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Day Three of Rally Japan proved to be the undoing of the weekend's dominant force, flying Finn Jari Matti Latvala rolling into retirement just two stages from the end after leading 20 of the rally's 27-stages. As a result, chief rival and local man Fumio Nutahara inherited the win in a shock end to the world championship event.

The third and final leg of Rally Japan started slightly earlier than the previous two days, crews entering the day's first stage at 07:19 hours. The day comprised of a group of three stages, followed by a midday Service, with a repeat of the first group's last two tests, before ending In Obihiro for the fifth run-through of the Superspecial spectator stage.

Beginning with the 8.76-km Rera Kamuy test (SS22), the first three or four kilometers featured quick, flowing roads followed by a tight, twisty section at the end. Latvala maintained his lead of a minute over Nutahara, with rookie Takuma Kamada back on the stages after a day's absence, taking the fifth-quickest time. Aki Teiskonen was less than happy with his pace on the stage, 9.5 seconds off the fastest time, and only seventh quickest. He was followed by the very ill Leszek Kuzaj who took eighth.

The Panke Nikorpet stage was next, 17.04kms of very tricky and then more fast-flowing roads running up a mountainside. Latvala stayed ahead, with very little difference in the gaps between his pursuers.

SS24 (Penke 1) was the scene of Leszek Kuzaj returning to form, setting a stage time just 0.6 seconds off Latvala's. Meanwhile, Takuma Kamada got a puncture on this test, but fixed it on the stage - however lost nearly two minutes in the process.

The crews then headed to the Midday Service before a repeat run through the Panke Nikorpet and Penke tests.

Driver comments after the first group of stages:
Jari Matti Latvala
"Everything is going well, but to be honest I was quite nervous in the morning - I wasn't fully relaxed in my driving, but I was able to avoid any mistakes."

Aki Teiskonen
"The second stage was a little better than the first this morning. I wasn't happy with my driving, but we try to do our best and on that stage we didn't lose so much time. On the last stage, we got into a small accident with the door when we hit a bridge. Conditions of the road are not so bad; we should be okay for the second pass."

Leszek Kuzaj
"I don't know how, but in the middle of the stage we lost the pace notes. I had to say it over and over: "Please repeat the pace notes, what's going on?" Physically, it's really difficult to keep my concentration, I feel like a drunk man. Because we've lost the rally, we must try for as many points as possible. Yesterday was really horrible, I felt terrible the whole day. Also, we had two punctures, and that cost us three minutes or more. But this is rallying; we must look ahead to the next race."

Takuma Kamada
"I think today the pace is better than before. The feeling in the car is good, and I think we'll be a little quicker the second time through the stages."

Once back on the stages, Kamada impressed with the fourth-quickest time on SS25 (Panke Nikorpet 2), though this stage was also the scene of Leszek Kuzaj dropping five minutes after contact at the rear of the car.

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The real story of the SS25 - and indeed of the entire rally in PCWRC terms - was event dominator Jari Matti Latvala's high-speed off and subsequent retirement from the event. On a long, straight section, unknown damage in the suspension caused the Finn to roll off the road. He was able to repair the car, but was too late to make it to the next time control in time, and he was thus excluded from the event. It was a sad end to an otherwise phenomenal performance from the PCWRC rookie.

The final road test of the day, SS26 (Penke 2), showed Fumio Nutahara at the top of the timesheets. The leading SUBARU runner was Aki Teiskonen, running in fourth place. Though the stage was long (24.88kms), the gaps between competitors was such that any change in position was now near impossible.

Competitors thus headed into the event's final test, the Obihiro Superspecial, safe in the knowledge their places weren't threatened. After the run through the narrow and twisty spectator stage, it was Aki Teiskonen and his sibling co-driver Miika who emerged as the top SUBARU runner in the PCWRC, taking fourth overall in the class after a hard-fought battle all weekend. Next up was Polish stalwart Leszek Kuzaj, fighting every kilometer of the way for points and battling serious influenza all weekend to get the result.

The final points-paying position went to Takuma Kamada and his co-driver Denis Giraudet. It was the first time the pair had run together, and is a testament to both members' ability to adapt to new and challenging surroundings.

End-of-event Driver Comments:
Aki Teiskonen

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"I'm very happy to finish in the points here in Japan. It's especially good because at some points I had doubts we'd finish with a reward. The competition has been very tough this weekend. I am happy to have scored some points."

Leszek Kuzaj
"It's rewarding to finish in the points - particularly after we had so many dramas throughout the whole weekend. This is a truly top-line championship, and the challenges are varied and unexpected even at the best of times. I'm not sure how I feel exactly as it's just now coming to me that even after the battles we faced, we achieved a points-finish - and that is at least a small reward for our efforts to keep going."

Takuma Kamada
"We faced a variety of problems over the course of the weekend. To have gone onto SupeRally was really a shame, and more so as this was my first time with Denis co-driving. However, this is rallying and you can never be sure of your true position until the very end of the event. I am extremely pleased to have taken a point in this rally, and am looking forward to a brightening future with my new co-driving partner and rally legend Denis Giraudet."

STI Group N Project General Manager - George Donaldson:
"It's been an incredible weekend, both in terms of the excitement of the competition, and in Jari Matti's performance throughout the lion's share of the event. An unfortunate end for the man who determined the pace of Rally Japan, but one that occasionally happens in rallying - this is part and parcel of the sport. Jari Matti drove a solid and mature race that belied his age and experience. His pace was such that it forced others to up their game.

"Leszek Kuzaj; although he had a shaky start to the event, looked to be in a great support position to Jari Matti at the end of leg one. However, with the rapid onset flubug for himself and co-driver Maciek Szczepaniak, he was unable to realise his potential. This left Jari Matti out in front, on his own.

"Aki Tesikonen never really seemed to get properly into the groove this weekend, and as a result, we saw him setting only a few quick times. The end result is he was not happy with his performance and finished the event in a lackluster fourth position overall. Aki has very high expectations of himself and he will be working very hard to achieve a category win in Cyprus in three weeks' time.

"Takuma Kamada had a very difficult event, but completely impressed his new co-driver Denis Giraudet with his fantastic pace and car control. His efforts never really seemed to pay off on this event, but this is often the way on a fast and difficult rally like we have here in Japan. We next see Takuma and Denis in New Zealand, where we hope their efforts will be rewarded with a top finish in that event.

"Loris Baldacci, standing in for Sergei Uspenskiy, had an event he'd rather forget, retiring before the end of leg one. We hope to see Loris on PCWRC next year, where he can start to build up his experience inside the championship. He will be a welcome addition to the SUBARU PCWRC family.

A final note: Of course Nigel Heath has missed this event due to business commitments, but Sergei Uspenskiy has been absent from this rally due to serious injury in a road accident, and we wish him a speedy recovery."

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