Elfyn Evans controlled the Rally Japan from start to finish and took his third victory in this event, the second of the 2026 WRC season, by a margin of 12.8 seconds over Sébastien Ogier. The Welshman managed the lead he built on Friday through the Isegami Tunnel and withstood pressure from his Toyota GAZOO Racing teammates over three days of demanding asphalt in Aichi and Gifu. The victory leaves him with 151 points in the championship and a 20‑point advantage over Takamoto Katsuta at the halfway point of the calendar.

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Ogier finished second and admitted that the rally slipped away from him on the first pass through the Isegami Tunnel, where his running order worked against him and he lost time that the remaining 18 stages were not enough to recover. "The difference to Elfyn was made on a single stage. The rest, even while struggling, we weren't far off," he explained. Sami Pajari finished third, 51.4 seconds behind, scoring his fifth top‑three in seven rounds this year, with Katsuta fourth at 1:03.5 after a recovery that included the fastest time on the first pass through Lake Mikawako and extra points on the Power Stage and Super Sunday.

Oliver Solberg salvaged the 10 points on Sunday from a rally where the overall result was already lost. The Swede, who on Saturday destroyed his rear suspension against a post while closing the gap to Evans, returned the next day and won three of the six stages on the final leg, including the Power Stage and the Super Sunday classification. It is the third time in 2026 that Solberg has pocketed the maximum Sunday points in a rally where he is not fighting for the overall win.

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Hyundai left Japan without featuring in the fight at the front. Adrien Fourmaux was fifth, 2:34.8 behind Evans, Thierry Neuville finished sixth, 3:13.6 back after three days battling the balance of the i20 N Rally1, and Hayden Paddon closed the entry in seventh place, more than four and a half minutes behind. Jon Armstrong made his debut in Japan with the M‑Sport Ford Puma Rally1 in eighth place, and Josh McErlean was tenth. Nikolay Gryazin won WRC2 in the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale and finished ninth overall.

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The manufacturers' championship has Toyota with 370 points, Hyundai with 243, Toyota WRT2 with 106, and M‑Sport Ford with 85. The 127‑point advantage with seven rounds remaining leaves the title virtually sealed. The WRC now heads to the Acropolis Rally of Greece from June 25‑28, where a run of gravel events begins that could shake up the drivers' standings. Solberg and Katsuta are 49 and 20 points behind Evans, and Ogier, with 90, still has room to get into the discussion.

WRC Overall - 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	3:17:08.0
2	1	Sébastien OGIER Vincent LANDAIS	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 12.8
3	5	Sami PAJARI Marko SALMINEN	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt2	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 51.4
4	18	Takamoto KATSUTA Aaron JOHNSTON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 1:03.5
5	16	Adrien FOURMAUX Alexandre CORIA	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 2:34.8
6	11	Thierry NEUVILLE Martijn WYDAEGHE	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 3:13.6
7	20	Hayden PADDON John KENNARD	Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team	Hyundai	I20 N Rally1	+ 4:44.8
8	95	Jon ARMSTRONG Shane BYRNE	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 5:45.2
9	55	Joshua MCERLEAN Eoin TREACY	M-sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford	Puma Rally1	+ 9:23.0
10	99	Oliver SOLBERG Elliott EDMONDSON	Toyota Gazoo Racing Wrt	Toyota	Gr Yaris Rally1	+ 49:43.6