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Monte Carlo Rally 2018
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And that means Ogier's rally lead is up to half a minute, with Sordo now his nearest challenger.
Crash
Mikkelsen dropped 21s to stage winner Tanak there.
"I went straight on in a junction and I had to turn around," Mikkelsen explains. "That was not so good. But it's a very dirty road. Tricky."
"I went straight on in a junction and I had to turn around," Mikkelsen explains. "That was not so good. But it's a very dirty road. Tricky."
Mikkelsen comes in and he's fallen to third overall behind Hyundai team-mate Sordo.
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Lappi is through and he's definitely fallen behind team-mate Tanak overall. Exactly where he ends up now depends on Mikkelsen.
"From my point of view it was quite steady," says Lappi of his stage.
Though he's already a Rally Finland winner, Lappi's still fairly inexperienced and hasn't done this rally in a WRC car before.
He's also finding being so far down the start order tricky as other cars pull mud onto the stages from corner-cutting.
"I don't have anything on the notes and there's a lot of shit. Many, many times I had a surprise. It's not easy as you have to react immediately, sometimes in the middle of the corners.
"From my point of view it was quite steady," says Lappi of his stage.
Though he's already a Rally Finland winner, Lappi's still fairly inexperienced and hasn't done this rally in a WRC car before.
He's also finding being so far down the start order tricky as other cars pull mud onto the stages from corner-cutting.
"I don't have anything on the notes and there's a lot of shit. Many, many times I had a surprise. It's not easy as you have to react immediately, sometimes in the middle of the corners.
Breen crosses the finish line 1m02.2s off the pace.
"No brakes," he declares. "I had literally no brakes for about 10km."
He thinks the problem started after he hit a stone in the road.
He still might hang on to seventh but it'll drop him right off the pack ahead, and now he's got to try repairs too.
"No brakes," he declares. "I had literally no brakes for about 10km."
He thinks the problem started after he hit a stone in the road.
He still might hang on to seventh but it'll drop him right off the pack ahead, and now he's got to try repairs too.
Crash
Trouble for Breen too - after those great splits he's lost a minute near the end of the stage.
Mikkelsen could be in trouble - there's a poor second split from him. He's 16.7s off Tanak's pace there and has lost 15s to lead rival Ogier.
That could drop Mikkelsen to third and elevate Sordo to second.
That could drop Mikkelsen to third and elevate Sordo to second.
Meeke is slowest of the cars that haven't had a puncture - he finishes the stage 11.6s down on Tanak.
"Not bad, but it was a lot more greasy and damp than I expected, there was a lot of mud coming on the road," says Meeke.
He's currently down in ninth, chasing M-Sport's guest driver Bouffier for eighth. Meeke's on course to take a few seconds out of the 21s gap to the Ford ahead here though, as Bouffier is looking pretty cautious again on his debut in one of the current-spec cars.
"Not bad, but it was a lot more greasy and damp than I expected, there was a lot of mud coming on the road," says Meeke.
He's currently down in ninth, chasing M-Sport's guest driver Bouffier for eighth. Meeke's on course to take a few seconds out of the 21s gap to the Ford ahead here though, as Bouffier is looking pretty cautious again on his debut in one of the current-spec cars.
Breen's still going well, he's fourth at split three, which is bringing him a few tenths back towards Latvala in their battle for sixth overall.
Sordo comes in fourth fastest, 8.3s slower than Tanak. That'll keep him in third for now, but Tanak has closed to within 8.5s of him.
"It was not so bad. I struggled a little bit in the middle of the stage, I didn't push hard enoguh, but it's OK. We only took three soft tyres and two super-softs, I don't know if it's a good choice. I didn't take a lot of risks. I lost a bit of grip but it's OK."
"It was not so bad. I struggled a little bit in the middle of the stage, I didn't push hard enoguh, but it's OK. We only took three soft tyres and two super-softs, I don't know if it's a good choice. I didn't take a lot of risks. I lost a bit of grip but it's OK."
Tanak is definitely going to move up from fifth to fourth overall here - he's 13.7s faster than team-mate Lappi at split two.
Looks like Sordo might have just made a mistake in the middle of the stage, because he's regained a bit of time between splits two and three. His deficit to pacesetter Tanak at the final split is 7.8s.
Solid stage time for Evans, he's third so far, 5.4s off Tanak. More importantly that pulls him 26s further ahead of the puncture-afflicted Neuville - they're fighting back through the WRC2 field towards the top 10 after their Thursday night troubles.
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Latvala comes in third quickest, 11s off new Toyota team-mate Tanak. We need a fair few more cars to appear before we can suss what that'll mean for Latvala's overall position. He started today sixth.
"Everything is OK, it's difficult to say how the stage was," says Latvala. "Some places were quite slippery and I didn't take the best rhythm. The car was understeering more."
"Everything is OK, it's difficult to say how the stage was," says Latvala. "Some places were quite slippery and I didn't take the best rhythm. The car was understeering more."
But now MIkkelsen's first split time is in and it's a good one - he's just 1.7s off Tanak there and 1.2s faster than leader Ogier! Game on...?
Still waiting for a first split time from Ogier's lead rival Mikkelsen. Because Mikkelsen contested only a partial season last year, his points tally wasn't great. And that's a disadvantage today when the field is taking to the stage in 2017 championship order and the further down the order you run, the more of your rivals' dirt you're having to cope with.
It may bring Tanak a lot closer to Sordo in third too - after that quick first split, Sordo is 8.8s off Tanak's benchmark by split two.
Stopwatch
Tanak completes the stage fastest so far by 3.9s over Ogier. Will that take him past Lappi into fourth?
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Neuville's baffled by that tyre damage:
"No idea, 10kms before the end we got an alarm for a slow puncture. We continued, which was a good decision. After yesterday it doesn't matter quite so much, but it's a shame."
"No idea, 10kms before the end we got an alarm for a slow puncture. We continued, which was a good decision. After yesterday it doesn't matter quite so much, but it's a shame."
Crash
Neuville finishes the stage and he's 31.9s slower than Ogier - and there's a clear reason for that, he has a left-rear puncture.
While Meeke is slowest at split one, his Citroen team-mate Breen is looking good - he's just come through there second only to Tanak, 2.6s down.
Breen felt he was on course to lead last night before sliding into the snow. He then had a shaky SS2 now so starts today seventh and with ground to make up.
Breen felt he was on course to lead last night before sliding into the snow. He then had a shaky SS2 now so starts today seventh and with ground to make up.
Stopwatch
Ogier's time for the stage is 16m36.2s.
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Ogier has finished the stage, here are his thoughts:
"It was an OK stage for us, once again a lot of grip changes with some very greasy sections," he says.
"It was an OK stage for us, once again a lot of grip changes with some very greasy sections," he says.
Meeke is onto the stage and is slowest of those through split one so far, 5s off Tanak's mark there.
By split three, Neuville is 10.5s slower than Ogier. Any thoughts of fighting with his 2017 title rival for the lead here are long gone for Neuville after his trip into a ditch very early on last night, but he does need to be regaining as much ground as possible to salvage points here and a split 10s off the pace isn't a great start to that mission.
As he was last night, Sordo is looking good here. He's 3.1s off Tanak's pace at split one, but that puts him third fastest so far. He begins today third overall. 8s behind team-mate Mikkelsen in second.
Stopwatch
Tanak's split two time is in and he's fastest so far there too, a second up on Ogier. The people Tanak's actually chasing - Lappi right now and potentially soon Sordo - are further down the start order.
David Evans
I've gone onto the stage this morning and am watching from the corner where Ogier just had that scare with a massive St Bernard dog.
The dog had being running up and down the stage and the police were chasing it. It then was obviously terrified when it nearly got killed and the police were able to jump on it and stuff it into a room somewhere. Don't think it'll be allowed out for a while...
The dog had being running up and down the stage and the police were chasing it. It then was obviously terrified when it nearly got killed and the police were able to jump on it and stuff it into a room somewhere. Don't think it'll be allowed out for a while...
Stopwatch
New pacesetter at split one - Tanak is 2.9s up on Ogier. After some dramas last night, he's back in fifth overall and has ground to make up. Lappi is his first target, 5s ahead.
Stopwatch
First split times are in, and Ogier is 1.5s faster than the delayed Neuville.
As the stage gets higher, conditions do get very slightly tougher - more damp patches and some piles of snow on the edge of the road where Ogier is now. Overall, though, these are still very decent stage conditions.
While a wild mice of ice and snow prompting a load of tyre gambles would be fun at this stage, some straightforward dry asphalt is quite welcome in another way.
Last year the M-Sport Ford was good enough to take all the titles, but benefited from Hyundai letting things slip through its fingers.
Now we've got a straight fight between Ogier's now-slightly-more-Ford-assisted M-Sport Fiesta and Mikkelsen's Hyundai i20 up front in normal conditions, at least for this stage. Who's going to be quickest?
Last year the M-Sport Ford was good enough to take all the titles, but benefited from Hyundai letting things slip through its fingers.
Now we've got a straight fight between Ogier's now-slightly-more-Ford-assisted M-Sport Fiesta and Mikkelsen's Hyundai i20 up front in normal conditions, at least for this stage. Who's going to be quickest?
Slight scare for Ogier as he encounters a dog on the apex of a corner through one of the villages. The dog moves pretty fast too and they miss each other.
No snow or ice to worry about in these early miles - nice clear, clean asphalt for Ogier as he hammers through the stages past some healthy-sized crowds.
Green flag
Ogier is up and running on the stage. Happy Friday.
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Information
Today's stage guides are provided by Kris Meeke's co-driver PAUL NAGLE:
SS3 Vitrolles-Oze 1 (16.60 miles)
This used to be known as the Col de Faye stage when it was the full 50 kilometres (35 miles). It's shorter now but it's still a real challenge. And a pretty famous stage.
The start is different from last year, we've lost around five kilometres from where we began in 2017 and we come in from a different direction.
The first six or seven kilometres should be good, if it's not raining it'll be nice dry asphalt.
We have three cols to go over in this stage and there was patches of ice around the first one during the recce – I think these will still be here on the rally as the sun just never gets down into those parts of the road. But the last 10 kilometres or so dry out again and should be back to good asphalt.
SS3 Vitrolles-Oze 1 (16.60 miles)
This used to be known as the Col de Faye stage when it was the full 50 kilometres (35 miles). It's shorter now but it's still a real challenge. And a pretty famous stage.
The start is different from last year, we've lost around five kilometres from where we began in 2017 and we come in from a different direction.
The first six or seven kilometres should be good, if it's not raining it'll be nice dry asphalt.
We have three cols to go over in this stage and there was patches of ice around the first one during the recce – I think these will still be here on the rally as the sun just never gets down into those parts of the road. But the last 10 kilometres or so dry out again and should be back to good asphalt.
Information
Here's how they stand starting this stage:
1 Ogier
2 Mikkelsen +17.3s
3 Sordo +25.6s
4 Lappi +37.4s
5 Tanak +42.4s
6 Latvala +55.4s
7 Breen +1m02.3s
8 Bouffier +1m51.0s
9 Meeke +2m12.7s
10 Camilli +2m42.2s (WRC2)
16 Evans +4m12.9s
17 Neuville +4m18.2s
1 Ogier
2 Mikkelsen +17.3s
3 Sordo +25.6s
4 Lappi +37.4s
5 Tanak +42.4s
6 Latvala +55.4s
7 Breen +1m02.3s
8 Bouffier +1m51.0s
9 Meeke +2m12.7s
10 Camilli +2m42.2s (WRC2)
16 Evans +4m12.9s
17 Neuville +4m18.2s
David Evans
Weather news: The temperature was dropping rapidly when I set out this morning. Couldn't see how low the cloud was as it was jolly dark at that point!
Last night in a nutshell: lots of things happened, Sebastien Ogier dealt with them best. He leads by 17s over Andreas Mikkelsen going into Friday morning.
By: Matt Beer
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