Season the decisive World Rally Championship in Japan started on Thursday with one short special stage, where the experienced Frenchman took the top spot Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier brought his Toyota to the finish line at Kuragaike Park a tenth of a second faster than the one driving the Ford Craig Breen.

Already secured the world championship Kalle Rovanperä was fifth. He was 0.6 seconds behind Ogier.

Six special tests will be run in Japan on Friday. The competition ends on Sunday morning Finnish time.

“Friday will be a long day. A new rally is always demanding,” Rovanperä said on the TV broadcast of the race.

The World Rally Championship in Japan is held at Toyota’s home base in Nagoya. In addition to Rovanperä’s championship, Toyota has also secured the manufacturers’ WC title.

Drivers in the World Cup Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) can still get second over his teammate There in Tänakin.

Tänaki has a 21-point lead over Neuville in the World Championship points. You get 25 points for winning the World Championship. For the last special exam, that is power stages a win brings 5 ​​extra points.

The World Series teams have not yet officially announced their drivers for next year. Rovanperä continues with Toyota. Ogier is thinking about his future program next season with Toyota, whose third driver has been a Briton Elfyn Evans.

Evans was supposed to be Toyota’s number one candidate for world champion this season, but Rovanperä took his place.

Esapekka Lappi drove seven World Cup rallies this season with Toyota. At his best, he finished third twice in Finland and Belgium.

Lapin has been speculated to get Estonian Tänak’s place for next season at Hyundai. Tänak canceled his valid contract.

Tänak has not announced his future plans. He can return to Toyota, Ford, take a gap year or even quit.

At Hyundai, he was said to have had a bad relationship with the team management. Admittedly, the same situation also existed at Toyota, which he drove in the 2018 and 2019 seasons. According to HS information, Tänak has no plans to return to Toyota.

Started as Toyota team manager at the beginning of 2021 Jari-Matti Latvala has promised “big” news after the World Rally Championship in Japan.

Also Teemu Suninen is known to be a candidate for Hyundai, whose number one driver is the Belgian Neuville.

Finn Emil Lindholm is fighting for the WRC2 world championship in Japan. He is only five points behind the Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen behind. Lindholm has already won the junior series of the WRC2 class.

Lauri Joona can secure the WRC3 class championship. Joona does not compete in Japan.

Sami Pajari is third in the WRC3 class World Series. He set the 11th fastest time at Kuragaike Park on Thursday, four seconds behind Ogier.

Former F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen is also trying out his rally skills in Japan, where he has driven a lot in track car series. On Thursday at Ŝkoda, Kovalainen was 9.7 seconds off the lead and is 14th.

Japan returned to the World Rally Championship calendar in the 2020 season, but due to the corona pandemic, the competition was canceled, as was also the case a year ago.