{"id":2511,"date":"2026-05-05T23:06:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/?post_type=news&p=2511"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:06:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:06:00","slug":"the-worlds-top-drivers-gather-in-japan-2","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/news\/topics\/the-worlds-top-drivers-gather-in-japan-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The world\u2019s top drivers gather in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Entry list for the FORUM8 Rally Japan 2026 announced<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We are pleased to announce that the entry list for the FIA World Rally Championship FORUM8 Rally Japan 2026, to be held in Aichi and Gifu Prefectures from Thursday 28 May to Sunday 31 May 2026, has been released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top Category<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the top category, Rally1, Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has entered a total of five GR Yaris Rally1 cars. As of the end of Round 5, Rally Islas Canarias, the points leader is car No. 33 driven by Elfyn Evans (UK) \/ Scott Martin (UK). In second place in the standings, and the only Japanese driver in the championship, is car No. 18 of Takamoto Katsuta (Japan) \/ Aaron Johnston (Ireland). Third is car No. 5 of Sami Pajari (Finland) \/ Marko Salminen (Finland), while fourth is car No. 99 of Oliver Solberg (Sweden) \/ Elliott Edmondson (UK). Also set to compete is car No. 1 of S\u00e9bastien Ogier (France) \/ Vincent Landais (France), who won Rally Japan last year and is a nine-time World Champion. Katsuta, who has already claimed two wins this season since Safari Rally Kenya in March, is aiming to secure his long-awaited first victory at Rally Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team will enter three i20 N Rally1 cars. Leading the lineup is car No. 11 of Thierry Neuville (Belgium) \/ Martijn Wydaeghe (Belgium), who won Rally Japan in 2022 and became the 2024 World Champion. They are joined by car No. 16 of Adrien Fourmaux (France) \/ Alexandre Coria (France), currently fifth in the championship standings, and car No. 20 of Hayden Paddon (New Zealand) \/ John Kennard (New Zealand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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M-Sport Ford World Rally Team will enter two Puma Rally1 cars. The crews are car No. 55 of Josh McErlean (Ireland) \/ Eoin Treacy (Ireland), and car No. 95 of Jon Armstrong (WRC driver”) (Ireland) \/ Shane Byrne (Ireland). All four are graduates of the Irish academy program. In total, these three teams will field 10 Rally1 cars for Round 7 of the WRC season, the Japan round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rally2 \/ Rally3 \/ National Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In WRC2, a total of 12 Rally2 cars are entered. As of Round 5 of the WRC2 championship, Rally Islas Canarias, championship leader Yohan Rossel (France) and his brother, second-placed L\u00e9o Rossel (France), will skip the Japan round. Fifth in the standings, Nikolay Gryazin (Bulgaria) \/ Konstantin Aleksandrov (Kyrgyzstan), will attract attention by competing in the Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale. Other top WRC2 contenders include Alejandro Cach\u00f3n (Spain) \/ Borja Rozada (Spain), Diego Dom\u00ednguez (Paraguay) \/ Rogelio Pe\u00f1ate (Spain), and Yuki Yamamoto (Japan) \/ James Fulton (Ireland), all competing in GR Yaris Rally2 cars. Also entered are Emil Lindholm (Finland) \/ Gabriel Morales (Brazil) in a \u0160koda Fabia RS Rally2, and Romet J\u00fcrgenson (Estonia) \/ Siim Oja (Estonia) in a Ford Fiesta Rally2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the domestic entrants, current Japanese Rally Championship leader Hiroki Arai \/ Michizane Sakai, second-placed Norihiko Katsuta \/ Takahiro Yasui, and fourth-placed Fumio Nutahara \/ Shungo Azuma will take on the international competition in Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


In addition, Osamu Fukunaga \/ Misako Saita will compete in a \u0160koda Fabia RS Rally2, while Satoshi Imai \/ Yuki Ogawa are entered in a Citro\u00ebn C3 Rally2 in WRC2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Elsewhere, three cars are entered in WRC3, and seven cars, including a Daihatsu Copen and Toyota 86, are entered in the National class. In total, 32 cars and 64 crew members from 17 countries will take part, speeding through special stages in Aichi and Gifu after the opening ceremony held around Nagoya Castle on May 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2512,"parent":0,"template":"","cat_news":[2],"tag_news":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2515,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2511\/revisions\/2515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cat_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cat_news?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"tag_news","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rally-japan.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tag_news?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}