Preview: Round 7 – Rally Japan

Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team travels to Rally Japan next week (May 28-31) with renewed confidence after its first win of the season at Rally de Portugal. The FIA World Rally Championship now returns to tarmac for Rally Japan, which moves from its usual November calendar date to May for the seventh round of the season.

Based in and around Toyota City in the Aichi and Gifu prefectures of Japan, the event is one of the WRC's most distinctive and technically demanding events. Twenty stages covering 302.82km of pure tarmac await competitors, with the mountain roads presenting a unique challenge: relentlessly narrow, constantly twisting, and lined by barriers, steep drop-offs and dense forest.
 
Hyundai Motorsport has a long-standing connection with Rally Japan. Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe clinched the 2024 FIA WRC drivers’ and co-drivers’ titles at the final round of the season. The team claimed a 1-2 finish in 2022 and hopes to bring the positive momentum from Portugal onto the Japanese asphalt to bring home a strong result.

Q+A with Hyundai Motorsport WRC Sporting Director Andrew Wheatley

After a fantastic victory in Portugal, we are now back on tarmac in Japan for the next event. How does the team expect to perform?
“Portugal was a real tonic for the team, a chance to really show the speed of the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 on gravel which is a result of the hard work that the team has been putting in over the last few months. Japan sees us back on tarmac, which in theory is not the best surface for our team – but the nature of the stages in the Aichi and Gifu prefectures are slightly different  to what we have seen before this year, and the short corners, medium-speed nature of the event means that we should have a better chance to be competitive here. That said, the event is based in Toyota City and our competitors are always motivated to be successful here.”
 
The event has moved from its usual November date to May – what impact is that expected to have on the challenge of the event?
“In theory, the conditions of the rally should be more consistent, which suits us. The late spring/early summer means less leaves on the road, and the temperature is expected to be in the late 20s Celsius, with sunshine and longer daylight hours than we have in November. However, we will be close to the start of the rainy season in the region, and there is a chance that we could experience very sudden downpours - and when it rains, it really rains. The roads will transform to full wet conditions in no time at all, making it very important that we can react to the changes quickly. With high ambient temperatures, the road can also dry very quickly, putting huge stress on any wet tyres in the car package.”
 
What would be a strong result for the team?
“A strong result would be to split the Toyotas and fight for the podium. I think there are probably seven or eight drivers with the speed, the motivation and the experience to fight for the victory at this rally. The team’s job will be to make sure that we have the performance and the reliability to maintain a challenge until Sunday afternoon, when the points are awarded.”  

Views from the crews  

Adrien Fourmaux said:

Rally Japan will feel quite different this year, being held in May instead of the usual autumn period. The conditions are likely to be less unpredictable, but the roads are still incredibly technical and demanding, with narrow sections and a lot of commitment needed on every stage. Japan will be the last tarmac event of the season, and last year we were fighting for podium positions there, so hopefully we can be competitive again. The atmosphere from the fans is always fantastic in Japan, so we’re really looking forward to it.

Thierry Neuville said:

We are very happy to have taken our first victory of the year, which was a long time overdue. Importantly, we were competitive throughout the whole weekend, which is very encouraging for the future. However, we know that we are currently still fighting to find performance on tarmac, and we’re expecting a difficult weekend in Japan. This is one of the most twisty rallies on the WRC calendar, and probably one of the slowest. The recce is very demanding as we need to make a lot of pace notes; many corners are similar, so you need to differentiate between them as well as the speeds you can go. My goal is to be competitive and fight for a good position.

 
Hayden Paddon said:

My only previous Rally Japan was when it was a gravel rally in 2010, so I have no experience of the tarmac roads. We have spent a lot of time analysing data and video onboards to overcome this as many of the stages are similar to previous years.  After a pre-event test, I’m already feeling even better in the car compared to Croatia, and we have made some set-up changes based on our learnings from that event. Our main target is to be closer to the pace of our team-mates, and even matching them on some stages. It will be a challenge, but we will certainly up the speed from our previous rallies.