Jones And Thomson Take Second Place In Morizo Cup Second Round

Jones and co-driver Bayden Thomson finished second overall on the Tour de Kyushu 2025 – held in the coastal town of Karatsu – despite a challenging run that included contact with a wall on the ninth stage.

Second place on the rally – a mixture of special stages that were extremely tight and twisty mixed with some fast and flowing - backed up the crew’s third place at the first round of the championship and leaves them sitting second overall in the points table.

“We definitely have the pace and it’s great to get the result,” said Zeal in his post rally wrap up. “There’s more to come, I made a big mistake on the Day Two morning loop ninth stage, in super challenging and slippery conditions and hit the wall but we managed to carry on and improve continually after that.

“We just need to get all the little things right. Everything considered with the electrical issues on day one.

“It was a great rally for us we’ve now got to piece it together and go for a win as it’s definitely on. We’ll regroup and see what we can do at round three.”

The Morizo Challenge Cup is a new category run as a class within the All Japan Rally Championship. All crews compete in Toyota’s GR Yaris, where tight rules and limited modifications put the focus on driver skill and teamwork.

All drivers must be under 25 years old and the objective of the championship is to provide a stepping stone to higher rallying categories for Japan’s rising rally stars. With a Japanese mother, Jones’ entry into the championship was welcomed.

The top performers will be given the opportunity to drive in Finland, where Toyota’s World Rally Team (TGR-WRT) is based. If they demonstrate world-class talent there, they could secure opportunity to join a development program that takes them to the next step up the career pathway.

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