Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team returns home this week with everything to play for and everything to celebrate. Rally Japan (November 6–9) isn’t just the final act of another long, bruising World Rally Championship season—it’s a victory lap for the team that’s already clinched its fifth straight manufacturers’ title, and a pressure cooker for the three drivers still locked in a knife-edge battle for the ultimate prize.

A Championship on a Razor’s Edge

Elfyn Evans arrives in Toyota City with a 13-point lead over his two heavyweight teammates: eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier and the prodigiously quick Kalle Rovanperä. The pair are tied for second after Rovanperä’s slick performance on the asphalt of Central Europe, setting up a finale that feels like a championship-deciding kart race in rally-sized chaos.

Evans has history on his side. He’s won the last two editions of Rally Japan, leading a Toyota 1-2-3 last year and a one-two finish the year before. But the Welshman knows better than anyone that Japanese tarmac is no playground. The stages—twisting, claustrophobic, hemmed in by dense forest—leave little room for error. “It’s not an easy rally,” Evans said. “Even when it’s dry, the margin for error is tiny. You just have to stay clean and keep your focus through what feels like an endless stream of corners.”

Ogier, ever the methodical tactician, is chasing one last push after a frustrating Central European round. “These roads are incredibly demanding,” he noted. “Narrow, technical, and with weather that can turn everything upside down. But we still have the speed—and the motivation—to fight for this one.”

Rovanperä, meanwhile, is approaching Japan with his trademark cool confidence. “The fans here are amazing,” he said. “I’m feeling really good with the car on asphalt, and hopefully we can keep that momentum. It’s going to be a fight to the finish.”

A Rally with Heart—and History

Since its return to the WRC calendar in 2022, Rally Japan has developed a reputation for being beautiful and brutal in equal measure. The event snakes through the mountain roads of Aichi and Gifu prefectures, near Nagoya, with stages so tight that the co-drivers’ pacenotes sometimes sound like medical instructions.

The service park, once again set at Toyota Stadium, will be the beating heart of the weekend. Thursday’s shakedown at Kuragaike Park opens the action before a full-blown welcome show in Toyota City. From there, the rally dives deep into the forest stages—Inabu/Shitara, Shinshiro, and Isegami’s Tunnel—before new sections like Obara and a Toyota City super special keep things unpredictable.

It’s a layout that tests precision as much as bravery. Crews who survive the narrow asphalt ribbons will end the rally near Okazaki on Sunday, with the championship still possibly hanging in the balance.

Home Heroes and Rising Stars

For local hero Takamoto Katsuta, Rally Japan is personal. The 32-year-old has carried the hopes of Japanese fans since Toyota’s return to the WRC, and he’s already shown his capability with a podium finish in 2022. “It’s my home rally—it means everything,” Katsuta said. “After our result in Central Europe, I’m confident we can push for something special here.”

He’ll be joined by Sami Pajari, stepping up to Rally1 machinery for the first time after taking the WRC2 title last year on these very roads. “These stages demand precision,” Pajari said. “They’re narrow, twisty, and unlike anywhere else in the championship.”

And then there’s the army of GR Yaris Rally2 entries—eight in total—making up more than half of the Rally2 field. Leading that charge is this year’s WRC2 champion, Oliver Solberg, alongside Spanish squad Teo Martín Motorsport and Japanese regulars including national champion Heikki Kovalainen, proving again that Toyota’s rally roots run deep, from global stars to grassroots icons.

A Celebration in Motion

Deputy Team Principal Juha Kankkunen, a rally legend himself, summed up the mood: “Rally Japan is always special for us. This year we go there with the manufacturers’ title already secured, but the fight between our drivers is still wide open. Any of them could win—and that’s exactly how we like it.”

In other words: don’t expect anyone to take it easy. With Toyota already crowned champion, Rally Japan isn’t about protecting points anymore—it’s about pride, precision, and maybe a little payback between teammates. On the slippery mountain roads outside Nagoya, every corner could write the next chapter of WRC history.

Source: Toyota