Ford boss gives Rally Japan thumbs up.

The Rally Japan is improving every year, that's the verdict of BP Ford World Rally team director, Malcolm Wilson.

Japan first joined the FIA World Rally Championship back in 2004 and while this year's edition is likely to be the final visit to Obihiro, as plans are under way to switch the event to Sapporo next year, it once again proved popular with the fans.

Indeed an estimated 64,000 people were present at the ceremonial start and in total organisers reported that 243,000 spectators attended over the four days of the event.

"Certainly for the last three years it's improved year on year," Wilson confirmed following the event. "The organisation is first class.

"This year has been an incredible challenge for the drivers, bringing something different to what we have seen. This is the first time Sebastien [Loeb] and Marcus [Gronholm] have not sat up here on this podium, which tells you how difficult this event has been. It's been terrific.

"The only negative, if anything, is the long road sections for the crews and team management spending three or four hours in the morning."

Loeb meanwhile, speaking prior to the event, confirmed that time spent on the road sections is an issue.

Indeed Saturday's leg, the longest of the three days, began at 05.05 hours and didn't finish until 19.05 hours - a marathon day with people on the go more than 14 hours and drivers' out on the stages for 11-12 hours.

"It's a bit boring in the car to do more than 100 kilometres from the service to the stages," Seb stated. "It would be better to have the [service] park closer to the stages. But it's like this. It's not for us to decide, but it's a long time in the car at 80 km/h or sometimes 40km/h."

Despite that complaint though, the reception the WRC gets in Japan is something Loeb enjoys: "It's always impressive to see [the welcome we get at the ceremonial start] - every year, more and more people come with flags. There are a lot of fans here and it's only the third or fourth year [for the WRC in Japan]. For sure it's a great moment. We get a lot of gifts and we need more luggage when we go home!"