At the end of Friday morning, Elfyn Evans is leading Rally Japan after Stage 3 with Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier following him.
Elfyn Evans managed to gain three positions in Stage 2 and to steal the lead from Oliver Solberg after SS2 as he was the fastest driver on the final two stages of Friday morning. In fact, he was able to build a safety net around his lead as he left Oliver Solberg behind for 17,7 seconds with three stages remaining until the end of Friday.
Oliver Solberg slipped behind Evans at the end of Stage 2, but he was leading Rally Japan after Stage 1 as he set the fastest time there.
Sebastien Ogier does the 1-2-3 for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT and is just 0,5 seconds behind Solberg before the start of the second loop of Friday.
Thierry Neuville is in fourth position overall and is the best driver for Hyundai Motorsport despite the fact that he mentioned understeer at the end of SS1.
Sami Pajari is fifth overall and is just 3,6 seconds behind the fourth Neuville while their gap was at 1,5 seconds in favor of Neuville at the end of Stage 2. However, it must be mentioned that Pajari lost three places in Stage 2 dropping from second to fifth overall.
Takamoto Katsuta follows his teammate on the overall classification for 11,6 seconds as the Japanese star suffered from a rear left puncture in Stage 1 while he had an off-road moment in Stage 3. Luckily for him, he was able to complete Stage 3 and to retain his sixth position.
Jon Armstrong, Adrien Fourmaux and Hayden Paddon complete the top 9.
Fourmaux had a spin in Stage 2 resulting in losing 35,6 seconds compated to the fastest Evans.
Josh McErlean is just one position behind the top ten which means that he was the lowest-placed Rally1 driver on the classification.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after Stage 3:
Post a Comment