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Rally Japan 2026: Evans wins as Solberg makes another mistake

SPIN, The Rally Pod

Rally Japan 2026: Evans wins as Solberg makes another mistake

20 annotations

Rally Japan 2026 takes center stage as SPIN, The Rally Pod breaks down how Alvin Evans turned a key stage into an “immaculate win” and now leads the championship. With the season “50% through,” the hosts focus on road-position dynamics, damp Friday grip, and why Evans can “start cleaning the road.” They also dig into why Solberg’s Japan result swung on mistakes—especially a puncture and a speed-management issue tied to missing safety-note detail—while debating tire and hybrid effects late in the rally.

0:00 --:--

02:08

Company

Link ECU

Link ECU is a company that makes the car’s engine computer for racing. It lets rally teams change how the engine runs—like fuel delivery and spark timing—so the car can be tuned for different conditions.

02:08

Term

ECUs

An ECU is the engine computer. It decides how the engine should run, including how much fuel to use and when to ignite it, based on sensor inputs.

02:16

Term

fuel and ignition maps

These are the engine computer’s settings. One set controls how much fuel the engine gets, and another controls when the spark happens—together they shape how the car accelerates and runs.

02:23

Term

fail-safe strategies

Fail-safe strategies are backup protections built into the engine computer. If the car detects a problem, it changes to a safer operating mode to help prevent engine damage.

02:33

Term

Advanced idle control

Idle control is how the engine computer keeps the engine speed steady when you’re not pressing the gas. Advanced idle control helps prevent stalling or rough running in difficult, low-speed driving.

02:38

Term

flex fuel support

Flex fuel support means the engine computer can handle different fuel blends, including high-ethanol fuel. It adjusts automatically so you don’t have to manually change settings when the fuel changes.

02:41

Term

E85

E85 is a fuel mix that’s mostly ethanol. Because it burns differently than regular gas, the engine computer may need to adjust settings to run it correctly.

02:43

Term

data and diagnostics

Diagnostics are the engine computer’s way of checking for problems and reporting what it finds. Data logging helps teams see how the car is behaving so they can spot issues faster.

09:53

Person

Sebastian OJ

Sebastian OJ is a rally driver the host really likes. The discussion suggests he can be very emotional during the rally, but he also performs well and has a strong track record.

10:02

Term

FIA

The FIA is the organization that governs many kinds of racing worldwide. In this segment, they’re described as changing the rules to try to affect who wins.

10:26

Concept

road position

In rallying, road position refers to where a car starts or runs relative to others on the same stages. The host implies that Elvin’s lead was influenced by road position—i.e., track conditions and timing can make it easier or harder to go fast.

10:30

Term

tires

Tires are what actually touch the road, so they control how much grip the car has. In rally, if the tires aren’t working well for the conditions, the driver can’t go as fast or as confidently.

11:14

Term

hybrid units

A hybrid unit is the extra electric part of a hybrid car that can add power. If a stage was done without it, the car’s power delivery would be different, which can change how hard the tires have to work.

16:10

Concept

managed the gap

“Managing the gap” is rally strategy: once a driver has a time advantage over rivals, they adjust their pace to protect that advantage rather than pushing at maximum intensity. It often means balancing risk (mistakes) against time loss to ensure the lead survives to the end.

16:29

Term

stage

A “stage” is one timed part of a rally, like a specific stretch of road the drivers race through. Your time on each stage adds up, so one stage can make a big difference to who wins overall.

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This podcast is brought to you in association with Link ECU, the specialist

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fuel and ignition maps.

They're designed to perform in harsh motorsport environments with fail-safe

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What are you waiting for?

We're right here waiting for you.

And with that, we are 50% through the 2026 World Rally Championship season.

Can you believe it?

I'm not sure I can.

Every single year seems to go by quicker than the last, but we are at seven

rounds into 2026.

Seven left.

Alvin Evans leads the championship after victory in rally Japan.

And here to discuss that particular event with me is a man who's never

anything less than 100% is Colin Clark.

Yes.

Hello, look, how are you?

I'm not bad, mate.

Not bad at all.

How are you?

Really good.

Thank you.

Really good.

Yeah, just making my way slowly home from Japan.

So yeah, you know, I'm in a pretty decent form, I'd have to say.

Good.

Well, I'm sure the listeners will be glad to hear that.

And I think my intro is appropriate.

I won't lie.

There was a point I used to script these and I literally did that off the top of

my dome.

That was good.

That was really good.

Considering it's quite early in the morning as well.

That was really quite impressive.

Thank you.

I'll take it.

And I realised that sounded like me fishing for a compliment.

That wasn't what I was trying to do.

Exactly what you were doing.

Dearing me.

But yeah, as I said, last weekend, obviously, rally Japan, the final,

actually, tarmac rally of the year as well, which is quite a bizarre thing

to think given it's only just ticked into June.

The rally ended in May, didn't it?

So that's quite a strange one.

But yeah, Alvin Evans, quite a clear victor, actually, Colin, in the end,

didn't lead after stage one, but he led after all the rest of them.

And you just it's not a surprise anymore, particularly in Japan, is it?

We've seen the form three wins at a four starts now.

But I think in terms of the championship and yes, the game changes

because he's going to have to start cleaning the road.

But this was a really emphatic performance when perhaps some of his

bigger rivals maybe didn't put the best foot forward again.

Well, I think that's very fair to say.

Yeah, Alvin was superb.

There's no other way of describing it.

But as you say, you know, his form in Japan, he was very much the form driver,

wasn't he? Two previous wins, second place.

He's now three wins and second place in the past four.

It's a rally he really enjoys.

It's a rally he's worked out.

He knows how to go well there.

He knows how to measure the risk.

And he did it beautifully.

He did it absolutely beautifully.

He built that lead.

You might argue he took a little bit of an advantage of road position

on the Friday morning.

When it was a little bit damp and a little bit slippery, it's fair to say,

particularly under the trees where we saw a lot of that green moss.

You know, he made the most of it.

He absolutely made the most of it.

And then he looked after his lead and he didn't do anything silly as we saw

from a number of other drivers.

It was a rally.

It was quite easy to get it wrong on.

But Alvin didn't, you know, Alvin didn't get it wrong.

And he put in a really, really impressive performance to take another win in Japan.

And set himself up nicely for the second half of the season.

As you say, you know, we had that massive run of gravel rallies in the middle

of last season, didn't we?

And they changed things around and it's almost the front loaded it to every day

this season. It's a bit bizarre, a bit bizarre.

There was no time back in the second half, but there we are.

You know, Alvin, I think, will now have the confidence to look to recognize

maybe where he's not done so well in previous years.

He's never lost it on the last rally of the season, Alvin Evans.

You might argue the statistics prove otherwise.

I would argue that he lost it in places like Sardinia last year,

where he just, it was awful in his battle with Sammy Payley on the Saturday.

I think Alvin has recognized that.

And I think we'll see a different Alvin Evans on gravel this year.

I don't think we'll see an Alvin Evans who is just flying

the ring in sixth and seventh and eighth place.

You know, the important thing is that he gets top four, top five

finish finishes and keeps the pressure on the opposition.

And he looks to me like a different driver this year.

Look, I don't know if you agree with that.

He looks to me as if he sucks a few things out this year.

I think last year was a big lesson, wasn't it?

And it was a brutal lesson in some respects because there was all this talk,

if you remember, and it feels ages ago now, but the end of 25,

there's some people saying, oh, it's not fair.

Oh, he's done this, but I think we see it this year.

And he's on a very similar programme, Sebastian,

but the difference in it, he's not performing badly this year at all.

He was just so good last year.

And he was quite unfortunate in some respects that he went up against that.

But that's the game.

And I think this year he's learned that he cannot.

There's this quote that kept going around at the start of the year

that basically there was maybe a point at the beginning of 25

where Alvin didn't fully look at OJ as a massive championship threat.

And how wrong did that prove?

So now he's like, no, every single rally doesn't matter who it is

in the championship fight or not, need to beat them, need the points,

everything else.

And he's got a lot of experience there of coming second, doesn't he?

Bless him. So I think, yeah, final six times.

Five, I think it's five. It's it's a lot.

And yeah, I'm thinking on the spot this decade.

I'm sure it's only 2022, the first year of rally one where he didn't finish second.

And so that would be the bill was the price made for many years, wasn't it?

He was the man that had the the the monitor of your price made for WRC.

He finished second, five or six times before.

Eventually he took the win and sussed it out.

So no, it's it's an interesting one with Alvin this year.

And you know, the OJ, the OJ situation

again is an interesting one.

I think had OJ taken a better result in Portugal, one Portugal,

we might have seen something different from OJ for the remainder of the season.

But, you know, that issue he had in Portugal,

and he was he was negaled in Japan OJ.

And I, OJ is an interesting character

because at the end of the stages, he quite often let the emotions get the better of them.

But by the time he's got back to service on the media zone,

he's calmed down, it's very monotonous about everything.

But he said some things in the heat of the moment, didn't he?

Last weekend in Japan, they kind of, you know, made you stop and think.

You know, particularly what he said at that final stop line,

you know, he wins and wins.

That's not like OJ to win.

I am Sebastian OJ's biggest fan.

I absolutely love him.

I love the fact that he's done it in different cars.

I love the fact he's got a bit of edginess about him.

I love the fact that when the FIA tried to stop him from winning in the Volkswagen days

by changing the rules, he went, you, I'm going to win anyway.

I love him, but I have to say some of the things he said in the heat of the moment.

And I will caveat it by saying that some of the things he said in the heat of the moment

in Japan disappointed me, really disappointed.

You're talking about Elvin only being in the lead because of road position.

And then they were talking an awful lot about the tires and blaming the tires.

Look, Ted, you are the master of tires, but looking at the tires, understanding tires,

getting the best out of tires.

But the cool fact is that you just can't get the best out of these tires.

You haven't sucked them out.

Yes, they're not the best tires in terms of performance, but everyone's got the same tire.

You know, and Elvin Evans and other drivers are making the most of it.

Who else did you hear whinging about the tires of the weekend?

I don't think anyone wants to vote.

I don't think they did.

You're right at the end of the rally.

And I need to check this out.

And I didn't tell you, Neville talked about.

One of the stages this year where they broke a stage record on the hand-to-tires without the hybrid units.

So the tires can't be that bad.

It can't be that bad, but usually let the tire situation get to him.

And I think that affected his performance.

I think he could have fought for the win there.

I think he could have got on top of those past.

But he got into his head.

He got into his head that he didn't like them.

He wasn't going to get the best out of them.

They weren't going to deliver for him.

So surprise, surprise, they didn't.

Yeah, I think what's interesting with OJ is this kind of goes from most drivers,

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