Having cleared the repeated Sunagawa sprint without incident, just 3.14km of Super Special stage stands between Sebastien Ogier and his second world championship rally victory.
The Frenchman will take a 12.1sec advantage over Petter Solberg into the two short final stages, with Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala third, 14sec behind Solberg.
Overall standings after SS24:
| Pos. | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Sébastien OGIER | Citroën C4 WRC | 3h07m37.8s |
| 02 | Petter SOLBERG | Citroën C4 WRC | +12.1s |
| 03 | Jari-Matti LATVALA | Ford Focus WRC | +26.7s |
| 04 | Dani SORDO | Citroën C4 WRC | +33.2s |
| 05 | Sébastien LOEB | Citroën C4 WRC | +53.1s |
| 06 | Mikko HIRVONEN | Ford Focus WRC | +1m12.2s |
| 07 | Henning SOLBERG | Ford Focus WRC | +3m03.3s |
| 08 | Federico VILLAGRA | Ford Focus WRC | +10m16.9s |
| 09 | Jari KETOMAA | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +14m34.3s |
| 10 | Martin PROKOP | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +15m13.6s |
| 11 | Patrik FLODIN | Subaru Impreza WRX STI | +20m30.1s |
| 12 | Hayden PADDON | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +23m16.9s |
| 13 | Haruo OSHIMA | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +28m57.9s |
| 14 | Eiichi IWASHITA | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +31m33.0s |
| 15 | Gento NAGAYOSHI | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +34m23.4s |