TOYOTA Gazoo Racing heads to Rally Japan looking to round off a dominant first half of the season — but much of the spotlight will fall on championship leader Elfyn Evans.

The Dolgellau driver arrives in commanding form, sitting 12 points clear at the top of the standings after a hugely consistent campaign, and returns to an event he has made his own in recent years.

Evans claimed victory in Japan in both 2023 and 2024, underlining his mastery of the notoriously technical asphalt stages.

While Toyota leads the manufacturers’ championship by a commanding 93 points — with five wins from the opening six rallies — Evans has been central to that success, combining speed with relentless consistency to emerge as the driver to beat in 2026.

Speaking ahead of the event, Evans highlighted both the challenge and significance of the rally: “Rally Japan is always a special occasion. We get a really warm welcome from everyone in Japan and there’s a really nice feel to the rally week, as well as a real drive in our team to do well on Toyota’s home event.

“The roads are very narrow and technical, requiring precision and confidence with the pacenotes and the car.

“The different date this year should bring hotter temperatures, which will increase the demands on everything in the car.

“It’s been a good event for us in the past, but the clock always starts at zero for everyone and we’ll have to be at our best to try and score as many points as we can.”

Evans’ closest challenger is team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, 12 points adrift, who will be determined to shine on home soil after securing his maiden WRC victories earlier this season in Kenya and Croatia.

Further down the standings, Toyota’s strength in depth remains clear. Oliver Solberg sits third after his breakthrough Monte Carlo win and is set for his first Rally Japan start in Rally1 machinery, while Sami Pajari — who took his maiden WRC podium at this event last year — continues to impress. Nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier completes the team’s remarkable presence in the top six.

Since it returned to the WRC calendar in 2022, Rally Japan has been held mostly on narrow and twisting asphalt roads in the forest-covered mountains of the Aichi and Gifu prefectures, around the city of Nagoya.

The move from November to late May should bring higher temperatures, but the chance for rain – which has added to the challenge in previous editions – remains.

While the Toyota Stadium continues to host the service park, the rally will this year visit Nagoya itself for the first time with a ceremonial start at the city’s historic castle on Thursday evening, following shakedown that morning at Kuragaike Park.

Friday is focused on a loop of three stages run twice in the mountains east of Toyota City, starting with the new Asuke test and also including the iconic Isegami’s Tunnel. Saturday is the longest day of the rally, taking crews north-east for a trio of stages repeated in the reverse order after a tyre-fitting zone at Enakyo Park.

Two passes of a new super special stage at Fujioka round out the day. Sunday once more takes place mainly to the south-east, with twin passes of the familiar Nukata and Lake Mikawako tests separated by two runs around a Kuragaike super special.