Monte Carlo Rally 2018
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Half an hour to go until the rally resumes with Ogier leading from a close battle between Sordo and Tanak.
Autosport are massive fans of dogs, so we're pleased to confirm that the St Bernard escaped unscathed. Though DAVID EVANS reported that he or she appeared to be arrested afterwards.
Here's what that looked like in moving picture form
If you were with us for SS3, you'll remember that Ogier had a very near-miss with a dog...
Another pause now, the next stage is 40 minutes away, so have an early elevenses and we'll see you back here then.
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SS4 summary:
* Mikkelsen runs into alternator problems before the stage and retires from third
* Ogier wins stage and extends his lead to 38.5s
* Tanak closes to within 4s of Sordo's second place
* Breen falls behind Meeke as brake troubles continue
* Mikkelsen runs into alternator problems before the stage and retires from third
* Ogier wins stage and extends his lead to 38.5s
* Tanak closes to within 4s of Sordo's second place
* Breen falls behind Meeke as brake troubles continue
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SS4 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 18m25.3s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Tanak +4.0s
4 Sordo +8.5s
5 Evans +12.4s
6 Lappi +12.9s
Overall leaderboard after SS4:
1 Ogier
2 Sordo +38.5s
3 Tanak +42.5s
4 Lappi +1m02.8s
5 Latvala +1m16.2s
6 Meeke +2m40.1s
7 Breen +2m47.7s
8 Bouffier +2m51.4s
(Evans +4m26.8s)
(Neuville +4m52.0s)
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 18m25.3s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Tanak +4.0s
4 Sordo +8.5s
5 Evans +12.4s
6 Lappi +12.9s
Overall leaderboard after SS4:
1 Ogier
2 Sordo +38.5s
3 Tanak +42.5s
4 Lappi +1m02.8s
5 Latvala +1m16.2s
6 Meeke +2m40.1s
7 Breen +2m47.7s
8 Bouffier +2m51.4s
(Evans +4m26.8s)
(Neuville +4m52.0s)
And the man Bouffier's handing that third M-Sport WRC entry to for Sweden next month has just crashed out of WRC2 - Suninen is off and into the trees. The crew are OK.
Bouffier is ninth fastest as he continues to learn about the M-Sport Ford, which isn't quite enough to get him ahead of the brake-less Breen so he's now ninth.
Crash
Hyundai says Mikkelsen can't fix his alternator problem at the roadside - he's being retired.
So in the absence of Mikkelsen, it's just Bouffier to come through of the WRC runners on this stage now.
Lappi is sixth fastest on the stage, and puts his 13s deficit entirely down to how dirty the road's getting in his place in the start order.
"They are cutting like hell," he says of his rivals.
But with Mikkelsen seemingly out, that actually moves Lappi up to fourth, and he slightly extends his cushion over team-mate Latvala too - they're now 13.4s apart.
"They are cutting like hell," he says of his rivals.
But with Mikkelsen seemingly out, that actually moves Lappi up to fourth, and he slightly extends his cushion over team-mate Latvala too - they're now 13.4s apart.
And Mikkelsen's problem appears to be the alternator on his Hyundai.
Breen confirms that he still has no brakes, hence the slow time.
Crash
More drama for Mikkelsen - he's failed to start the stage and is working on his Hyundai on the road section. Is he going to have to retire from what had been third place?
In fact Meeke will definitely gain a place as his team-mate Breen has had another shocker - he's 45s off the pace. Lingering brake damage from the previous stage?
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Meeke is in and slowest so far, 19s off the pace.
"We went on the harder option tyre and there was a little rain throughout the stage, but I think I kept the temperature in the tyres OK."
He may well move past Bouffier for eighth here.
"We went on the harder option tyre and there was a little rain throughout the stage, but I think I kept the temperature in the tyres OK."
He may well move past Bouffier for eighth here.
Ah hello split times, we've missed you.
Sordo explains that there was miscommunication at the service park this morning and the Hyundai mechanics didn't understand the compound mixture he'd asked for, which meant he ended up with higher front tyre wear on this abrasive stage than expected.
Sordo is 8s slower than Ogier on the stage, so Ogier's outright lead increases to 38s, and Tanak cuts the gap to Sordo to 4s.
The gap between Ogier and Tanak overall is now 42s, with Sordo and Mikkelsen likely to slot in between them.
And a slow time again from Latvala, who's dropped 13s to Ogier there. Latvala's sliding away from the podium battle here - he's 12.6s behind team-mate Lappi and likely to gain on his inexperienced countryman for fifth, though.
Tanak completes the stage 4s off Ogier - not ideal after his fastest time on the last one.
The availability of split times on this stage isn't the greatest in the history of clocks or rallying, but we'll update you with what we can when we can.
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Neuville's stage time is 1.9s slower than Ogier, which suggests he at least had a smooth run there and can start picking his way forward from his current midfield misery.
"The stage was OK," says Neuville. "I don't know what was the best tyre choice, but I started sliding at the end - I think my tyres started to overheat a bit. It's difficult to find a good rhythm between staying safe and pushing hard.
"We should be in the top 10 tonight and we will see what happens after that."
"The stage was OK," says Neuville. "I don't know what was the best tyre choice, but I started sliding at the end - I think my tyres started to overheat a bit. It's difficult to find a good rhythm between staying safe and pushing hard.
"We should be in the top 10 tonight and we will see what happens after that."
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"I think I was a bit wrong with the tyre choice this morning, I expected more humid conditions, but there was a little bit of dampness which helped my super-softs survived," says Ogier.
"On any other event, this would be a good gap. But on this event it isn't that much."
"On any other event, this would be a good gap. But on this event it isn't that much."
Stopwatch
Ogier completes the stages with a benchmark time of 18m25.3s.
Sordo is past split one and is within 1.9s of Ogier there, which is a good sign for his chances of holding on to second place here.
Stopwatch
Ogier is faring best of all on the splits so far - he's 4s quicker than Tanak at split two. The rain is looking a bit heavier for those further back in the start order.
Rain
Ogier's got some rain to deal with on this stage now. It's not too heavy yet, and it's not turning into snow, but it's not helpful.
Tanak is probably the man to watch here. He has time to make up having had an early excursion last night, but he was quickest on today's first stage and swiftly dismissed Toyota team-mate Lappi for fourth.
Tanak now has 3.6s ahead of him before Mikkelsen in third, and an 8.5s gap to Sordo in second.
Tanak now has 3.6s ahead of him before Mikkelsen in third, and an 8.5s gap to Sordo in second.
Information
Ogier has just launched onto SS4, here's what Meeke's co-driver Nagle says awaits him:
SS4 Roussieux-Eygalayes 1 (18.97 miles)
This stage was around in the late 1980s, when it was known as Col Saint-Jean, but it's a new one for all of us.
It's a really tricky stage, I would say it's going to be the most difficult one of the whole rally. It's so different in character to the others – it's more like a Corsican road than one you'd normally find here. It's corner, corner, corner all the time and the surface is really quite abrasive, this one will be very hard on the tyres.
I don't think we're going to expect snow and ice here – like the first stage of the morning there are three passes to go over but they're only just over 1000 metres.
SS4 Roussieux-Eygalayes 1 (18.97 miles)
This stage was around in the late 1980s, when it was known as Col Saint-Jean, but it's a new one for all of us.
It's a really tricky stage, I would say it's going to be the most difficult one of the whole rally. It's so different in character to the others – it's more like a Corsican road than one you'd normally find here. It's corner, corner, corner all the time and the surface is really quite abrasive, this one will be very hard on the tyres.
I don't think we're going to expect snow and ice here – like the first stage of the morning there are three passes to go over but they're only just over 1000 metres.
Mikkelsen's misadvanture on this morning's opener means Ogier now leads from Sordo and has a cushion of exactly half a minute.
Back to the big class, and to summarise this rally so far in a nutshell: several people are showing rally-leading pace, but a bloke called Ogier is getting it done.
A quick WRC2 update first - it's still Eric Camilli leading for M-Sport, with a 16s advantage over Skoda factory man Jan Kopecky.
Captain Versatile Stephane Sarrazin is third in the new Hyundai, followed by a trio of rising stars - Ole-Christian Veiby, Teemu Suninen and Kalle Rovanpera - in a top six covered by just over a minute.
Captain Versatile Stephane Sarrazin is third in the new Hyundai, followed by a trio of rising stars - Ole-Christian Veiby, Teemu Suninen and Kalle Rovanpera - in a top six covered by just over a minute.
Right, let's get things going again.
There's a half-hour pause now before SS4 begins, we'll update you on the WRC2 order during that and bring you more info from David Evans and another stage guide from Paul Nagle. But for now we recommend making a coffee - it's early, this is an eventful rally and there's a long way to go.
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SS3 summary:
* Mikkelsen outbrakes himself at a junction and falls from second to third behind Sordo
* Ogier's lead grows to 30s as a result
* Tanak goes fastest, takes fourth from Lappi and makes second a three-way fight
* Breen damages his brakes on a stone and falls away from leaders, but stays seventh
* Meeke closes to within 3.7s of Bouffier for eighth
* Neuville loses another half-minute with a puncture and is now nearly five minutes from the lead
No ice carnage then, but pretty eventful.
* Mikkelsen outbrakes himself at a junction and falls from second to third behind Sordo
* Ogier's lead grows to 30s as a result
* Tanak goes fastest, takes fourth from Lappi and makes second a three-way fight
* Breen damages his brakes on a stone and falls away from leaders, but stays seventh
* Meeke closes to within 3.7s of Bouffier for eighth
* Neuville loses another half-minute with a puncture and is now nearly five minutes from the lead
No ice carnage then, but pretty eventful.
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Leaderboard after SS3:
1 Ogier
2 Sordo +30.0s
3 Mikkelsen +34.9s
4 Tanak +38.5s
5 Lappi +49.9s
6 Latvala +1m02.5s
7 Breen +2m00.6s
8 Bouffier +2m16.7s
9 Meeke +2m20.4s
(Evans +4m14.4s)
(Neuville +4m50.1s)
1 Ogier
2 Sordo +30.0s
3 Mikkelsen +34.9s
4 Tanak +38.5s
5 Lappi +49.9s
6 Latvala +1m02.5s
7 Breen +2m00.6s
8 Bouffier +2m16.7s
9 Meeke +2m20.4s
(Evans +4m14.4s)
(Neuville +4m50.1s)
Information
Leading SS3 times:
1 Tanak 16m32.3s
2 Ogier +3.9s
3 Evans +5.4s
4 Sordo +8.3s
5 Latvala +11.0s
6 Meeke +11.6s
1 Tanak 16m32.3s
2 Ogier +3.9s
3 Evans +5.4s
4 Sordo +8.3s
5 Latvala +11.0s
6 Meeke +11.6s
By: Matt Beer
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