Neuville's title grip loosens after car trouble at Rally Japan

Championship leader Thierry Neuville's hopes of capturing his first world title took a dramatic hit Friday when he finished day two of the season-ending Rally Japan far behind rival Ott Tanak.

Belgium's Neuville holds a commanding 25-point lead over Estonian Tanak in the overall standings but he ended the day in 14th place, a whopping 7min 41.3sec behind his rally-leading Hyundai teammate.

Tanak, who needs everything to go his way if he is to win his first world title since 2019, holds a 20.9sec rally lead over second-placed Elfyn Evans of Britain.

Neuville won the first stage of the day in Japan's central Aichi Prefecture but things started to go wrong when his car lost power during the final stage of the morning session.

His team failed to fix the problem before action resumed after lunch, causing him to lose even further ground on Tanak by the end of the day.

Neuville's mechanics have another chance to solve the problem before Saturday's penultimate day, when the bespectacled Belgian will look to claw his way back into point-scoring position.

"We keep fighting like we always do and try to limit the time loss, it's the only thing we can do," a frustrated Neuville said after stage five.

"All the hard work over the year is even more valuable now because those 25 points are really valuable at the moment."

Neuville said he had "no clue" what was wrong with his car and that he could not "find any positives from the day".

Tanak took full advantage with a gutsy drive that saw him win two of the day's eight stages.

"The last two stages we know and one is new, so another challenge ahead," Tanak said of Saturday's drive.

Neuville's struggles dented Hyundai's chances of clinching the manufacturers' title ahead of Toyota.

Hyundai hold a 15-point lead over their rivals but Tanak said his teammate's problems were "not good".

"My target this weekend was the manufacturers', so it doesn't help," Tanak said.