The 12th special stage of the rally had to be cancelled entirely after a Nissan van, which had no business being there, suddenly appeared on the stage. Elfyn Evans, who was in second place in the rally, was preparing for his start when the van showed up at the starting area.
Live broadcasts showed officials speaking with the driver of the van, who was completely out of place. Based on the television footage, the person behind the wheel of the Nissan was not a representative of the rally organisers. In other words, an ordinary citizen had somehow driven onto the stage in their van.
The WRC and the International Automobile Federation (FIA) have now issued a brief statement on the matter.
“FIA/WRC Statement: Special Stage 12 of FORUM8 Rally Japan has been stopped for safety reasons following a security incident. Shortly before the seventh competition car started the stage, an unauthorised vehicle entered and blocked the start line.,” says the statement.
“The stage was therefore immediately stopped, and the rest of the competitors were instructed to follow an alternative route to the next regroup. The local authorities are now in attendance and we will continue to work with them to ensure that the incident is dealt with appropriately.”
After the blunder by the Nissan driver, both Elfyn Evans and Ott Tänak—who was the last Rally1 car scheduled to start—were given calculated times for the stage, as were the drivers in the smaller classes. Tänak remains in the lead, but Evans has closed the gap during Saturday’s stages.
This is not the first time civilian cars have caused chaos at Rally Japan. Two years ago, there was a serious incident when a civilian vehicle entered a special stage via a side road while competitors were driving the stage. Two rally cars, travelling at full speed, encountered the civilian car head-on, but fortunately, the worst was avoided.
Rally Japan concludes on Sunday.
