Sébastien Ogier will take a narrow 6.5sec lead over team-mate Elfyn Evans into Sunday's FORUM8 Rally Japan finale after a tense day that kept Toyota Gazoo Racing on top and the drivers' title battle finely poised.
The pair traded seconds across seven demanding asphalt tests north of the rally's Toyota City base. Ogier led throughout but saw his advantage trimmed to 1.6sec before responding on Saturday's closing stages to re-establish a small cushion overnight.
Evans began the day 10.2sec adrift and immediately closed the gap, his morning capped by his 200th career WRC stage win on the opening pass of Mt Kasagi. The repeated run through that very same stage brought heartbreak for home hero Takamoto Katsuta, who struck a water-filled barrier and broke the power steering on his GR Yaris - dropping out of contention after running third overall.
Ogier rebuilt his rhythm in the afternoon, edging Evans by 0.3sec on Ena 2 and pulling 3.2sec back on the repeat run of Obara to end the day in front while his Welsh colleague brushed a patch of loose asphalt and partly de-beaded a tyre on the penultimate stage.
Evans arrived in Japan with a 13-point cushion over Ogier in the championship. As it stands, that margin will shrink to five - but with up to 10 ten bonus points available from Super Sunday and the Wolf Power Stage, it could go either way.
"I feel I've done a good job this afternoon, but I could have done better this morning," Ogier admitted. "Still, we cannot be unsatisfied with what we've done today - the car has been working very well, very strong pace all the time.
"In the morning, we lost a bit of ground - a little bit too much, especially on the last stage of the loop. But after that, we had a strong afternoon and a good response. At the same time, Elfyn was driving on the limit as well, so the gaps were small everywhere. Going into the last day in the lead, it can only be positive."
Adrien Fourmaux delivered one of his strongest performances yet for Hyundai Motorsport, winning two stages in the morning and moving into third overall after Katsuta's exit.
"It's been a strong day," said the Frenchman, who trails Evans by 17.8sec. "Demanding and sometimes greasy, but it seems to be working."
Sami Pajari ended fourth after a composed day in his GR Yaris Rally1, with Ott Tänak fifth for Hyundai and Grégoire Munster sixth for M-Sport Ford. Kalle Rovanperä climbed to seventh as his recovery from Friday's suspension damage continued.
Behind them, Oliver Solberg moved up to eighth overall, while Alejandro Cachón kept control of WRC2 in ninth ahead of Nikolay Gryazin, who again struggled for front-end grip.
Thierry Neuville endured a frustrating start to the day, spotting a broken driveshaft before the opening stage and limping through before retiring his i20 N soon afterwards. The Belgian will restart tomorrow chasing Super Sunday and Power Stage points.
End of day three (Saturday):
1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h32m55.0s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6.5s
3 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +23.6s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +45.4s
5 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m34.5s
6 Grégoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +4m39.6s
7 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +6m27.9s
8 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +6m40.6s
9 Alejandro Cachón/Borja Rozada (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +7m54.9s
10 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8m21.8s ...
(Results as of 20:45 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
What's next?
Sunday’s final leg takes place to the south-east near Okazaki, which hosts two passes of a super special and a tyre-fitting zone. These separate two runs over the Nukata and Lake Mikawako stages, with the second pass of the latter serving as the rally-ending Power Stage.
