Elfyn Evans mastered rain-soaked conditions at FORUM8 Rally Japan to build a 26-second lead after Friday’s shortened morning loop – but several of his peers ran into trouble. SourceContinue Reading
Evans puts his Toyota GR Yaris into a 26.0s lead over Neuville after winning the morning’s two stages held in extreme wet conditions, but the Welshman came under pressure from Neuville in the afternoon.Neuville’s charge came to a halt after a crash on stage six which helped push Evans intoContinue Reading
Neuville had closed to within 10.5s of Evans heading into stage six but his rally came to a premature halt 100 metres into the stage.The Belgian lost control of his i20N which found the trees causing terminal damage to the front of his car. Last year’s Rally Japan winners NeuvilleContinue Reading
The Toyota driver emerged as the class of the field in arguably the most challenging and dangerous conditions the crews have experienced this season.Evans leapt from ninth after Thursday’s night’s super special to claim the lead from Neuville by 26.0s after winning the morning’s two stages. Organisers were forced toContinue Reading
All the highlights from the 2023 FORUM8 Rally Japan Shakedown! SourceContinue Reading
The Hyundai driver appeared to lock up under braking on the incredibly slippery wet asphalt, littered with leaves and pine needles, and went off the road, 11.8km into the Isegami’s Tunnel stage (24.67km). Sordo’s i20N darted to left before swiping some trees as the car slid down an embankment.Both driverContinue Reading
Drivers have noted an excessive amount of leaves and pine needles covering the asphalt stages following the recce earlier this week.The conditions are much worse compared to last year with some crews describing the road surface as like driving on “ice”, and to make matters worse rain is expected toContinue Reading
The Hyundai driver set the fastest time around the all-new 2.10km side-by-side super special stage, held inside the 45,000-seater Toyota Stadium, a host venue for the 2019 Rugby World Cup.Neuville managed to comfortably beat newly crowned two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera by 4.0s in their head-to-head contest. Rovanpera’s time wasContinue Reading
The Korean marque announced on the eve of this weekend’s season finale in Japan that Esapekka Lappi will conduct a part-time programme, driving the team’s third factory i20N entry.Lappi had been expected to scale back from a full-time to a partial programme after Hyundai signed Ott Tanak from M-Sport toContinue Reading
The Finn was expected to scale back from a full-time programme for 2024 after Hyundai announced the signing of Ott Tanak from M-Sport to partner the already-contracted Thierry Neuville at the South Korean marque.Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm joined Hyundai this year after impressing in a part-time programme for ToyotaContinue Reading