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Title-chasing Ott Tanak finished ahead of championship leader Thierry Neuville in the first stage of the season-ending Rally Japan on Thursday, with Adrien Fourmaux clocking the fastest time.
Belgian Neuville is looking to clinch his first world title and holds a 25-point lead over Estonia’s Tanak going into the decisive leg of the year.
Tanak needs to have a perfect weekend to stand any chance of overhauling his Hyundai teammate and he laid down a marker by finishing second in the opening super stage.
Tanak was 0.5sec behind France’s Fourmaux, with Neuville in sixth place, 2.2sec off the leading pace.
There are 30 points up for grabs this weekend and Neuville said he was “counting down the stages” until the finish.
“Once the rally starts, it’s probably easier to manage the stress,” said the Belgian, a five-time world championship runner-up.
“Nevertheless it will be a challenging weekend for us and we need to keep concentrated and just do the job.”
Tanak looked raring to go as he drifted around the twists and turns of the opening super special stage at Toyota Stadium.
“It was all a clean stage,” said Tanak, the 2019 world champion.
“Nice atmosphere, but otherwise looking forward for tomorrow.”
Neuville and Tanak can also help Hyundai win the manufacturers’ championship this weekend in Japan.
They hold a 15-point lead over Toyota.
“It’s good to see everybody motivated but at the same time quite relaxed,” said Neuville.
“Everybody’s going to try to do his best.”
amk/sco
