Round 13 of the WRC, Forum 8 Rally Japan, entered Day 2 on 17 November, with the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT, HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS WORLD RALLY TEAM and M-SPORT FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM all locked into fierce battles.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT is showing excellent performance, with Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin leading, Sebastien Ogier and Vincent Lande in second and Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen in third.
Meanwhile, the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRJ, which competes in the All Japan Rally Championship, also showed consistent performance. Norihiko Katsuta and Yusuke Kimura in the No. 32 GR YARIS were 11th overall as they said, “It was raining very hard and we had to drive with a lot of restraint,” while Tomoyuki Shinkai and Yuichi Ando, also in a GR YARIS, said, “In SS1, the Toyota Stadium SS, we jumped too much and damaged the car, but today we were able to drive conservatively. The car is fine,” he said as he entered the last stage of the day in 24th place overall.
However, things turned out differently in SS8, the “Toyota Stadium SS”. Shinkai, who had said that he would drive with restraint today, marked the 15th fastest time and finished Day 2 at 23rd overall, but Katsuta’s wheel fell off in the final SS and retired.
There was also some upheaval when the team of Taiusuke Aihara and Tsukasa Hagino in the No. 49 DAIHATSU Copen won the race against the team of Toru Nakayama and Toshiro Matsuura in the No. 44 GR YARIS.
