Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans both posted a similar time on the Thursday morning Shakedown of Kuragaike Park Reverse in Rally Japan with a time of 2:04.6 on the fourth attempt through the stage.
The pair posted identical times on the 2.8 kilometers warm-up, a stage which is also quite technical same as the afternoon stage that following up on the schedule for the day. Neuville was really on good form in his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 early on the morning as the Belgian went fastest through on the first run and was bettering his time over the next passes but the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver responded late on the session and matched the time on the last run.
The Spain winner and eight-time world rally champion Sébastien Ogier claimed third fastest with just five-tenths further back. The two M-Sport cars of Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith locked out the fourth and fifth place also with identical times followed by the 2022 WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä in sixth.
The current championship runner-up Ott Tänak, who will be leaving Hyundai after Sunday clinched seventh over his Spanish teammate Dani Sordo while the local home hero Takamoto Katsuta also posted a similar time as Sordo and the 2022 WRC2 title contender Emil Lindholm rounded up the top ten.
Shakedown result (top 10)
| Pos. | Number | Driver / Co-driver | Nat. | Team | Car | Class | Time |
| 1. | #11 | Thierry Neuville / Martijn Wydaeghe | Belgium | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:04.6 |
| 2. | #33 | Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin | UK | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:04.6 |
| 3. | #1 | Sébastien Ogier / Vincent Landais | France | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:05.1 |
| 4. | #42 | Craig Breen / James Fulton | Ireland | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:05.2 |
| 5. | #44 | Gus Greensmith / Jonas Andersson | UK / Sweden | M-Sport Ford WRT | Ford Puma Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:05.2 |
| 6. | #69 | Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen | Finland | Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:05.3 |
| 7. | #8 | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja | Estonia | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:05.7 |
| 8. | #6 | Dani Sordo / Cándido Carrera | Spain | Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Hyundai i20 N Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:06.6 |
| 9. | #18 | Takamoto Katsuta / Aaron Johnston | Japan / Ireland | Toyota Gazoo Racing NG WRT | Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 | Rally1 | 2:06.6 |
| 10. | #21 | Emil Lindholm / Reena Hämäläinen | Finland | Toksport WRT | Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo | WRC2 | 2:09.9 |
