Being held for the fourth successive year, Rally Japan takes place in the forest-covered mountains of the Aichi and Gifu regions around Nagoya, on narrow and twisting asphalt roads with changeable grip levels.

Entering his final rally of the season aboard the GR Yaris Rally2, Yamamoto was aiming to build upon the experience he gained of the tricky Japanese stages one year ago, and the mileage he gathered on varied asphalt roads in Croatia on his last rally in October.

Together with co-driver James Fulton, Yamamoto made a strong start, setting the third-fastest time in WRC2 already in SS3 on Friday morning and climbing to fourth overall in the class. He would lose some time after damaging the car in the following Isegami’s Tunnel stage, but ended the day with a second-fastest time in SS7.

Yamamoto continued to set strong times on Saturday, climbing back up to fourth in class only to then lose two minutes stopping to change a tyre in SS12. He was on course to finish seventh in WRC2 before aquaplaning in wet conditions in Sunday’s Power Stage and hitting a wall, damaging the suspension.

Quotes:

Juho Hänninen (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRC Challenge Program instructor):

“There have been some positive moments and negative moments for Yuki during this Rally Japan. Things started well and he was in a good position on Friday before he hit the tunnel and damaged the car. The conditions on the final day were really difficult, and especially in the Power Stage. Unfortunately, this time it ended Yuki’s rally, as he lost the car on aquaplaning, but these kind of things can happen in such conditions. Overall, Yuki’s speed was better than last year, showing the progress he has made this season, but there is still some work to do to have a consistent three days across an entire rally.”

Yuki Yamamoto

“It was really nice to come back to Rally Japan this year. The rally started well and we had a really good stage time already in SS3. Then in Isegami’s Tunnel I hit the tunnel and lost some time, but after that we could still have some good pace. On Sunday it was good to drive in full wet conditions for the first time with these tyres. I was learning stage by stage but it was going well until the Power Stage; under braking in standing water the rear snapped and I couldn’t really do anything. It was a bit of a pity not to finish and I’m sorry for the team and fans. I felt huge support during this home event and I hope to come back stronger.”

Results (WRC2):

1 Alejandro Cachón/Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)            3h31m50.5s

2 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2)              +54.6s

3 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)     +1m44.4s

4 Heikki Kovalainen/Sae Kitagawa (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)            +4m09.4s

5 Hiroki Arai/Hiroki Tachikui (Škoda Fabia R5)       +4m26.6s

6 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)         +4m40.1s

Retired Yuki Yamamoto/James Fulton (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)