Rally Japan: Day 4 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing takes title with home win in thrilling finale

Quotes:
Akio Toyoda (TGR-WRT Chairman)
“’We hate to lose’. With this slogan, we kept fighting until the very end without giving up. I would like to celebrate sincerely with all the TGR-WRT members today.

Jari-Matti, Kaj, Tom,
Elfyn, Scott,
Seb, Vincent,
Taka, Aaron,
Kalle, Jonne,
and everybody in the team, thank you so much!

Congratulations also to Sami and Enni!

Thierry, Martijn, and everyone at Hyundai, congratulations on winning the drivers’ and co-drivers’ championship titles.
WRC 2024 became really exciting as we were able to fight against each other until the final round, the final day and the final stage. I believe it is significant for us as Asian car manufacturers to show fans the sound and smell of the rally cars on the roads of East Asia. Let’s continue to boost motorsports in Asia together, and let’s have a good fight again next year!”

Jari-Matti Latvala (Team Principal)
“We have had such a rollercoaster season and we knew coming here to Rally Japan that we still had a chance to take the title, but the odds were not in our favour. However, we said that we would fight until the last metre of the rally and see what happens, and actually we kept that fight on to the end and that’s how we managed to win the title. We have had three devastating Sundays in the second part of the year where we’ve lost points right at the end of the rallies, and at some point it looked like there might be no hope, but we just kept bouncing back and this is a momentous Sunday for us. It shows you should keep fighting until the end and never lose faith.”

Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a very exciting last day of Rally Japan and we’re delighted with the final result. It’s a very special event as a home rally for the team and I’m naturally very happy to win it again. With it I’m also really happy to contribute towards the manufacturers’ title: it means a lot for every member of the team and I’m proud to be a part of it. We maybe didn’t always have the performance we wanted during the whole weekend, but we kept trying until the end. I felt for Ott this morning as he had to push, and that opened up the opportunity for us but it still wasn’t easy to bring it home and get the points we needed.”

Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 17)
“I think you could not have written a better finish to the season for us, with everything to play for on the final stage here in Japan. There was a lot of pressure, it was all or nothing in the Power Stage, and of course we are very delighted that we managed to produce this performance in this moment and clinch the title together with the team. Seeing the happy faces of everyone in the team, and of our chairman Morizo-san, is the best feeling and also good reward for all the effort that every team member has made during the season. It’s proof again of why we should never give up.”

Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“It’s been a very tough season but at the end we were able to take back the manufacturers’ championship, and it’s such a great feeling. I had to be patient this weekend which has not been easy but I managed to stay on the road and push in the Power Stage. The whole team did a fantastic job, and without their support I would not have been able to do it, so a huge thanks to them and to my team-mates. There were a lot of fans cheering for me this weekend. I’m sorry for them that it was not possible to take a podium myself this time, but thanks to them for their support as well.”

PROVISIONAL FINAL CLASSIFICATION, RALLY JAPAN
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 3h23m41.0s
2 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m27.3s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +1m55.5s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +2m02.6s
5 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1 HYBRID) +3m11.5s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +6m54.1s
7 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Citroën C3 Rally2) +10m04.3s
8 Sami Pajari/Enni Mälkönen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +11m50.8s
9 Hiroki Arai/Shunsuke Matsuo (Škoda Fabia R5) +13m24.3s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +14m15.8s
(Results as of 17:30 on Sunday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for drivers after round 13:
1 Thierry Neuville 242 points
2 Elfyn Evans 210
3 Ott Tänak 200
4 Sébastien Ogier 191
5 Adrien Fourmaux 162
6 Takamoto Katsuta 116
7 Kalle Rovanperä 114
8 Gregoire Munster 46
9 Dani Sordo 44
10 Sami Pajari 44

2024 FIA World Rally Championship for manufacturers after round 13:
1 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team 561 points
2 Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team 558 points
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 295

*subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA