Elfyn Evans won the World Rally Championship season finale in Japan while Toyota snatched the manufacturers’ title in a Power Stage thriller after Thierry Neuville had already been crowned world champion.
Evans and co-driver Scott Martin clinched their first WRC win of the season for Toyota after Hyundai’s Ott Tanak crashed out of a comfortable 38s lead on stage 17, which handed Hyundai team-mate Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe a maiden WRC title in dramatic circumstances.
Tanak’s demise turned the manufacturers’ title battle between Hyundai and Toyota on its head with the former’s 11-point lead wiped out. Incredibly, both teams heading into the final Power Stage were tied on points, but it was Toyota that ultimately triumphed thanks to an inspired drive by Sebastien Ogier.
Evans clinched the rally win by 1m27.3s from Toyota team-mate Ogier, while M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux ended his breakout WRC season with a fifth podium in third [+1m55.6s].
Japan’s relentless and twisting asphalt stages once again delivered a demanding rally.
Up until his crash on Sunday, Tanak had been the class of the field as the 2019 world champion did everything he could to keep his slim drivers’ title hopes alive by leading the rally.
Tanak moved into the lead after stage two before briefly losing the advantage to last year’s Japan winner Evans, who led Toyota’s charge after team-mates Ogier and Takamoto Katsuta picked up front and rear-left punctures respectively.
Ogier lost two minutes to change his wheel while Katsuta was able to nurse his GR Yaris to the finish, losing only a minute. The issues had swung the manufacturers’ title battle in Hyundai’s direction.
Tanak and Neuville held a one-two after stage three before drama struck the latter in his pursuit for a maiden world title. A sudden loss of power caused by a turbo failure on Neuville’s i20 N swung the drivers’ title battle back towards team-mate Tanak.
With only a tyre fitting zone punctuating Friday’s stage loops, Neuville was unable to fix the issue and therefore haemorrhaged more than seven minutes. Neuville slumped to 15th and outside points-paying positions, with the Belgian needing six points from the weekend to secure the title.
Tanak made his first serious move in stage five, taking 14.4s out of Evans to move into a comfortable lead, which stood at 20.9s at the end of stage nine with Fourmaux third, Katsuta fourth and Ogier…
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