© Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Sunday 13 November 2022 WRC Round 13 Rally Japan (tarmac) ran 5 SS from SS15 to SS19. Among the Toyotas, Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin, who had been running second by a narrow margin the day before, were forced to change tires mid-stage and fell behind. With that, Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston moved up one place to finish 3rd overall, the highest among Toyotas, and finished on the podium in their first home race in the WRC. Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Lande finished the rally in 4th place and Evans in 5th. Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Harttunen failed to move up the standings after hitting a wall and sustaining damage, finishing in 12th place.
(Team release below)
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
WRC Round 13 Rally Japan Day 4
Takamoto Katsuta of TGR WRT Next Generation
The GR Yaris Rally1 HYBRID finishes in 3rd place overall
On Sunday, November 13, Day 4 of Round 13 of the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) “Rally Japan”, the final day of the competition, was held from Toyota Stadium Service Park in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. Rally Team’s Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Lande (GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID car #1) finished 4th overall, Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (car #33) finished 5th overall and Kalle Rovanpera/Yonne・The Harttunen team (No. 69) finished 11th overall. In addition, Takamoto Katsuta, who participated in the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team Next Generation, took the podium in 3rd place overall, the best finish of the GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID.
On Day 4, the last day of Rally Japan, three stages called “Asahi Kougen”, “Ena City” and “Nenoue Plateau” were held in Gifu Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture, the northern area of the service park. After that, 5 stages of 69.82 km in total were run, re-running Ena City and Asahi Kougen. The weather forecast called for rain on Sunday, but there was no rain until the third SS17, and conditions were mostly dry. However, SS18 and SS19 were affected by heavy rain at times, making it the first time the race had been held in wet conditions.
By the end of Day 3, Evans was in 2nd place overall, 4 seconds behind leader Thierry Neuville. In the first SS15, Evans recorded his fourth fastest time of the event, closing the gap to Neuville to 0.6 seconds. However, on the ensuing SS16, Evans had a slight bulge on the downhill right-hand corner line and suffered tire damage. As a result, he was forced to stop the car and change wheels, which was a considerable loss of time. He dropped to 4th overall, 1 minute 47.3 seconds behind the leader.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
As a result of Evans losing his position, Katsuta dropped from 4th overall to 3rd overall. He completed the last two stages in pouring rain and, together with co-driver Aaron Johnston, took his second podium finish of the season since Round 6, Safari Rally Kenya. Ogier, who suffered tire damage on Friday and dropped to 10th overall after being delayed by 2 minutes and 44 seconds due to tire change work, reclaimed his position by running the fastest stages on Saturday and Sunday . He showed his speed by recording five best times over the four days and finished in 4th place overall, 2 minutes 23.6 seconds behind winner Neuville. If it hadn’t been for the wheel change job I might have won the race, but I managed to finish the last rally of the season deepening my relationship of trust with my co-driver Rande, with whom I had teamed up for the first time.
TOYOTA
At 22 years and 1 day, Rovanpera became the youngest driver in WRC history to win the title, finishing third overall late on Friday. However, in Saturday’s first special, the trajectory of the corner ballooned and the car hit the wall, damaging the tires and causing a considerable loss of time during the replacement works. After exiting the battle at the top, he changed his mind and drove the next stages as a test to proceed with the car’s setup in the special conditions of Japan. We collected very important data for the future and finished the last rally of the season in 11th place overall. The GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID recorded the best times in 11 of the 16 stages actually run. Unfortunately we missed the championship due to some crashes, but we managed to show a great performance in front of the Japanese fans.
Jari-Matti Latvala (team representative)
In the end, Rally Japan didn’t turn out to be the weekend we wanted. Seb was probably fastest throughout the rally and Elfyn led for most of the rally so we had the speed. Unfortunately, the crashes that happened to each rider worked against us. The stages in Japan were very tough and the roads were very narrow, so it was certainly an environment where accidents like that could easily happen. It’s great to finish the season with our goal of winning the Triple Crown. A victory at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s home event would have been even better, but for Takamoto to be on the podium at home is just as fantastic. Each rally is a different challenge and you can’t win them all.
Sebastien Ogier (GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID Car 1)
We knew it was going to rain today and it was difficult to finish the rally. This morning’s special practice had both dry and wet conditions, which made tire choice difficult, so we compromised, but today we were fastest all day, so I think we made the right choice. Again we were able to show our performance and speed, and the first time we worked with Vincent he was perfect. Of course, it would have been even better if we could have matched him, but this weekend we had another bad luck. Everyone is happy to see Takamoto on the podium at home and it’s great to have so much support in Japan.
Elfyn Evans (GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID #33)
Of course, what happened today is very unfortunate. Personally I had a difficult season, so I bet everything on this possibility. We had a good start today, the pace was good and it was going very well. However, in the second leg, the line ballooned slightly and damaged the tyres. Small mistakes cost a lot, but that’s the nature of the game. The stages in Japan are very demanding, so it’s easy to make mistakes. That put us out for the win and the rain made the remaining tires unmatched. But I’m really happy that Takamoto was able to get on the podium at his home event. He’s been working hard all year, so it’s fair to say he’s gotten the results he deserves.
Calle Rovanpera (GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID #69)
As expected, it was a tough and difficult rally. This time it didn’t go as planned, but sometimes things like this happen. Even so, I was able to finish the rally to the end and learn things that will carry over to my future. We raced again today for testing purposes and wanted to keep the tire balance constant during the dry conditions, so it was a good opportunity to try some set-ups. As a result, I’ve been able to take a positive step forward and I’ve been able to discover positive aspects of my riding, so at least I think I can see the future direction. All in all, it’s been a very good season, so I’m very happy and I want to thank the team and everyone who supported me.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Rally Japan result
1 Thierry Neuville/Martin Wiedega (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) 2h43m52.3s
2 Oct Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +1m11.1s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2 m11.3s
4 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Lande (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2 m23.6s
5 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +4 m05.1s
6 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Anderson (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +4m07.4s
7 Gregoire Münster/Louis Lucca (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +7m50.8s
8 Doma Suninen/Mikko Marukla (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +8m12.4s
9 Emil Lindholm/Latha Hamalainen (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +8m25.6s
10 Heikki Kovalainen/Sai Kitagawa (Skoda Fabia R5) +8m59.8s
11 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Harttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +10m40.8s
