VIDEO SHOWS: HIGHLIGHTS OF DAY ONE OF RALLY JAPAN – THE 13TH ROUND OF THE WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWS: VARIOUS, JAPAN (NOVEMBER 6, 2025) (WRC PROMOTER GMBH – See restrictions) 1. VARIOUS OF RALLY JAPAN PROMOTIONAL VISUALS 2. VARIOUS OF ELFYN EVANS OF TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ELFYN EVANS SAYING: "Yeah, nice to be back, obviously. Always a very, very warm welcome here for us all. And yeah, like I say, it's nice to be back. Like always, it's a tricky weekend, very technical, very twisty. We need to be pretty, pretty accurate in the driving. But yeah, it looks, the stages look nice and we look forward to it." 4. TAKAMOTO KATSUTA OF TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TAKAMOTO KATSUTA SAYING: "I don't know. I try my best for sure. There is a big fight in the championships for guys, so I just focus on for maximum what I can do. And yeah, it's interesting to see where I will be at the end of the rally. A lot of fans, nice to have this kind of big support, so definitely I do my best." 6. VARIOUS OF KALLE ROVANPERA OF TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) KALLE ROVANPERA SAYING: "Yeah, it's obviously a tight fight going on. Nice to be back in Japan. Already the shakedown is now reminding us that it's going to be a tricky week and it's not easy here. Grip levels are changing and really narrow and tricky roads, so yeah, it's going to be a tricky weekend, but nice to be in Japan and a big one for Toyota always, so it's good." 8. VARIOUS OF ADRIEN FOURMAUX OF HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS RACING 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ADRIEN FOURMAUX SAYING: "Voila! It's really nice to be back in Japan. It's normally a really demanding rally for everybody. Many times there are things happening also for the championship, but also really entertaining. So yeah, it's also a tricky one, especially when the rain comes like last night, and then you have really slippery conditions, roads that normally people don't really use so often. So quite challenging for us, but it's a double-SS event, so that's quite normal." 10. VARIOUS OF SEBASTIEN OGIER OF TOYOTA GAZOO RACING 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) SEBASTIEN OGIER SAYING: "It's quite simple: we need to score more than him (Elfyn Evans), and that's the plan for the weekend." INTERVIEWER ASKING: "And your impressions from the recce: what sort of rally have we got to look forward to?" SEBASTIAN OGIER SAYING: "Bit similar to what we always have here: very twisty roads, some sections are nice, some are very narrow and very demanding. Weather will play a role like it often does here, so yeah, interesting what you have." 12. VARIOUS OF OTT TANAK OF HYUNDAI SHELL MOBIS RACING 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) OTT TANAK SAYING: "Yeah, not about the championship, but about the rally for sure. So we try to do all weekend." INTERVIEWER ASKING: "And you felt good in here?" OTT TANAK SAYING: "Very good." STORY: World Rally Championship (WRC) leader Elfyn Evans topped the shakedown stage at Rally Japan on Thursday (November 6), leading a Toyota 1-2-3 ahead of this week's penultimate round of the season. Evans, who holds a 13-point lead in the championship standings, set the fastest time of two minutes 13.8 seconds on the 1.75-mile Kuragaike Park stage. His time remained unbeaten throughout the session. The Welshman has won the last two editions of Rally Japan and has consistently finished on the podium in the last eight WRC events on Tarmac. Home favourite Takamoto Katsuta was closest to Evans, finishing 0.6 seconds behind. Meanwhile, championship contenders Kalle Rovanpera and Sebastien Ogier, tied on 234 points, are competing closely with Ogier holding the advantage due to more wins this season. Rovanpera edged Ogier by 0.3 seconds in the shakedown, with Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux splitting the pair, finishing a tenth ahead of Ogier. Toyota's Sami Pajari ranked sixth, just 0.1 seconds shy of Ogier, while Ott Tanak followed closely another tenth behind. Tanak, despite retaining a mathematical chance for the title, has downplayed his prospects. Hyundai's Thierry Neuville, the outgoing world champion, was 0.7 seconds slower than Tanak, finishing eighth in the session and expressing uncertainty about the weekend's outcome. (Production: Suramya Kaushik)
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