› Former WRC2 Champion Emil Lindholm and co-driver Gabriel Morales (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) experience a difficult seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
› Japanese veterans Osamu Fukunaga/Misako Saida (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) finish home event fifth in the WRC Masters Cup classification.
› The second half of the season features only gravel events and begins in four weeks’ time with Acropolis Rally Greece.
Toyota City (JPN), 31 May 2026 – Just eleven crews competed for WRC2 points during Rally Japan, seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Emil Lindholm from Finland and Brazilian co-driver Gabriel Morales brought their Toksport WRT-run Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 home in fourth position in WRC2. Osamu Fukunaga and navigator Misako Saida drove a similar car of team Three Five Motorsport to fifth place in the WRC Masters Cup classification.
The character of the asphalt stages of Rally Japan is unique. Based in the Aichi and Gifu prefectures close to the city of Nagoya, the only Asian WRC event features narrow and twisty roads, often lined by barriers, drop-offs or dense trees. Relatively low grip adds to the challenge. Anything but ideal for a driver from Finland, who is more at home on fast and flowing gravel stages.
“A lot of back-to-back slow corners. I’m not getting any rhythm, the grip is changing all the time. I'm more or less just surviving,” Emil Lindholm admitted after the opening stages. Sharing a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 with Brazilian co-driver Gabriel Morales, the former WRC2 champion could only manage fifth place in WRC2 on Friday evening. The Saturday and Sunday stages proved equally challenging. “We've struggled with the pace notes. If you hesitate at each corner, you lose a lot of seconds. It's a fantastic rally, but demanding,” Emil Lindholm explained.
Due to a retirement ahead of them, they eventually finished fourth in WRC2. Twelve championship points for Emil Lindholm in the WRC2 drivers’ and for Gabriel Morales in the co-drivers classification were only a small consolidation. “This result wasn't what we came for. But after all, we have to be happy to be here in one piece,“ Emil Lindholm said at the finish of the last stage.
The same was true for Osamu Fukunaga and co-driver Misako Saida. The Japanese veterans competed in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 from team Three Five Motorsport. Their goal was to score points in the WRC Masters Cup classification, which is reserved for drivers aged 50 and over. However, a damaged suspension caused by a minor off-road incident forced them to retire on Saturday. After restarting with a repaired car for the final leg on Sunday, the local crew finished fifth in the category and tenth in WRC2.
Rally Japan was the last tarmac round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship. Acropolis Rally Greece (25-28 June) marks the start of seven consecutive gravel events that make up the second half of the season.
Number of the rally: 11
This year was the eleventh time that Rally Japan had been part of the FIA World Rally Championship. Osamu Fukunaga competed in all of them, including the event’s WRC debut in 2004. This pedigree makes the 55-year-old, who again drove a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 for team Three Five Motorsport, the competitor with the most experience of the event.
Rally Japan (JPN), 28-31 May 2026,
7th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Result WRC2
1 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (BUL/KGZ), Lancia Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale, 3:26:29.3 hours
2 Alejandro Cachón/Borja Rozada (ESP/ESP), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, +18.3 seconds
3 Yuki Yamamoto/James Fulton (JPN/IRL), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, +2:54.4 minutes
4 Emil Lindholm/Gabriel Morales (FIN/BRA), Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, +3:50.3 minutes
5 Hiroki Arai/Hiroki Tachikui (JPN/JPN), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, +7:37.6 minutes
6 Norihiko Katsuta/Takahiro Yasui (JPN/JPN), Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, +14:12.1 minutes
Standings WRC2/Teams (after 7 of 14 events)
1 Lancia Corse HF, Lancia, 163 points
2 Toksport WRT, Škoda, 126 points
3 M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, Ford, 45 points
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