Rally of Japan 2026, Day 2: Evans remains leader, Solberg bids farewell to victory hopes

Awaiting the Japanese Super Sunday, Elfyn Evans seems close to achieving his second seasonal victory. In addition to the best times set by the Welshman from Toyota, the fight for success with Oliver Solberg was interrupted during the tenth stage, due to an error committed by the Swede which cancelled any chance for him to compete for victory in Japan with the world leader, now favored for the win also thanks to the 18-second advantage he holds over Sébastien Ogier.

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SS7-SS9: immediately on the attack

In the first three stages of the day, Solberg’s clear objective was seen, which was to recover ground in the general classification on Evans as quickly as possible. The Swede from Toyota indeed finished SS7 and SS9 ahead of everyone, with the Welshman always remaining among the top three classified along with Ogier, setting the best time in SS8. Thanks to these performances, the world leader remained firmly in command of the Japanese rally, with Hyundai in obvious difficulty: after the obstacles encountered on Day 1, Katsuta managed to climb back up to fifth overall, thus overtaking Neuville.

SS10-SS14: Solberg’s error

Up to that point, the duel between Evans and Solberg was proving very interesting, but precisely during the SS10 the twist occurred to the detriment of the Swede: in an attempt to catch up with his rival at a very high pace, the Scandinavian driver lost control of his Toyota after having hit a tree. The error effectively compromised his fight for victory, due to suspension damage that ended his race, thus plummeting to the bottom of the standings.

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In this way, Ogier and Pajari moved into second and third absolute positions respectively, with the two drivers in turn winning the tenth and eleventh stages. Evans’ return among the fastest drivers in a single stage was seen in SS12, with Day 2 of the Japanese rally concluding with Pajari, who set the best time in the last two rounds. Evans thus maintained the leadership of the standings, with an advantage of almost 18 seconds over Ogier on the eve of a potentially decisive day for his second seasonal victory after the Rally Sweden. But, especially after what happened in the last world events, between errors and technical failures occurring at the most crucial moments, it is necessary to quote a football legend like Vujadin Boskov: “The game is over when the referee blows the whistle”.

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Rally Japan 2026, standings after SS14 (Top-10)