Ogier Wins Rain-Hit Rally Japan to Cut Evans' Lead to Three Points

Sebastien Ogier has won Rally Japan to set up a thrilling finale to the World Rally Championship season, cutting Elfyn Evans' lead at the top of the standings to just three points. The eight-time world champion dominated the penultimate event of the season, topping the Super Sunday standings on a final day hit by torrential rain, and took the maximum 35 points on offer. Evans, his Toyota team-mate, finished 11.6 seconds behind Ogier in Japan and collected 25 points, leaving the Welshman on 272 points to Ogier's 269 with one round remaining. Kalle Rovanpera sits third on 248 points. Evans had held a 13-point lead over both Ogier and Rovanpera going into the Toyota City-based event, but Ogier's commanding performance has blown the title race wide open. The championship will now be decided at the newly established Rally Saudi Arabia from November 25 to 29, the 14th and final round of the season. Toyota Gazoo Racing have already secured their fifth consecutive manufacturers' title and are now guaranteed to take the top three places in the drivers' championship, but the identity of the champion remains very much in doubt. Ogier, at 41, is chasing a ninth world title against a team-mate 36 years old and hungry for his first, and the desert finale promises a fitting conclusion to a season-long duel between two drivers in identical machinery.