Quotes:
Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“It’s fantastic for us to be back in Toyota City at the start of Rally Japan. The fans here have been incredible once more, creating an amazing atmosphere. It’s going to be a very exciting weekend ahead. It’s a different position for us compared to past years, but we’ve been preparing well together with the drivers and making a good plan for the weekend. They know that they need to perform at a very high level, and of course we need to have luck on our side as well. The stages and the conditions could be very demanding once more but we are ready to give our best.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s great to be back at Rally Japan once again. We’ve had a very warm welcome so far, already last night in the city centre and again tonight in the stadium. It’s nice to do this first stage for the fans but the challenge ahead is very different. We did most of the reconnaissance this week in dry conditions and then had some rain yesterday, so we don’t really know what conditions the stages will be in during the rally. We know they’re very demanding regardless, and it’s just a case of what the weather adds into the mix and how difficult that’s going to be.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“It’s always special to be here in Japan, the enthusiasm of the fans is pretty unique. For us it’s like having an extra player on our team: we are happy to have this support and we try to deliver the result they want to see. This first stage is great for the fans, even if the time was not so great for us. This morning in shakedown we went straight into the kind of tricky conditions we expect on this rally: the sections covered in leaves are extremely slippery when damp, so tomorrow morning heading into the forests is going to be difficult. But we are prepared for the challenge and excited to be starting this rally.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s very special to start Rally Japan. It’s an important rally for the team and myself, so there is big pressure, but I am enjoying it. There are more and more fans here every year, the number has increased a lot and that’s so nice to see. I try to show a good performance for them and hope everybody enjoys the event. This first stage is really nice for the fans and we had quite a good run. The conditions in the forests will be tricky – shakedown was already quite demanding after yesterday’s rain – but everything feels good in the car and we’re ready for the challenge.”

End of day one (Thursday):
1 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) 1m44.4s
2 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +0.5s
3 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +0.8s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +0.9s
5 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2.2s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2.2s
7 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +2.8s
8 Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +3.7s
9 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally2) +4.5s
10 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6.5s
(Results as of 20:00 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?
Friday is the longest day of the rally featuring 126 competitive kilometres, and starts with the longest stage of the rally: the already-iconic Isegami’s Tunnel (23.67 km). This begins a loop of three stages to be run twice, separated by a tyre-fitting zone at Inabu, with two passes of a super special in Okazaki to round out the day.