Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“Rally Japan is always a special occasion. We get a really warm welcome from everyone in Japan and there’s a really nice feel to the rally week, as well as a real drive in our team to do well on Toyota’s home event. The roads are very narrow and technical, requiring precision and confidence with the pacenotes and the car. The different date this year should bring hotter temperatures, which will increase the demands on everything in the car. It’s been a good event for us in the past, but the clock always starts at zero for everyone and we’ll have to be at our best to try and score as many points as we can.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“Going to Rally Japan is a highlight in our season and it’s been great to see the support and the interest in rallying there growing every year. At the same time, the expectations are also high, but we have been performing pretty well recently, especially on asphalt, so I believe we have good hopes for this event and can target the top places again. This year, with the new date, we can probably expect higher temperatures and maybe fewer leaves on the road, but I’m sure the overall character will remain the same: smooth and mostly clean but also very technical and twisty, where you need to have a good flow to make a good time.”

Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I’m really excited for Rally Japan and to compete there in a Toyota Rally1 car for the first time. I’ve been coming to Japan since I was very young and I love everything about the country. Last year was my first time competing in the rally and the atmosphere was amazing, so I’m sure the experience will be even more incredible this time. It was good to gain that knowledge of the roads, but the speeds will be even higher in the Rally1 car, so there will be some learning to do like on most rallies this year. We’ve had great feeling and pace on asphalt so far, and hopefully we can use that to take a good solid result.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Rally Japan is of course a very important rally for myself and for our team. I hope to see even more people interested in the rally and following us on the stages. It will be exciting to see how the conditions will change now that the rally is taking place in a different season. It will be much warmer than usual and with fewer leaves and better grip, the conditions could be quite nice. Still, there’s a chance for wet weather if the rainy season that we usually have in June arrives early. Of course, to win my home rally would be very nice but we are competing against many great drivers, including my team-mates. I will just focus on trying my best and enjoying the amazing feeling of driving our Rally1 car on Japanese roads.”

Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I’m looking forward to being back in Japan. It’s always a cool place to visit and I’ve got some very good memories from the rally: it’s where we took our first podium finish last year, and where I won the WRC2 title the year before. It’s a special feeling to be a Toyota driver there, and every year the number of fans seems to be growing. We will be there at a different time of year, but I don’t think the challenge will be any less than before. Having been on the podium in the last two asphalt rallies, as well as in Japan last year, that’s the minimum we will try to aim for and we’ll do our best to achieve a good result.”