May 31 (Reuters) - Toyota's Elfyn Evans won Rally Japan on Sunday to extend his world championship lead over teammate Takamoto Katsuta to 20 points at the halfway point in the season.
The win was the Welshman's second in seven rounds, his third in Japan and also his 50th careerchampionship podium.
Reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier finished second and 12.8 seconds behind with Sami Pajari third and Katsuta fourth as Toyota, competing on home asphalt roads around Aichi and Gifu, locked out the top four places.
"There’s a long way to go in the championship yet. It’s too early to really talk about (winning it), but we have to just enjoy this win," said Evans, who now has 151 points, ahead of Katsuta on 131 and Toyota's Oliver Solberg on 102.
Toyota have the top five places in the standings, with Pajari fourth on 96 points and Ogier on 90.
Evans had led since Friday morning's second stage, with Solberg his closest rival until the Swede crashed out on Saturday.
Solberg returned for the final day and salvaged some consolation points by winning the closingPower Stage and also leading the Sunday classification.
Nine-times world champion Ogier, who had lost time on Friday, moved up to second on Saturday but could not close the gap as Evans managed the situation.
Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux finished fifth behind the Toyotas with teammate Thierry Neuville sixth and New Zealander Hayden Paddon seventh.
M-Sport Ford's Jon Armstrong was eighth with Lancia's WRC2 driver Nikolay Grizin ninth and M-Sport's Josh McErlean completing the top 10.
The Acropolis Rally in Greece is next up from June 25-28 as the championship switches from asphalt to gravel.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London)
