Sébastien Ogier wins three special stages on Friday and leads Rally Japan

Elfyn Evans keeps his championship options alive after the second day of the Rally Japan, although he couldn't match the pace of his teammates at Toyota Gazoo Racing. Evans finished third, 10.2 seconds behind Sébastien Ogier, but he arrived at this rally with a 13-point lead over Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä in the overall championship standings.

The fight for the world title took a hit when Rovanperä, who arrived as one of three championship contenders tied with Ogier at 13 points behind Evans, lost over five minutes after damaging the rear suspension of his Toyota in the second morning stage. Rovanperä went off the line in a corner and hit the barriers, dropping him to 17th place in the overall standings. Rovanperä will now have to wait until Sunday to try and score crucial points.

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Ogier wins three stages and extends his lead in the afternoon

Sébastien Ogier found the perfect rhythm in the forest mountains near Toyota City. The eight-time world champion won three of the day's six stages, including the first two of the afternoon loop, to open up a 7.9-second lead over Takamoto Katsuta.

Katsuta had briefly led after winning at Shinshiro in the morning, but he couldn't maintain Ogier's pace on the second pass through the stages. "On the second pass of Isegami's Tunnel I didn't take much risk in the tricky places, and Seb was able to take some time there," admitted Katsuta, who is seeking his first WRC victory at his home rally.

Evans managed a stage win on the second pass of Shinshiro, but acknowledged the difficulties with his Toyota. "It wasn't the best afternoon for us, especially in the opening stage of the loop where we seemed to lose a bit of time in a couple of sections," commented the championship leader.

Fourmaux overtakes Pajari in the battle for fourth place

Pajari, from the satellite team Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2, completed a solid day in his first Rally Japan experience with a Rally1 car. Pajari held fourth place overall for much of the day before conceding the position to Adrien Fourmaux by just 0.3 seconds in the final stage.

"It's my first time here with the Rally1 and my teammates' pace is really high, but we are not that far away and some of the stage times were really close to them," assessed Pajari, who finished 24.3 seconds behind the overall leader.

Fourmaux delivered another standout performance for Hyundai Motorsport, being the only non-Toyota driver capable of matching the leaders' pace. His teammates Ott Tänak and Thierry Neuville occupied sixth and seventh positions, struggling to adapt the i20 N to the demanding Japanese roads.

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Solberg leads WRC2 as McErlean retires

The WRC category saw its first retirement when McErlean crashed his M-Sport Ford Puma on the third stage. McErlean and his co-driver were unhurt, but the damage prevented them from continuing in the competition. Grégoire Munster kept M-Sport in the top ten with eighth place overall.

In WRC2, Oliver Solberg leads the category from ninth place overall in his Printsport Racing GR Yaris, one position ahead of Alejandro Cachón, the current champion of the category's championship.

Saturday presents the rally's biggest challenge with 121.91 timed kilometers spread over seven stages. Teams will face the new Obara test alongside the familiar Ena and Mt Kasagi stages, all repeated in reverse order after the tire change at Enakyo Park. A nighttime super special stage in Toyota City will close the intense schedule.

Overall classification after the second day