How Hyundai and Neuville gatecrashed Toyota's homecoming party

Toyota only had one more target from its successful 2022 World Rally Championship campaign: a win at home as the series returned to Japan for the finale. The land of the rising sun, back on the calendar after a 12-year wait, was expecting a Toyota homecoming party but arch Korean rivals Hyundai ripped up the script.

The pressure valve had been slightly released with Toyota having already completed a clean sweep of titles thanks to Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen blitzing their way to the drivers’ and co-drivers’ crowns in New Zealand last month, followed by the capture of the manufacturers’ championship in Spain. But with its homeland hosting the WRC season finale in Toyota City, the pressure ratcheted up again as the brand was expected to deliver in front of thousands of passionate fans that lined the streets and crammed the service park at Toyota Stadium for a sight of the now iconic GR Yaris.

For Toyota, it didn’t go to plan as ultimately it was a rally conquered by Hyundai. One by one Toyota’s key fighters primed to deliver the coveted victory began to fall, setting up a highly impressive 1-2 for the South Korean manufacturer as Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe led home Ott Tanak and Martin Jarveoja, the latter pair competing in their final outing for the team.

This all-new Rally Japan, which swapped its traditional gravel for 19 new asphalt tests, produced arguably one of the toughest Tarmac rallies the WRC has ever witnessed. Its relentless sequences of tight corners and narrow passes lined by deep gullies challenged the revered Corsica for its ‘Rally of 10,000 corners’ mantle. The route even included a narrow tunnel, evoking the potential for scenes from the iconic Italian Job movie. This unique feature would become one of many talking points across a rally full of drama.

Talk of Rally Japan’s unique demands was only matched by the buzz of silly season now Tanak had set the driver merry-go-round spinning after announcing his departure from Hyundai. Team bosses and drivers however remained tight-lipped, adding to the suspense.

Next year was put to one side after crews were greeted to a traditional Japanese welcome inside Toyota Stadium, with each driver having to strike a huge drum before they could begin the rally on an opening stage in darkness.

This was not the prefect rally to unveil a new co-driving line-up, given the lack of knowledge of the stages, but in a quirk of fate it was the two new Rally1 pairings that topped the times in the opening test. Sebastien Ogier, winner of the last WRC visit to Japan in 2010, grabbed an early lead with Vincent Landais alongside. He has partnered M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet this year, but has been earmarked as a future navigator for the eight-time world champion.

“It's been an intense recce but so far Vincent is doing a good job,” said Ogier.

Ogier's new partnership with Vincent Landais could have yielded victory without an early puncture

Photo by: Toyota Racing

M-Sport’s Craig Breen was only 0.1 seconds adrift of Ogier’s Toyota as he contested a first competitive WRC stage with James Fulton calling notes, taking over from the retiring Paul Nagle.

“He [James] wasn't just dropped in at the deep end here, he was dropped in somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic,” said Breen. “He's put in all the prep and he's reaping the rewards now, so I just want him to enjoy it. It's going to be a tricky weekend for everyone.”

Friday proved to be equally as tough on the crews as it was the organisers, as there seemed to be no end to the drama that unfolded. The opening stage featured the famously ‘haunted’ Isegami’s Tunnel, which had raised questions from the crews regarding its safety given the narrow 380-metre gravel road situated inside it. Luckily all Rally1 crews made it through but the dust kicked up, which was slow to disperse, meant some had to briefly stop mid-pass due to poor visibility.

"You can't see the road and you don't know what the grip is like underneath [the leaves]" Thierry Neuville

Ogier was one who faced the brunt after falling behind Breen on the road due to a puncture that cost him almost three minutes, effectively ending his victory hopes.

“I have no idea to be honest [how the puncture happened] – it was very narrow with not a lot of grip in the road and I didn't feel anything, our race is already over,” said a frustrated Ogier, having suffered tyre failures in four of the six rallies he has contested this year.

The stage soon came to an abrupt halt when Dani Sordo promptly stopped his Hyundai as smoke emerged in the cabin. Sordo and co-driver Candido Carrera attempted to put out a fire but were unable to extinguish the blaze that took hold and burned for an hour and 10 minutes, rendering the car to a pile of ash. The lack of remains means it will be unlikely Hyundai will ever find the cause of the fire, although a fuel leak is suspected.

“The car was smelling of petrol a lot and just here in a straight line the fire was coming between the seats with a lot of smoke, so I stopped the car,” said Sordo.

The fire prompted organisers to red flag the stage and cancel the following test, due to the delay it had caused. The route was shortened for the second pass due to the smouldering remains of Sordo’s i20 N, which conveniently avoided the tunnel.

Sordo was unable to stop his Hyundai burning to the ground

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Rovanpera emerged as the rally leader, but his time at the front was short-lived as Neuville and Elfyn Evans moved into share of the lead come midday service, with Rovanpera just 0.7s back. Joining Sordo on the sidelines from the Rally1 field was Breen after another costly error. The Irishman slid wide at a left-hander, resulting in his Ford Puma piercing through a barrier on stage four. The damage would force the cancellation of the second pass (stage seven).

It was stage four that provided the most worrying moment for the organisers. Late in the stage a civilian car somehow emerged on the stage, driving in the opposite direction to the competitors.

WRC2 driver Sami Pajari met the vehicle at speed – his red flag warning light to indicate Breen’s crash having failed – but somehow he was able to avoid the car. Emil Lindholm also witnessed the vehicle on the stage before it was removed. The serious breach of safety protocol prompted a full investigation by the FIA, which requested additional measures to ensure the event could continue safely.

Once the action resumed, Evans managed to pull clear of Neuville to take a three-second lead into Saturday’s seven stages, after the latter struggled for grip in the leaf-covered stages.

“You can't see the road and you don't know what the grip is like underneath them [the leaves],” said Neuville. “I struggled in there because I don't want to do a mistake.

“The stages are really challenging – you need a good warm-up of the shoulders in the morning – they are really twisty. A simple 20-kilometre stage feels like a 35-40-kilometre stage sometimes. The average speed is slow and there are plenty of corners but the rhythm is very high.”

Rovanpera sat 5.1s shy in third ahead of Tanak, who battled a transmission issue and a lack of hybrid power in fourth, while home hero Takamoto Katsuta held fifth, driven on by a wave of supporters. Gus Greensmith upheld M-Sport’s honour in sixth, despite suffering from a driveshaft problem.

Toyota still had two irons in the fire for victory come Saturday morning but it quickly reduced to one as Rovanpera was the next to be beaten by the meandering roads. The Finn misjudged a left-hander on stage eight, resulting in his GR Yaris skirting into a rock face. Incredibly, the new world champion only picked up a front-right puncture, but lost 2m36s in the process.

Evans led the charge for Toyota as Rovanpera fell by the wayside, but he too was out of luck with a puncture on the final day

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Any hope of a podium was vanquished on the next stage when he knocked the front-right again, causing damage to the replacement tyre that required the 22-year-old to refit the punctured tyre to complete the test, having elected to carry only one spare.

“There was something on a right-hand corner where we got a bit close but it was not a big hit,” said Rovanpera, whose rally turned into a glorified test session.

The fight for victory now appeared to be between Evans, Neuville and Tanak – and it seemed to move in the direction of Evans after the Welshman increased his advantage to 6.5s over Saturday’s morning loop. This was helped by posting a time 1.8s faster than Neuville on the unusually fast and wide roads of stage 10, which featured the added hazard of a loose drain cover that required officials to intervene. It was a stage where Neuville struggled: “On the recce we had to do 60km/h [nearly 40mph], which is very slow, and my pacenotes are related on speed.”

"I was probably a tad wide in a right-hander. The notes were correct but I didn't get them as early as I needed to slow the car down in time" Elfyn Evans

However, Neuville bounced back in the afternoon, while Evans lost the feeling with the front-end of his GR Yaris. Neuville thus ended the day with a 4s lead over Evans after the mixed gravel and tarmac Okazaki City superspecial held in front of a bumper crowd. Tanak was reduced to a watching brief 39.9s back, with Katsuta fourth and Ogier, who won two of the afternoon’s stages, in fifth.

A grandstand finish was set for Sunday, albeit played out under threatening skies. Tyre choice was the hot topic in morning service, with Hyundai and M-Sport clearly expecting rain, while Toyota put its eggs in dry-tyre basket.

Ultimately, the tyre choice became moot. Evans reduced the deficit to 0.6s after the day’s first stage, but disaster struck on the next test. On stage 16 he ran slightly wide and picked up a puncture, handing Hyundai a golden opportunity for a 1-2.

“I was probably a tad wide in a right-hander,” said Evans. “The notes were correct but I didn't get them as early as I needed to slow the car down in time. There was nothing I could do.”

Evans’ victory hopes would have been tested regardless. Torrential rain did fall across the final three stages, which would have left him on a sub-optimal tyre strategy compared to the Hyundais equipped with two wet tyres.

Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe made it four wins from the last six rallies for Hyundai with their first win since the Acropolis

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

The puncture released the pressure on Neuville, who was able to cruise to victory by 1m11.1s over Tanak to complete Hyundai’s party-pooping in Toyota’s backyard. But there was some for Toyota as Katsuta scored what team boss Jari-Matti Latvala described as “a half victory” with his second podium of the season in third that delighted the Katsuta army.

Ogier managed to recover to fourth, ending the rally with the most stages wins, highlighting what a victory threat he could have been, as Evans was left gutted with fifth. Greensmith provided some positivity for M-Sport in sixth, while Breen made the most of his bold wet tyre choice to take the full powerstage points in his repaired Puma.

In WRC2, Lindholm and co-driver Reeta Hamalainen wrapped up the championship, finishing ninth overall and third in class - behind Gregoire Munster and Teemu Suninen - after his title rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz crashed out on Friday. Ex-Formula 1 driver Heikki Kovalainen scored a point on his WRC debut after taking 10th, two spots ahead of Rovanpera.

After their scare with a civilian vehicle that encroached onto the stage, Lindholm and Hamalainen took the WRC2 title with third in class

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool