The opening stage of the afternoon proved to be the downfall of the home crowd’s hero. Katsuta damaged his car right at the start of the Mount Kasagi stage and was forced to drive without power steering thereafter. He lost nearly four and a half minutes to the stage-winning time and dropped from the fight for the lead down to seventh place.
Katsuta’s troubles are not over yet, as three more stages remain in the afternoon loop. He will most likely drop even further down the standings. The deeply disappointed Japanese driver was too emotional to comment on the situation at the end of the stage.
The battle for the rally lead, however, remains as tight as ever. Elfyn Evans set the fastest time on stage 11, but only by a margin of 0.6 seconds ahead of his team-mate Sébastien Ogier. In the overall standings, Ogier retained the lead, though his advantage over Evans is now just 1.4 seconds.
“It was a clean run and the feeling in the car was good. I heard Taka had problems. That’s a real shame. None of us would have wanted that,” Evans lamented.
“here was some confusion at the beginning of the stage. Taka hit something and there were things everywhere. That’s the way it is!” Ogier chuckled.
Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux moved up to third place thanks to Katsuta’s misfortune. The gap to the lead is 17.7 seconds. Sami Pajari holds fourth place, exactly 30 seconds behind the leader. Hyundai’s Ott Tänak and M-Sport Ford’s Grégoire Munster are in fifth and sixth respectively.
“It’s nice to get at least some reward. We’ve been pushing hard. Still, we tried to drive cleanly on this stage and manage tyre wear,” Fourmaux explained.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä climbed to ninth overall, overtaking Alejandro Cachón, who leads the WRC2 category. Rovanperä is expected to move up another two positions on Saturday, ahead of Oliver Solberg and Katsuta.
Rally Japan standings after SS11/20:
| POS. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | 2:05:42.2 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +1.4 |
| 3. | Adrien Fourmaux | Hyundai | +17.7 |
| 4. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +30.0 |
| 5. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | +2:07.7 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +3:51.6 |
| 7. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +4:31.7 |
| 8. | Oliver Solberg | Toyota | +5:35.1 |
| 9. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +6:04.2 |
| 10. | Alejandro Cachon | Toyota | +6:30.0 |
| 11. | Nikolai Grjazin | Skoda | +6:48.5 |
| 12. | Jan Solans | Toyota | +7:01.0 |
Rally Japan itinerary (CET):
Thursday 6 November
01:01 Shakedown: Kuragaike Park (2.75 km)
08:05 SS1: Kuragaike Park SSS (2.75 km)
Friday 7 November
23:06 SS2: Inabu / Shitara 1 (17.08 km)
00:29 SS3: Shinshiro 1 (17.41 km)
02:02 SS4: Isegami’s Tunnel 1 (19.66 km)
03:57 Service (40 min)
05:35 SS5: Isegami’s Tunnel 2 (19.66 km)
06:53 SS6: Inabu / Shitara 2 (17.08 km)
08:16 SS7: Shinshiro 2 (17.41 km)
Saturday 8 November
23:23 SS8: Obara 1 (16.44 km)
00:34 SS9: Ena 1 (21.25 km)
02:05 SS10: Mt Kasagi 1 (21.74 km)
04:35 SS11: Mt Kasagi 2 (21.74 km)
06:08 SS12: Ena 2 (21.25 km)
07:21 SS13: Obara 2 (16.44 km)
09:35 SS14: Toyota City SSS (3.05 km)
Sunday 9 November
00:39 SS15: Nukata 1 (20.23 km)
01:35 SS16: Lake Mikawako 1 (13.98 km)
02:53 SS17: Okazaki SSS 1 (1.98 km)
03:04 SS18: Okazaki SSS 2 (1.98 km)
04:33 SS19: Nukata 2 (20.23 km)
06:15 SS20: Lake Mikawako 2 (13.98 km) *Power Stage
