Elfyn Evans started Saturday with a 15.7 second margin at the Rally Japan and ended the day with 17.8 seconds over Sébastien Ogier, but the news of the day was made by Oliver Solberg. The Swede had cut the gap to 10.6 seconds in the morning and then crashed into a post on the first stage of the afternoon, an impact that destroyed the right‑rear suspension of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 and dropped him to 26th place with a 50‑minute penalty for re‑entry.

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With Solberg out of contention, Toyota moved into the top four positions with Evans, Ogier, Sami Pajari and Takamoto Katsuta. Adrien Fourmaux ended up as the best Hyundai, fifth more than two minutes behind, and Thierry Neuville followed in sixth place after battling all day with the balance of the i20 N Rally1 and an intermittent handbrake fault. Hayden Paddon closed Hyundai’s participation in seventh, already more than three and a half minutes back, while M‑Sport Ford placed Jon Armstrong eighth and Joshua McErlean 11th.

Ogier found a slight improvement in communication with the car during the Saturday leg, but his pace was never enough to worry Evans. The Frenchman traced the root of the problem to the first pass through the Isegami Tunnel on Friday, where he lost time that he could never recover, and nine tenths per kilometre badly managed turned into a sentence for the rest of the weekend. "We had a rally similar to Elfyn's, except for that one stage," he explained at the end of the day.

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Part of Evans’s solidity is explained by what happened in Portugal, where Ogier had victory within reach until a stone punctured a tyre and cost him first place. The Welshman left that event with an extended championship lead and is now applying the same recipe on Japanese asphalt: he does not need the fastest times, only to manage the margin.

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Pajari corrected the setup at midday and locked in three stage victories in the afternoon, including both runs through the Fujioka super‑special, to move into third place 44.4 seconds behind Evans, while Katsuta recovered from a difficult Friday to take fourth, 1:11.3 behind the leader.

Sunday features six stages, finishing with the Wolf Power Stage at Lake Mikawako, where Saturday’s extreme heat punished the tyres and managing the soft compound may decide who scores the extra points on the final stage. Ogier admitted that the current advantage makes the victory almost certain, but with 74 competitive kilometres ahead and the humidity of the Aichi mountains, Evans cannot afford the slightest mistake.

WRC Overall Saturday - FORUM8 Rally Japan 2026

POS	#	driver/codriver	team	brand	car	time
1	33	Elfyn EVANS Scott MARTIN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	2:32:05.6
2	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 17.8
3	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 44.4
4	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 1:11.3
5	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 2:05.2
6	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 2:17.0
7	20	Hayden PADDON John KENNARD	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 3:41.8
8	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 4:33.7
9	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 7:58.3
10	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 50:00.0