WRC Rally Japan 2025: Ogier's victory sets up a nail-biting finale for the World Championship title

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Sebastien Ogier won Rally Japan, further intensifying the title fight in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The Toyota driver prevailed after an intense duel against championship leader Elfyn Evans, reducing the gap to three points. The title will now be decided at the season finale in Saudi Arabia.

Together with co-driver Vincent Landais, Ogier celebrated his sixth victory of the 2025 season. After 20 demanding asphalt stages, the eight-time world champion finished 11.6 seconds ahead of Evans. Toyota also secured a 1-2-3 finish: Sami Pajari took third place after Hyundai driver Adrien Fourmaux crashed in wet conditions on Sunday and was forced to retire. It was the Finn's first podium finish in the WRC. [Link to results]

With his 67th career victory, Ogier reduced Evans' previous lead from 13 to just three points. Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) remains third in the title race, but is 24 points behind after finishing sixth in Japan.

Sebastien Ogier's 67th WRC victory

Rovanperä had led the rally after the opening stage on Thursday, but lost over four minutes on Friday in the third stage after contacting a guardrail. The damaged rear suspension dropped him back to 23rd place.

Ogier initially took the lead after the second stage, but briefly lost it to local favorite Takamoto Katsuta (Toyota) before regaining it on SS4. At the end of Friday, Ogier led Katsuta by 7.9 seconds, while Evans was 10.2 seconds behind.

Evans launched a comeback on Saturday , overtaking Katsuta and narrowing the gap to Ogier to 1.4 seconds with two fastest times in each class. But in the afternoon, the Frenchman struck back, winning three classes in a row. He went into the final day with a 6.5-second lead.

Fourmaux's accident gives Pajari his first WRC podium

Katsuta retired on Saturday after a driving error in a chicane, when he hit several water-filled barriers and damaged the power steering. Earlier, Fourmaux had impressed with strong lap times in his Hyundai and was only 23.6 seconds behind Ogier after Saturday's session.

On Sunday, however, Fourmaux fell victim to the adverse conditions. In heavy rain and with a fogged-up windshield, the Frenchman slid into a group of trees. Although he was able to continue, a torn-off passenger door forced him to retire. Pajari inherited third place as a result.

The extremely slippery conditions on Sunday made the asphalt stages a challenge, as the teams had little experience with the Hankook rain tires. Evans initially closed the gap but lost time when he ran into debris from Fourmaux's Hyundai. Ogier responded again, winning five stages in a row and securing the full ten points on Sunday with a narrow victory on the Power Stage.

Hyundai in Japan is completely out of control

Ott Tänak finished fourth as the best Hyundai driver, but his older i20 N left him well behind the leaders. Gregoire Munster took fifth place in his Ford, equaling his best WRC result, while teammate Josh McErlean retired after an accident.

World champion Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) experienced a weekend to forget. The Belgian, last year's winner in Japan, was forced to retire several times due to numerous technical problems. After a gearbox issue on Thursday and a differential failure on Friday, further defects prevented him from starting over the weekend.

In the WRC2 category, Alejandro Cachon (Toyota) won ahead of Nikolai Gryasin (Skoda), while Oliver Solberg (Toyota) was the best Rally2 driver, finishing seventh overall.

The decision in the exciting battle for the 2025 WRC title will be made from November 25th to 29th at the World Championship premiere of the Rally Saudi Arabia.