It’s early days in the WRC season finale with just the opening 2.15km super special stage being completed in a packed-to-the-rafter Toyota Stadium.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria powered their M-Sport Ford Puma into the rally lead – a first in his WRC career – by besting Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja’s Hyundai i20 N by 0.5 seconds.
A short stage always delivers close results; Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Takamoto Katsuta set the third fastest time in his GR Yaris much to the delight of his home fans, and only 0.8 seconds off the lead.
Fourth was Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin followed by Sebastian Ogier and Vincent Landais in fifth, the eight-time WRC Champion tied with the champion-elect Thierry Neuville and Martin Wydaeghe.
In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin (Citroen C3) heads title favourite Sami Pajari by two seconds.
The action resumes on Friday with eight stages covering more than 125 kilometres of competitive distance.
