from Seb and Andreas. The Belgian and Frenchman set an identical time on this one. Amazing! The top three remained Elfyn, Seb and Adrien.

The following stage was the third time during the weekend which the 2.15km stadium stage was run and as mentioned previously in my view is not rallying.

We came therefore to the final stage, SS21 Lake Mikawako 2[Power Stage] – 13.98 km. Andreas was the guy setting the rally1 pace and slid wide on a corner leading to some damage to the right-hand front bumper and the headlamp was gone as well. The stage result was making things interesting as the manufacturers championship was up for either Hyundai or Toyota to win. Ultimately Seb would be fastest from Thierry, Elfyn, Takamoto and Andreas. The points scored in the powerstage meant that Toyota would take the title. It was also great to see Elfyn and Scott take victory in this final round.

Let’s take a look at the final finishing positions and hear from the drivers.

Final Overall Classification – Rally Japan

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It’s been a very exciting last day of Rally Japan and we’re delighted with the final result. It’s a very special event as a home rally for the team and I’m naturally very happy to win it again. With it I’m also really happy to contribute towards the manufacturers’ title: it means a lot for every member of the team and I’m proud to be a part of it. We maybe didn’t always have the performance we wanted during the whole weekend, but we kept trying until the end. I felt for Ott this morning as he had to push, and that opened up the opportunity for us, but it still wasn’t easy to bring it home and get the points we needed.”

Sébastien Ogier

“I think you could not have written a better finish to the season for us, with everything to play for on the final stage here in Japan. There was a lot of pressure, it was all or nothing in the Power Stage, and of course we are very delighted that we managed to produce this performance in this moment and clinch the title together with the team. Seeing the happy faces of everyone in the team, and of our chairman Morizo-san, is the best feeling and also good reward for all the effort that every team member has made during the season. It’s proof again of why we should never give up.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s been a very tough season but at the end we were able to take back the manufacturers’ championship, and it’s such a great feeling. I had to be patient this weekend which has not been easy, but I managed to stay on the road and push in the Power Stage. The whole team did a fantastic job, and without their support I would not have been able to do it, so a huge thanks to them and to my team-mates. There were a lot of fans cheering for me this weekend. I’m sorry for them that it was not possible to take a podium myself this time, but thanks to them for their support as well.”

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“What a fantastic day. Words cannot describe how we are feeling. I think we deserved the title after such a challenging year. We had a lot more pressure than we would have liked coming to this final event, but we managed our weekend as best as we could with the problems we had. After the first stage and the titles were confirmed, we were able to relax a bit and push as hard as we could for the manufacturers’ fight. We went flat out with nothing to lose – we really wanted to bring home that crown for the team, as they really deserved it. Sadly, it wasn’t enough this time but everyone in the team should be incredibly proud of the work they have done this year.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“After we decided to stop yesterday, we wanted to really prepare for today as best as possible. I think we did that well; we were very fast and fighting at the front, showing good speed and having a nice feeling in the car all day. I’m disappointed for the team as they really deserved the manufacturers’ title this year. Everyone has done such an amazing job, the car has been working well and very reliable all season, so it is tough to feel this title slip away from us. However, I am so happy for Thierry. I grew up with him and have raced him since we both started out in national rallying. Being good mates as well, I am really emotional seeing him clinch the title. I’m very proud of him.”

Ott Tänak

“It is difficult to describe what happened other than complete disaster. We weren’t expecting slippery conditions in the corner and as soon as we arrived, the front washed out. It was too far off the road to recover the car. While we are disappointed to end the season this way, we have to recognise what a great season this has been for Thierry. He has been very consistent, managing the pressure well, and he is a worthy champion.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“As we expected, it’s been a really challenging rally with really tricky conditions from the beginning. The conditions have been drying up all weekend, so where we have improved the pace we’ve been fighting for the podium.

“From Saturday morning it’s been a really nice fight with Takamoto Katsuta and Seb Ogier. It’s been really nice to end the season with another podium, my first one on Tarmac with the Ford Puma Rally1. It’s been a really great season for us, we always want more that’s for sure, but still we have some really nice positive results, so it’s been good for my comeback to Rally1.

“Thanks to everyone at M-Sport for the season, there’s been really great commitment from everybody, and we’ve had a great feeling from the start. Alex and I really appreciate the hard work from everyone.”

Grégoire Munster

“I’m just happy to get back-to-back top five results and finish the season on a positive note. I think our pace on Saturday was really positive with a second-fastest time and two third-fastest times. At some points we struggled with the set-up of the car, but we always reacted quite well and managed to find solutions, so there was a lot of good learning for me as a driver working with engineers.

“It was a good way to finish the year and I just want to thank all the team for their hard work all throughout the season and for their guidance, it has helped me perform and learn a lot as a driver.”

Summary

Well, what an incredible weekend in Japan for the finale of the championship. It had everything, drama for the championship leader, position changes for the top three and a final day drama which led to Toyota taking the manufacturers title.

It was great to see Elfyn and Scott take their ninth victory, just a bit of a sad way for this to happen with Ott and Martin crashing out. However, this is motorsport, and it is often the way things happen.

For Seb and Vincent after their puncture on Friday, they showed amazing pace to take many stage wins and a deserved second overall.

For Adrien and Alex, a fantastic third place was deservedly theirs, their fifth of this season as well. They have a bright future whether they remain at M-Sport or move elsewhere. My personal view is that they should stay at Malcolm’s team, and they could take a first victory there.

Finally, a few words for Thierry and Martijn. They have had a great season and undoubtedly deserve the championship. However, the manner of their celebrations following their teammates crashing out and the lack of words from Thierry at the end of the following stage to acknowledge this as well show a driver that is selfish and appears to only care for himself.

The second full day of the rally would see the crews tackle 103km’s over seven stages. Andreas and Torstein would restart and open the road, but then the Hyundai team would swap him around with Thierry so the championship leader could open the road.

First up then was SS10 Mt. Kasagi 1 – 16.47 km and Elfyn was fastest from Ott and Gregoire. Thierry was on the move, gaining two positions. His i20 was back working properly and he set the fifth best time.

Next up was SS11 Nenoue Kougen 1 – 11.60 km and Thierry set the best time from Seb and Takamoto. The Japanese star gained a position moving ahead of Adrien and into third overall. Thierry was also gaining positions, now into twelfth place and just around 22 seconds from the points paying positions. The recovery drive was going well this morning.

The final stage before the tyre fitting zone, SS12 Ena 1 – 22.79 km saw the stage interrupted meaning that the top two, Ott and Elfyn did not start the stage along with the WRC2 runners. They were given a notional time, the same as Seb who’d set the fastest time. There was drama for Takamoto who had a spin in the stage, and he dropped down to fifth. He was one of the driver to complete the stage earlier before the interruption.

After the short break came SS13 Mt. Kasagi 2 – 16.47 km and Ott was fastest from Seb and Takamoto. Adrien fell behind his fellow countryman Seb who passed him for third overall. Thierry was now in ninth overall and just three tenths of a second behind eighth placed Sami. Sadly, Elfyns’ pace had deserted him and after winning this stage earlier he could only manage the sixth best time. The Welshman reported understeer sapping his confidence in the corners.

Two proper stages remained the first being SS14 Nenoue Kougen 2 – 11.60 km and Thierry and Seb set an identical time on this one, with Takamoto third. Rally leader Ott was fourth in this one, but with his closest rival Elfyn sixth was still increasing his lead. Thierry was up another position and into eighth place.

The final proper stage then of Saturday’s action, SS15 Ena 2 – 22.79 km and Seb was fastest from Thierry and Adrien. The Frenchman’s pace allowed him to pull away from Takamoto. Meanwhile erstwhile championship leader Thierry had gained another position and was now seventh.

The final stage didn’t see any changes in position and at only 2.15km’s in a stadium is not really rallying anyway.

Let’s take a look at the standings and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day Two

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“All the stages have been extremely demanding today, very slow in places and seemingly never-ending. At the same time, we’ve had changeable grip and a lot of surprises and some moments. While it’s been another tough day, we had something special in the second loop. Elfyn was definitely winding up this morning, but we were stronger this afternoon to end the day with things still in our favour. We’ve been on it all weekend so far and we will be again tomorrow: our main target is the manufacturers’ championship, and we want to achieve it. The Toyotas are very quick so we all need to give our best so we can hopefully bring it home.”

Thierry Neuville

“We’re satisfied that we’ve been able to catch seventh, which didn’t seem very realistic this morning. Of course, it could have been a much better weekend result, but I have faced many setbacks in my career, and I have learnt to stay calm and deal with the situation. I think we managed that very well today, considering we had everything to lose while others had a lot to gain. It could be a big day tomorrow, so we will cross our fingers and try to have a good night sleep, but there is still a fight, and we have to win some more points. Let’s see after a few stages tomorrow where we are and what we have to do.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“After yesterday’s accident, we wanted to make sure that the car was working optimally after the repairs in service. We ran the morning loop to shakedown the car and ensure everything was working well. As we were happy with the performance and the speed this morning, we decided together with the team to withdraw from the afternoon loop in preparation for a big push tomorrow. There was nothing to be gained today but we have a big opportunity on Sunday to support the team in the manufacturers’ championship fight.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“We made a pretty strong start this morning when the conditions were not easy, and we were hoping to keep the pressure on in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way. The feeling was not so bad in the car but we were struggling just a little bit in the slower speed sections and that was resulting in quite a big time loss. Things were OK in the faster places but there weren’t so many of them. So, we’re looking with the team tonight to understand it and try to put it right for tomorrow, when we need to give a final push and do what we can.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s been a positive day for us. We were the fastest over the day with three stage wins, and we got back to the podium places to bank good points for the team, so I think there was not much more we could do. Of course, I would have loved even more but our chances in the manufacturers’ championship are still alive up until the last day of the season, and we need to give it everything. We just have to push for the maximum points from Sunday and hope for some luck on our side, and in rallying you never know what can happen.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“It’s good to reach the end of today: this was one of the main targets for me. There were some difficulties during the day – I had a spin in the last stage of the morning and lost a few seconds there – but I felt some good feelings from the car as well, so I was able to set some good times. Overall, everything was OK. Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for the team as well, so I just need to try and find even better feeling and focus on that.”

Sunday

The final day will see the crews tackle 70km’s over five stages, including the overused 2.15km stadium stage.

The first full day of action saw the crews tackle eight stages, including two super special stages at the end of the day. The total amount of competitive kilometres was 128km’s.

Of course, leading the championship meant that Thierry and Martijn would open the road and have the best of the road conditions. We’d already had one short stage with Adrien and Alex holding the lead from Ott and Martin and local hero Takamoto and Aaron holding third.

Into SS2 Isegami’s Tunnel 1 – 23.67 km and Thierry was fastest from Ott, with Elfyn third. All three crews gained positions and were the new top three overall. The two Toyota’s of Takamoto and Seb both suffered punctures and fell down the leaderboard sadly.

Next up was SS3 Inabu / Shitara 1 – 19.38 km and Seb was fastest from Elfyn and Ott. The Frenchman gained eight positions and moved into tenth overall. Takamoto was also climbing the leaderboard moving into fifth overall.

The final morning stage SS3 Inabu / Shitara 1 – 19.38 km and Elfyn was fastest from Seb and Ott. There was drama for Thierry though as he started to lose time only setting the tenth best time in the stage. He was suffering with a lack of power and lost a huge amount of time but was still third overall.

After the tyre fitting zone it was back to SS5 Isegami’s Tunnel 2 – 23.67 km and Ott was fastest from Seb and Elfyn. The Estonian moved ahead of his former M-Sport teammate and into the lead. Meanwhile Thierry continued to lose time and fell down to eighth and was now over three minutes from the lead. Takamoto was now into third overall as well. There was huge drama for Andreas though as he crashed his i20 and blocked the stage. All the crews behind were given a notional time.

Onto SS6 Inabu / Shitara 2 – 19.38 km and Ott again was fastest from Seb and Elfyn. Seb was climbing the leaderboard with his quick times, now into fifth overall. Thierry continued to fall down the leaderboard, losing a further six positions and was now over five minutes behind the leader. At this stage he was around half a minute from tenth place.

Another stage win for Elfyn followed in SS7 Shinshiro 2 – 17.41 km and Ott and Seb were again second and third fastest. Thierry lost nearly two minutes on this one and was now over seven minutes behind the leader and now over a minute from the top ten. Further to the front of the field, Adrien moved past Takamoto and into third overall. The Frenchman decided to run the extra pod lights, and this meant that he could see the road much better.

The last two stages were just the short 2.54km Okazaki SSS and these stages are not really rallying to be honest.

Let’s take a look at the top positions and hear from the drivers.

Classification after Day One

Hyundai Motorsport

Ott Tänak

“It’s been a long day, but a solid effort. The car was not too difficult to drive this morning, but we had some understeer and couldn’t perform at the level we would have liked. However, after the tricky first stage of the afternoon, we managed to improve the balance on the higher grip tarmac, and I felt a lot better on those two stages. Let’s see what tomorrow brings and the conditions we will face – there has been rain here and there, and we have some new stages too.”

Thierry Neuville

“At the moment, we don’t know exactly what happened to cause our technical issue. Of course, we are disappointed, but it is what it is. There are two more days to come, and they have to be excellent now. It is a shame as we were lying in second position, comfortable in the car, and managing the risk with our speed – third would have been enough today, and that was our target, but in the end the problem occurred and there was nothing we could have done.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“We were running with a hard tyre on the front right of the car when we came into a slippery section. There was a river of water running down on the right, which we caught and lost all grip, so we crashed. It’s very disappointing as we were trying to increase our speed in the afternoon, and our split times were looking promising, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t reach the finish. It’s not what we wanted from today, but hopefully the car will be fixed for tomorrow, with everything to drive for on Sunday.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“It was a demanding start this morning with a lot of grip changes. Some of them were difficult to read so we had a few slides here and there like probably everybody had. I think the tyre choice for the morning was pretty good – we took the benefit of our extra hard tyres later on – but it wasn’t such a straightforward choice for the afternoon. This time the grip was probably better than we expected and so our tyre choice maybe wasn’t perfect, but things did get better through the loop, and we finished it positively. It’s all still open for tomorrow. As a team we’re all still in the game and we’ll keep doing our best right until the end.”

Sébastien Ogier

“This first stage of the day here in Japan is always a very challenging one and not my luckiest one. For the second time in three years, we picked up a puncture in a similar section of the stage. I couldn’t really feel where it happened, so it was very disappointing and hard to take, but that’s the way it goes. We tried from the next stage to keep the focus, which is not easy in this situation, and at least we could recover some positions already. At the moment it’s not enough and we still need to get some more places for the team, but there are many stages still to go, anything can happen, and we keep fighting.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“This morning we did not have the start that we planned in the first stage, where we unfortunately had a tyre off the rim. That was very unfortunate and disappointing but luckily we didn’t lose too much time and could still come back to fourth overall at the end of the day, which is not so bad considering how it started this morning. I had to change my approach and drive a bit more on the safe side to gain positions when others had problems, but it worked out OK. There’s still a long way to go and many things have already happened, so we don’t give up. I just need to keep focused on doing my own job for the team and on my own driving.”

Summary

Well, what a first full day of action. Championship leaders Thierry and Martijn had a nightmare day, losing power and time hand over fist. Meanwhile their teammates Ott and Martin were holding the lead.

Let’s see what Saturday holds in store!

Well, here we go again and for the final time this year as well. Thierry and Martijn hold the lead over their teammates and 2019 world champions Ott and Martin. The Belgians hold a significant twenty-five-point advantage over their teammates though and it would take a big mistake from them to not take their first championship.

Meanwhile in the manufacturer standings the gap is much smaller with just fifteen points separating Hyundai and Toyota. We won’t know until the end of the powerstage on Sunday afternoon who has taken the manufacturers title.

Now then, who could win the rally this weekend? One crew that has to be considered, won the 2023 event – Welshman Elfyn and his English co-driver Scott. They have always had pace on dry and wet tarmac and have to be considered as, dare I say it, the favourites.

However, there are plenty of crews that will fight for victory and really it could be any of the regular crews.

Let’s take a look at the stages awaiting the crews.

Competitive action begins under the floodlights of SS1 Toyota Stadium (2.15km) on Thursday night.

Friday opens with the longest stage of the weekend, the notoriously narrow SS2/5 Isegami’s Tunnel (23.67km).

The brand-new SS10/13 Mt. Kasagi stage debuts on Saturday morning, opening the third day of competition.

Five stages close the 2024 FIA WRC season, with SS21 Lake Mikawako 2 acting as the weekend’s Power Stage.

Let’s hear from the drivers.

Hyundai Motorsport

Thierry Neuville

“The target at Rally Japan is to bring home that drivers’ title and to support the team in the fight for the manufacturers’ championship as well. We have done a good job on that already throughout the season, but of course if there is any opportunity where we can support those efforts, then we will. In Japan, the weather and the roads make the biggest difference. They are super dirty when it’s cold, and the leaves on the road make grip very challenging. There are also some new stages, so altogether it’s going to be a very challenging event. We have no testing for Japan, so all of our information has been carried over from Central European Rally. We have plenty of the feedback from previous years here, so we can predict the starting set-up now before doing the fine tuning when we arrive in Japan.”

Ott Tänak

“Rally Japan is another pretty challenging event, probably one of the most difficult we have done on tarmac. It’s definitely the slowest tarmac rally we have done this year; it’s very twisty, narrow, more or less slow everywhere. Normally the stages are never-ending, so together with surface changes and general challenges it’s a tricky event. Japan is crucial for all the championships, so we are definitely planning to do everything we can to give our best performance. With the situation we are in in the championships, we cannot afford to hold back. We know Toyota will go all in and the points difference is pretty small, so we definitely need to fight to keep our lead. All of us need to do their best job: will go into this in fighting mode with the plan to give it our best.”

Andreas Mikkelsen

“Rally Japan is an event that I did for the first-time last year. It was very enjoyable even though the conditions were very, very difficult, but it was a great challenge. The roads are very twisty and very technical, and at this time of the year the conditions are even more unpredictable. It’s quite different to all the other tarmac rallies that we compete at, the only rally that could be a bit similar is Corsica in terms of being very technical – but it contrasts greatly to Central European Rally. My goal for the weekend is to help us seal the manufacturers’ title. The most important aspect of this event will obviously be the fight with Toyota, so I am sure it will be tough fight them on their home ground – they have nothing to lose. It will be a very big battle, but I think we are all ready for it.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT

Elfyn Evans

“We always receive a very warm welcome driving for Toyota in Japan. Of course, with that comes a lot of expectation to do well but it’s also something we can thrive off. We still have something to fight for in the manufacturers’ championship, and even if it is a difficult task ahead of us, we want to give it our all and give ourselves the best chance. To repeat our result from last year will definitely be the aim: it was a pretty difficult event with a lot of rain and a lot of leaves on the road, and conditions could be similar again. Even if it’s dry, the roads are more technical and twisty than Corsica, which was famous for the number of corners, so it’s a very demanding and busy event both with the pacenotes and with the steering wheel.”

Sébastien Ogier

“It’s always exciting to go to Rally Japan, and especially this year given we are still in a fight to try and secure the manufacturers’ title. We know that we are not in the ideal position, and we need a close-to-perfect weekend for the team, but it’s definitely not out of reach. Our performance recently has been good and on my side, we want to turn around our fortunes and transform that speed into a good result. The stages in the forests in Japan can be very difficult and conditions are always a big question mark, especially as the event takes place one week later this year. Of course, as Toyota drivers we always feel such strong support which is very nice, and we will try to bring home the result that all the fans are hoping for.”

Takamoto Katsuta

“I am really looking forward to Rally Japan. Of course, I always feel a different kind of pressure at my home rally, but it’s a nice kind of pressure: I am really excited to drive in front of my family, my friends and all the fans. Last year, I felt really good in the car and the weekend went well except for one mistake. This year, I want to try and make a good result happen. I think the most important thing will be to assess the situation and the conditions and try to use my performance when I feel confident, a bit like I did on the Central European Rally. It will be challenging but I don’t really mind whether it’s wet or it’s dry: I will do my best and hope I can perform well.”

M-Sport Ford WRT

Adrien Fourmaux

“Japan is the last rally of the season, we want to finish the great season we’ve had with a nice result, especially on Tarmac. There are some really tricky, technical roads here and it is quite narrow in places, and the forests can be quite dark this time of year.

“Because it’s a long-haul event, no one has done any testing in preparation, so it’s going to be interesting to see where we can be compared to the others. I’m also looking forward to experiencing the culture again, we didn’t get the result we wanted last time so hopefully this year we can combine success with a great experience of the country.”

Grégoire Munster

“Japan is a rally I like a lot; I have been quite competitive here in the Rally2 category in the last couple of years. Plus, it is really nice to come to Japan and enjoy another culture. I always notice the love of motorsport and rally here is as big, or even bigger, than in Europe so it’s nice to experience the atmosphere. There are a lot of nice ceremonies, especially the prize giving in the stadium, where a lot of fans gather which is really cool.

“Regarding the stages, there are some new stages on the itinerary this year which will be exciting, and the weather conditions are always challenging in Japan during this season. So, anything can happen!”

Summary

We will have a new world champion on Sunday and the first to not be driving a Toyota since Seb Ogier won his sixth title when at M-Sport Ford in 2018. Whether it is Ott and Martin celebrating or Thierry and Martijn it will be an exciting end to the season.

Enjoy!!