Elfyn EVANS takes the stage win by 0.1s over Adrien FOURMAUX and Takamoto KATSUTA. Sébastien OGIER leads the rally by 7.9s over Katsuta. Evans is 2.3s behind Katsuta in the battle for second. Fourmaux snatches fourth from Sami PAJARI by 0.3s.
Elfyn EVANS
For sure Seb has pulled the pin out a bit this afternoon and we haven’t had the pace to follow him, that is the case. But it is a long way to go in this rally.”
Sébastien OGIER
“It has been a good day, l’m happy with that. We did what we had to do today. It is always fun as otherwise I would not be here. There is still a long way to go and make sure our chances are alive until the last rally.”
Kalle ROVANPERÄ
“At least we know we have a target and we just try to climb up some positions and on Sunday see if we can get some points.”
Kalle ROVANPERÄ
“I like many things about Japan and this rally to be honest but at the moment it is a bit challenging. It can be enjoyable here.”
Thierry NEUVILLE
“Obviously it was an eventful day for us. We were carrying a differential issue all morning and trying to adapt the set up around that problem. We had to start again from scratch this afternoon but I’m happy with the two last stages and I have found the direction to go. We have some other things that we are going to try tomorrow and we will change some stuff overnight.”
Adrien FOURMAUX
“When we heard it was only one tenth we were like argh [so close]To be fair I really really pushed then. We can be really pleased with our stage as it was really dark in the forest, but I had a good balance and a good feeling. We made a step today so I can be smiling.”
Sami PAJARI
“That is not good. It is a close fight clearly but still I would like to be a little bit quicker and that is quite normal in this sport. It is a good day but I would like to be even faster.”
Grégoire MUNSTER
“I’m trying. In the stage before I went a full push and I had a couple of moments and I’m 20 seconds. If I keep driving and I bin I will be the one to blame. I’m just trying to improve the feeling, working with the guys and learning.”
Oliver SOLBERG
“No this car cannot go any faster. I’m enjoying myself. The rear tyres were not so nice anymore and I was on the limit at times so it was a bit lively. Going up the mountain I had three understeer moments and lost three seconds in total.”
Gus GREENSMITH
“Nikolay is the only person I can compare against. Obviously I have only done Monte this year so I have not driven the hard tyre so it has been a bit of learning. We have been getting faster and faster through the day. I think this afternoon in my 10 years of rallying I have never seen a gap like that between two cars. There is not much more I can do. I’m still in Japan and enjoying myself.”
Nikolay GRYAZIN
“The feeling is nice driving-wise.”
