Rally Japan, now in its third year on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar, features smoother asphalt surfaces than the Croatia Rally earlier in the season, but grip is changeable and autumn leaves falling onto the road can catch even the world’s most experienced drivers out and lead to mistakes. Being able to read the grip available on the road is key.

Kogure was competing for the first time since Rally Finland in early August, as he returned after recovering from injury and was reacquainting himself with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 in a competitive environment. Yamamoto meanwhile was looking to build on the positive momentum gained from his previous asphalt outing on September’s 1000 Miglia in Italy.

The first day of action was spent getting back up to speed for Kogure, but he gradually built his confidence and pace during the weekend and made his way up to sixth place in WRC2 by the finish after.

Yamamoto demonstrated good pace during the rally, breaking into the top four stage times by Friday morning. He hit a stone on Saturday, as did other more experienced drivers in the same corner; Yamamoto impressively fixed his damaged car mid-stage and resumed after 40 minutes of delay. On Sunday he retired four stages away from the rally finish due to damage from an accident, having run slightly wide on a fast right-hander.

Quotes:
Hikaru Kogure:
“The initial target for this weekend was simply to get mileage, so I drove very safely on the first day and it was difficult to find a good rhythm. But over the course of the rally I was able to improve how I integrated information from the route note crews into my pacenotes, which gave me good confidence into corners and improved my pace. Having to sit out several months of the season with injury was a tough moment but I was able to focus on returning for this rally – and it went well, so I’m happy. It was an amazing experience with so many fans around, cheering a lot, which is helpful!”

Yuki Yamamoto:
“It was a very eventful rally. On the first day I picked up a puncture and on the following stage had a spin which caused some damage, but we still managed to clear Friday’s stages. We slowly built up the confidence in our pace Saturday and by the final stage of the day, we were third-fastest, so I feel we’ve demonstrated our pace. It’s disappointing to end the rally in this way but Rally Japan is demanding. We showed some improvement and we know we can be competitive, so we just need to be cleaner and the result will come; in that sense, what we achieved felt encouraging. I was really happy to see so many Japanese fans around, which gave me extra motivation – it was a nice event.”

Juho Hänninen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program instructor):
“Yuki’s pace was strong with some really nice split times. But at the same time, it’s difficult to maintain that speed all the way through a rally. He’s still discovering many new things, so it requires a lot of work and experience to maintain that over three days. Hikaru has had very little mileage since Rally Sardinia, so we were pleased with his approach: steady on the first day and then increasing his pace later in the rally. You need to finish rallies to gain the required experience. He faced a difficult situation in the middle of the season with missing rallies but rebounded strongly here. And while the result for Yuki was not ideal, he has developed well over the course of this season: his self-confidence has clearly improved across the year and that is evidenced by the stage times.”