Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja have a 20 second lead on WRC FORUM8 Rally Japan after a dramatic opening day of the season finale.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe suffered a power loss in their Hyundai i20 N in stage four, losing over six seconds per kilometer over the afternoon stages to their Estonian teammates and plunged down the order to 15th overall and 7 minutes 41 seconds off the lead.
“Obviously we couldn’t solve the issue that is for sure. I have no clue, we keep fighting like we always do, try and limit the time loss. The hard work of the year is really valuable now, because those 25 points are really valuable now,” said Neuville at the end of stage five.
Their goal of clinching the six points required to win their first WRC crown leaves the Belgians with a mountain to climb over Saturday and Sunday.
Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin remain in second overall after setting some scintillating times and winning three of the day’s eight stages.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria are in a superb third overall in the M-Sport Ford Puma, just a tenth of a second ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta. Fifth, after climbing back from 15th after a puncture in the morning’s first stage, is Sebastian Ogier/Vincent Landais in their GR Yaris.
Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka complete the top six in their Puma.
In WRC2, Nikolay Gryazin holds sway in his Citroen C3 with Sami Pajari in second.
