Yuki Yamamoto, the Program’s second-generation driver, continued his WRC2 campaign aboard a GR Yaris Rally2 car. Looking to build upon a seventh-place finish in the class on the same event in 2025, Yamamoto did concede around 20 seconds with a spin in the first stage of the rally on Friday, but thereafter showed some strong pace in a competitive field featuring many Estonian and Finnish drivers who feel at home on the fast stages.

Yamamoto was running on the fringes of the top 10 overall when he ran wide in a fast corner and rolled in Saturday’s penultimate stage. He and co-driver James Fulton were both unharmed and their car was able to be repaired so that they could drive Sunday’s last stages.

Three drivers made their WRC2 debuts on this event also driving GR Yaris Rally2 cars, including young Estonian prospect Jaspar Vaher, the first global recruit to the Program.

Building upon strong recent performances in the Finnish and European championships, Vaher recovered well from his own SS1 spin to score a stage win in SS3 and end Friday up in fourth in the class, just 7.4 seconds from the lead. Unfortunately, Vaher would run wide and hit a tree in Satuday’s first stage. While he and co-driver Rait Jansen were unharmed, their car was too badly damaged and they could not restart the rally.

The Program’s third generation drivers Takumi Matsushita and Shotaro Goto gathered valuable experience as they completed every stage, finishing 10th and 11th respectively in the class and showing encouraging pace at times in their first events at this level with respective co-drivers Pekka Kelander and Jussi Lindberg.

Fourth generation drivers Rio Ogata and Kanta Yanaguida took part in their first WRC events, competing in the WRC3 category driving Renault Clio Rally3 cars. Ogata made a very strong start to the rally, winning the first two stages but then crashing out in SS3 after losing control in a deep rut, bringing an early end to the weekend for he and co-driver Mikael Korhonen.

Yanaguida drove a clean and consistent rally. He was running second in class and won two stages on Saturday morning until he and co-driver Juho Koski-Lammi were forced to stop with a technical issue. He restarted on Sunday and won both of the day’s stages.

Co-driver Tomiya Maekawa made his second WRC3 start of the year alongside Jarkko Nikara. After two stage wins on Friday they sat second in class before a slow-speed roll ended their Saturday early. Restarting on Sunday, they were second fastest to their team-mates in both stages.

Juho Hänninen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program instructor):
“We came to this rally with different objectives for our crews. Yuki had a good rally in Estonia last year so expectations were high, even though the competition level was strong. His mistake on Saturday was disappointing, but at least his team could repair the car and get him back out for the final day so he can start looking forward to Rally Finland, which will be another good opportunity for him. For Jaspar, there was a lot of anticipation around on his home rally, and he had good pace from the beginning, but then maybe pushed a bit too hard trying to catch the leaders. That’s maybe something to still learn for these longer rallies: to have patience and see the bigger picture. Takumi and Shotaro both did a decent job, avoiding major mistakes and gathering lots of learning for the future, though they struggled in the more rutted stages. In WRC3, Rio started with good pace before a small but costly mistake: also a hard lesson to pace these longer rallies differently. Kanta drove well and consistently despite the issue he had, while Tomiya gathered more mileage at this level and Jarkko was happy with his performance.”

Yuki Yamamoto
“We didn’t have the result that we wanted on this rally. We had a spin in the first stage, but after that we had some good pace and were gaining back some positions. Then in SS15 we clipped the inside and ran wide and rolled. This was a big pity but I want to say a big thank you to the team for doing a great job to fix the car. It was good to get straight back on the stages and be able to try some things before Rally Finland. There are some positives to take and we will see how we can improve for the next event.”

Shotaro Goto
“I’m really happy about how this weekend went. The pace has been the best that we have had so far this season. Many of our split times were close to the fastest drivers, which I could not have expected after the struggles I had a couple of rallies ago in Sweden. My splits in the more rutted sections were not so good, so this is an obvious area that I need to work on for the future, and I’m happy to have gained so much experience on this event.”

Takumi Matsushita
“I think this was a very solid rally for us. Already on Friday we started with quite a good feeling and the stage times were not too bad. On Saturday, I tried some different things and struggled at points, but finally on Sunday I found a good rhythm and pushed a bit more and the times were better than before. I’m very happy to finish Rally Estonia with this positive feeling and I’m looking forward to Rally Finland.”

Jaspar Vaher
“I think on Friday we generally did well, although I made a small mistake on the first stage and we had a few issues during the day. We lost some time with those things but we managed to stay in a close fight and I was pretty satisfied overall. Then on the first stage of Saturday, I think I was just pushing too much and just entered the corner too fast. I almost managed to save it, but caught the rear wheel and ended up hitting a tree. I’m really disappointed and sorry for the team; I will analyse what happened and try to correct this for the future.”

Rio Ogata
“We started the rally with some good speed. Some sections felt even faster than Finnish roads, and it was quite fun to drive. But in SS3, I was surprised to come across such a deep rut, I realised too late and was already carrying too much speed and couldn’t avoid it. The car suddenly snapped and I lost control. I need to find a better balance to survive these places in future, and I will approach Rally Finland differently to make sure I gain more experience.”

Kanta Yanaguida
“My plan for this rally was to not think too much about stage times and just gain mileage and learn as much as I can, and it went quite well. On the first day I drove with quite a safe pace to see how the roads and conditions were. It was unfortunate to have the issue on the second day, but our mechanics did a great job to fix the car, and on the last day I enjoyed it a lot and I was able to push more on the final stage. Overall it was a good rally for me and I’ll try to carry this feeling on to Rally Finland.”

Tomiya Maekawa
“This was a challenging rally in different ways than our previous WRC start in Portugal. The stages were extremely high speed so you needed to commit more on the timing of the notes. I’m thinking to practice more on the weaknesses which I found during this event to make my pacenote reading even better. Even though we had disappointing off on SS8, I thank the team for fixing the car so that we could get really valuable mileage from Sunday as well, and we will aim for a better result there.”