Monte Carlo Rally 2018
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Good morning and welcome back to Autosport Live - it's time for the first daylight stages of the 2018 World Rally Championship season in Monte Carlo.
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Here's the full report from everything that happened tonight - back for more from 7.40am UK time tomorrow: 
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For the record, here were the leading times from SS2:
1 Ogier 14m53.2s
2 Neuville +1.4s
3 Tanak +4.5s
4 Sordo +5.9s
5 Latvala +6.5s
6 Mikkelsen +9.6s
1 Ogier 14m53.2s
2 Neuville +1.4s
3 Tanak +4.5s
4 Sordo +5.9s
5 Latvala +6.5s
6 Mikkelsen +9.6s
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So here's how they stand overall after SS2:
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
13 Evans +4m12.9s
14 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
13 Evans +4m12.9s
14 Neuville +4m18.2s
A pretty cautious run from Bouffier, he's slowest of the 11 WRC runners and holds his eighth overall.
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Mikkelsen finishes the stage sixth fastest, and completes the evening second overall, 17s off Ogier.
"It was OK, there was a lot of gravel being pulled out on the road," says Mikkelsen. "But we tried to push even though the conditions were tricky in that matter. I'm happy with that, there's a long rally to go.
"But I think the rally will be easy from now compared to those two stages! Though you never know with the weather."
"It was OK, there was a lot of gravel being pulled out on the road," says Mikkelsen. "But we tried to push even though the conditions were tricky in that matter. I'm happy with that, there's a long rally to go.
"But I think the rally will be easy from now compared to those two stages! Though you never know with the weather."
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Here's Lappi's verdict on starting his first Monte Carlo in a top-class car in (probably) fourth overnight:
"We are on a mission. No mistakes. We are here, that was the target. For sure the pace was not the best, but it's not so easy to drive on this surface. It's always been the challenge for me and it still is. I need to build up the confidence step by step."
"We are on a mission. No mistakes. We are here, that was the target. For sure the pace was not the best, but it's not so easy to drive on this surface. It's always been the challenge for me and it still is. I need to build up the confidence step by step."
The splits suggest Mikkelsen will hold second between Ogier and Sordo.
Lappi finishes the stage seventh fastest, which drops him behind Sordo into a likely third place. He's only 5s ahead of Tanak now.
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Breen says that lacklustre time was all down to him:
"I made a big mess. We ran out of time before the stage and I didn't get time to set the pressures before the stage. We spun in there as well."
"I made a big mess. We ran out of time before the stage and I didn't get time to set the pressures before the stage. We spun in there as well."
Breen is just a touch faster than Meeke, and loses a place to Tanak. He's just 3s ahead of Latvala now, in a provisional fourth place but with Lappi and Mikkelsen likely to demote him further.
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Meeke comes in 28.2s off Ogier's pace. After his ditch adventure on SS1, Meeke was already nearly two minutes behind and has now dropped back further back.
He doesn't explain what went awry on SS2 as he's still kicking himself over SS1:
"Stupid mistake in the first one - I had a simple spin, I had a choice to handbrake it round and I said 'stay calm, reverse gently back' and when I reversed gently back I put it into a ditch."
He doesn't explain what went awry on SS2 as he's still kicking himself over SS1:
"Stupid mistake in the first one - I had a simple spin, I had a choice to handbrake it round and I said 'stay calm, reverse gently back' and when I reversed gently back I put it into a ditch."
So at present, the top three is Ogier leading by 25.6s from Sordo, 42.4s from Tanak and 55.4s from Latvala - with Mikkelsen and Lappi yet to slot in among them.
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"It's OK, a little bit more easier in some places," said Sordo. "The first stage was difficult with the ice. This stage was a bit dirty in places, but we'd passed the first stage so it was already good."
Sordo only fourth at the finish line, 5.9s behind Ogier. But the split times definitely suggest he'll be taking third from Lappi still.
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Here's Evans to explain how SS2 went mildy awry for him:
"Obviously we only had one spare so I was trying to be very careful not to be aggressive in the cuts. I'm not totally happy with the behaviour of the throttle - I had a half-spin where I just rotated on the throttle. We can solve that, but not a great start."
"Obviously we only had one spare so I was trying to be very careful not to be aggressive in the cuts. I'm not totally happy with the behaviour of the throttle - I had a half-spin where I just rotated on the throttle. We can solve that, but not a great start."
Mikkelsen and Lappi are now through split one, and they've each lost a couple of seconds to rally leader Ogier. At their present pace, Lappi is going to lose third to Sordo on this stage.
Evans is in, and he's 24.9s slower than rally-leading and stage-pacesetting M-Sport team-mate Ogier.
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Back to Latvala at the end of SS2, which he said he took with "a bit more safety" after his SS1 spins.
"It's been a really challenging start," he admits. "We played a bit of a gamble here, we took three super-softs and one soft so it was moving around a lot. But sometimes you have to try something."
"It's been a really challenging start," he admits. "We played a bit of a gamble here, we took three super-softs and one soft so it was moving around a lot. But sometimes you have to try something."
Still going pretty well for Sordo but not quite so hot at split three, where he's third fastest behind Neuville and Ogier, 1.6s off.
Latvala is fourth fastest of the four cars at the finish line so far, 6.5s off the pace. He was in a bit of no man's land after SS1 after a couple of spins - 11s off Tanak and 27s clear of Bouffier.
More problems for Evans on this stage it seems. There were suggestions he'd briefly stopped on the tracking system and at the final split he's 20s off the pace.
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"This one was much more like Tarmac," reports Tanak. "But we had massive understeer in the previous one and we were struggling quite a lot. I've definitely still got a lot to learn."
Tanak completes SS2 too, third fastest so far, 4.5s behind Ogier.
Stopwatch
Strong second split from Sordo too - his advantage is up to 1.6s there over Ogier.
Not a stunning start to SS2 for Meeke, who's slowest so far at split one, 6s off the pace. He had already lost nearly two minutes on the opener.
Stopwatch
Ogier completes the stage in 14m53.2s, and Neuville comes in 1.4s slower.
Sordo began this stage fourth, just 0.3s behind Lappi ahead.
It's fair to say Sordo and Hayden Paddon began 2018 under a cloud - both demoted to half-seasons as Neuville and Mikkelsen got Hyundai's nod for title shots.
There was a theory that this might be the spur Sordo and Paddon needed to step things up, and Sordo's definitely started the Monte well.
It's fair to say Sordo and Hayden Paddon began 2018 under a cloud - both demoted to half-seasons as Neuville and Mikkelsen got Hyundai's nod for title shots.
There was a theory that this might be the spur Sordo and Paddon needed to step things up, and Sordo's definitely started the Monte well.
Stopwatch
New pacesetter at split one - Sordo is now quickest there, 0.9s up on Ogier.
Evans was another to have a horrible SS1, losing nearly four minutes and finding himself down among the WRC2 cars thanks to a puncture. But on SS2 he's second only to M-Sport team-mate Ogier at split one so far, just a tenth off.
Stopwatch
Just 0.7s covering the first four cars through split one - Ogier ahead of Neuville, Latvala and Tanak.
By split two, Neuville has fallen 1.8s away from Ogier, with Tanak half a second off his erstwhile team-mate.
But the interesting stuff will come when the likes of Breen, Sordo, Lappi and Mikkelsen come through as they fared far better than most in the mayhem of SS1.
By split two, Neuville has fallen 1.8s away from Ogier, with Tanak half a second off his erstwhile team-mate.
But the interesting stuff will come when the likes of Breen, Sordo, Lappi and Mikkelsen come through as they fared far better than most in the mayhem of SS1.
Split times! Ogier fastest at split one by half a second over Neuville.
That's not going to matter too much when Neuville's already four minutes away from the lead, but we're just thrilled to see some split times that look like they bear some relaton to the rally. Hooray!
That's not going to matter too much when Neuville's already four minutes away from the lead, but we're just thrilled to see some split times that look like they bear some relaton to the rally. Hooray!
As expected, no sign of ice on the on-board footage so far. Just the darkness, walls, barriers, narrow roads, flares from the fans, bit of gravel scattered on the odd corner, to deal with.
Green flag
Ogier sets off, SS2 is go.
Three minutes to go until Ogier gets SS2 under way.
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So Jari-Matti Latvala, what do you reckon about SS2?
SS2 Bayons-Breziers 1 (15.83 miles)
I like this stage. It starts on a wide road with some uphill hairpins and then some really fast sections in the fields.
We then go downhill through some hairpins to a junction where we turn right and follow the roads with the nice character: fast straights with some kinks which tighten. Some of these tighter corners had ice during the recce, but we think it will be gone. On some of the other corners, there's some of the gravel lying om the road where they have tried to dry the ice.
On the recce we had only one corner which was full ice – it would be nice if it was the same tonight.
SS2 Bayons-Breziers 1 (15.83 miles)
I like this stage. It starts on a wide road with some uphill hairpins and then some really fast sections in the fields.
We then go downhill through some hairpins to a junction where we turn right and follow the roads with the nice character: fast straights with some kinks which tighten. Some of these tighter corners had ice during the recce, but we think it will be gone. On some of the other corners, there's some of the gravel lying om the road where they have tried to dry the ice.
On the recce we had only one corner which was full ice – it would be nice if it was the same tonight.
As WRC2 cars come through (and Camilli is still top among them on our timing), Evans and Neuville have already been pushed down to 14th and 16th.
Just over 10 minutes to go until SS2, which is shorter and expected to be less icy.
The delayed likes of Meeke and Neuville need a big swing in weather or tyre choice to make the sort of gains they now need to get back in the thick of things, but the lead group is close enough that it wouldn't take a lot to change any of the top five-to-seven positions before everyone heads for bed.
The delayed likes of Meeke and Neuville need a big swing in weather or tyre choice to make the sort of gains they now need to get back in the thick of things, but the lead group is close enough that it wouldn't take a lot to change any of the top five-to-seven positions before everyone heads for bed.
We're pretty envious of you for having split times to be honest, Craig.
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By: Matt Beer
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