After sharing the top spot during the morning, the Rally Japan lead went to Elfyn Evans after completing the two afternoon stages around the technical mountain roads of Aichi, it is now only 3 seconds separating him and Thierry Neuville as they head for an overnight rest.
Japan is back on the calendar for the first time since 2010 and the new all-asphalt rally has already claimed a handful of frontrunners throughout the day with Dani Sordo being the first victim as his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 got burned down to bare chassis. The accident caused a shortened morning loop with the first pass of Inuba Dam being canceled due to delays. The second run through Shitara Town which was set to be the last stage of the day also got canceled as the barriers where Craig Breen went off on stage four got damaged.
Kalle Rovanperä was briefly leading the rally in the morning despite smoke pouring into the cockpit, however, the pace began to go down as he had to tackle understeer on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 which caused the front tires to overheat but he is still holding on to third with 2.1 seconds behind Neuville. Ott Tänak suffered a differential problem in the morning and got fixed during the midday service, he ended the first day 8.8 seconds behind Rovanperä in fourth.
Home hero Takamoto Katsuta has struggled with understeering also throughout the day, the Japanese driver is currently in fifth overnight with 20.6 seconds down on the rally leader. Two minutes down on the rally lead is Gus Greensmith who nursed a broken driveshaft throughout the morning.
Credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
WRC2 cars dominated the latter half of the leaderboard with WRC2 rookie Sami Pajari heading up WRC2 in seventh overall despite near collision with a civilian car on stage four, he is ahead of Teemu Suninen while Emil Lindholm dropped down and holds ninth overall. Thursday night leader Sébastien Ogier was also in trouble and was two minutes off the pace after stopping to change a wheel in stage two. the Frenchman rounds up the top 10.
Results after SS6 (top 10)
| Pos. | Number | Driver / Co-driver | Nat. | Team | Car | Class | Time |
| 1. | #33 | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin | UK | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | 57:18.8 |
| 2. | #11 | Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe | Belgium | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | Rally1 | + 3.0 |
| 3. | #69 | Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen | Finland | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | + 5.1 |
| 4. | #8 | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja | Estonia | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | Rally1 | + 13.9 |
| 5. | #18 | Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston | Japan / Ireland | Toyota Gazoo Racing NG WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | + 20.6 |
| 6. | #44 | Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson | UK / Sweden | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | Rally1 | + 2:00.6 |
| 7. | #23 | Sami Pajari / Enni Mälkönen | Finland | Toksport WRT | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | WRC2 | + 2:21.8 |
| 8. | #22 | Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula | Finland | Hyundai Motorsport N | Hyundai i20 N Rally2 | WRC2 | + 2:27.1 |
| 9. | #21 | Emil Lindholm / Reena Hämäläinen | Finland | Toksport WRT | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | WRC2 | + 2:30.2 |
| 10. | #1 | Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais | France | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | + 2:49.8 |