After losing significant time on Friday due to a technical issue, Neuville clocked a joint-fastest time on SS14 alongside Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier. With this effort, Neuville moved up to eighth place overall, overtaking Sami Pajari.
Neuville still has a chance to catch seventh-placed Nikolay Gryazin, which would earn the championship leader four provisional points from the overall race. If he manages this, he would only need a few more points from Sunday’s sprint stages and Power Stage to clinch the title.
“It felt okay, I am struggling with the brakes since the last stage of the morning loop. Again, here. We are trying to catch P7 as it is an extra point. I am not sure we are able to because of this issue,” Neuville explained.
Ott Tänak, Neuville’s teammate and only rival in the championship fight, continues to lead the rally. Tänak’s advantage over second-placed Elfyn Evans of Toyota is now 23.8 seconds.
“All good! Changing all the time, some places pretty slippery still. Happy,” Tänak said.
Evans, however, was less satisfied with his performance
“Not great, it seems that it is drier and with our tyre now we don’t seem to be performing as well as the morning and certainly not as well as we should. I am not sure if it is specifically the hard tyre, but certainly we are not performing as well as we should,” Evans commented.
Ogier holds third place, 7.8 seconds ahead of M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta is breathing down Fourmaux’s neck, sitting just 0.2 seconds behind.
M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster remains in sixth place, ahead of Gryazin, Neuville, and Pajari. Gryazin leads the WRC2 category, while Pajari remains in second, which is enough for the Finnish driver to secure the WRC2 title.
Two more stages remain on Saturday at Rally Japan, with the competition concluding on Sunday.
Rally Japan Standings After SS14/21:
| POS | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 2:21:55.7 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +23.8 |
| 3. | Sebastien Ogier | Toyota | +2:12.2 |
| 4. | Adrien Fourmaux | Ford | +2:20.0 |
| 5. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +2:20.2 |
| 6. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +3:00.1 |
| 7. | Nikolay Gryazin | Citroen | +6:48.6 |
| 8. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +7:44.6 |
| 9. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +8:16.3 |
| 10. | Hiroki Arai | Skoda | +9:04.0 |
| 11. | Heikki Kovalainen | Toyota | +9:32.5 |
| 12. | Gus Greensmith | Skoda | +10:00.3 |
| 13. | Chris Ingram | Toyota | +10:01.6 |
Rally Japan itinerary (CET):
Thursday 21 November
01.01 Shakedown: Kuragaike Park (2.75 km)
11.05 SS1: Toyota Stadium SSS 1 (2.15 km)
Friday, 22 November
23:44 SS2: Isegami's Tunnel 1 (23.67 km)
00:44 SS3: Inabu / Shitara 1 (19.38 km)
02:12 SS4: Shinshiro 1 (17.41 km)
04:27 Tyre fitting zone (15 min)
05:32 SS5: Isegami's Tunnel 2 (23.67 km)
06:32 SS6: Inabu / Shitara 2 (19.38 km)
08:00 SS7: Shinshiro 2 (17.41 km)
10:35 SS8: Okazaki SSS 1 (2.54 km)
10:44 SS9: Okazaki SSS 2 (2.54 km)
Saturday, 23 November
00:05 SS10: Mt. Kasagi 1 (16.47 km)
01:03 SS11: Nenoue Kougen 1 (11.60 km)
02:16 SS12: Ena 1 (22.79 km)
04:04 Tyre fitting zone (15 min)
05:05 SS13: Mt. Kasagi 2 (16.47 km)
06:08 SS14: Nenoue Kougen 2 (11.60 km)
07:16 SS15: Ena 2 (22.79 km)
10:07 Service (45 min)
11:05 SS16: Toyota Stadium SSS 2 (2.15 km)
Sunday, 24 November
23:39 SS17: Nukata 1 (20.23 km)
00:35 SS18: Lake Mikawako 1 (13.98 km)
01:38 SS19: Nukata 2 (20.23 km)
03:49 Service (15 min)
04:17 SS20: Toyota Stadium SSS 3 (2.15 km)
06:15 SS21: Lake Mikawako 2 (13.98 km) Power Stage
