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Monte Carlo Rally 2018
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Ouch. The upshot of that Meeke error is he ships 17s to Neuville. Will Lappi get back ahead of the Citroen now?
Crash
Meeke's had a moment on this stage – locked up and slid into a small bank of snow. Lost a bit of time, but not an enormous amount. He can't really afford that, though, having just overhauled Lappi for fourth.
We should have Meeke through in around a minute. Latvala and Lappi are also on the stage.
Bouffier makes it to the end of the stage with a car that sounds a little off, but could just be our delicate ears.
The Welshman ran wide through one corner but just about kept it on the road. Lovely drift! He stops the clocks a couple of seconds slower than Neuville, though.
Ooooooooooooooooh! Big slide from Evans.
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Neuville concurs with Breen's assessment of the stage: "I pushed a bit more in this one but it's really tricky towards the end."
Stopwatch
Neuville smashes Breen's time, stopping the clock at 10m48.5s.
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Breen's reached the stage end. "The descent is so icy, I wanted to play it safe and put studs on to not get caught out and do something silly."
And now Breen's on drying, dirty road. What a rally this is. What a stage this is.
Breen's now hit the trickiest part of the stage – where the 90% clear road is replaced by icy, slushy peril. Constantly changing conditions are a beautiful, treacherous part of the Monte.
Evans launches his M-Sport Ford onto the stage.
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Jan Kopecky's big WRC2 lead is now huge after the last stage. He's almost 11 minutes clear of de Mevius!
"I don't know what is wrong but in the middle of the stage I took a cut, hit something and now something is wrong at the rear. We need to go and look."
Still, not as bad as former M-Sport WRC driver Eric Camilli. He stopped near the stage end.
"I don't know what is wrong but in the middle of the stage I took a cut, hit something and now something is wrong at the rear. We need to go and look."
Still, not as bad as former M-Sport WRC driver Eric Camilli. He stopped near the stage end.
Neuville's started his run. This stage is going to attract a fair bit of commitment. Not a puddle of slush to be seen.
Breen's into the stage, so let's see if this is calmer than the previous one!
Five minutes until the schedule start time of SS12.
We'll take a short break now and be back in 10 minutes or so for the next stage.
Information
Correction – Mikkelsen fifth-quickest. Here you go...
SS10 leading finishers:
1 Tanak 19m06.4s
2 Ogier +15.3s
3 Evans +18.3s
4 Latvala +18.6s
5 Mikkelsen +21.6s
6 Meeke 24.1s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 3h04m42.9s
2 Tanak +48.1s
3 Latvala +1m44.3s
4 Meeke +4m38.6s
5 Lappi +4m58.3s
6 Evans 5m21.8s
SS10 leading finishers:
1 Tanak 19m06.4s
2 Ogier +15.3s
3 Evans +18.3s
4 Latvala +18.6s
5 Mikkelsen +21.6s
6 Meeke 24.1s
Overall classification:
1 Ogier 3h04m42.9s
2 Tanak +48.1s
3 Latvala +1m44.3s
4 Meeke +4m38.6s
5 Lappi +4m58.3s
6 Evans 5m21.8s
Mikkelsen in, fourth-fastest, so that's all the runners. What a bonkers stage, again. Let's see what it means for the order...
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Ogier ships 15.3s to Tanak, so his lead gets hacked into, but it'll still be 48s. "I'm not at the point to take all the risks, still a good gap."
So, Lappi's going to drop behind Meeke, but he'll only lose one position. Fun three-way fight between Meeke, Lappi and Evans for fourth now.
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Lappi's in, 3m07s slower than Tanak. He shouts "puncture!" at Colin Clark then says "off!" when asked what happened. To the points.
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"It's so, so hard," says Tanak. "I don't know what the right tyre choice is! We don't have any better options so this is the best."
Stopwatch
Despite that moment Tanak came in 18s quicker than Evans.
Crash
Tanak becomes the latest driver to run wide at that 90-degree left-hander and take a trip across the field. He follows Neuville's tracks, literally, to plough through the field and rejoin over a bank.
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"Oh no, that's not good news," Latvala says about Lappi. "I'm really sorry if he's stopped."
He says the improved conditions have a new threat: "You can push, but making a mistake is even closer now."
He says the improved conditions have a new threat: "You can push, but making a mistake is even closer now."
Latvala in, second-quickest, just 0.3s slower than Evans over 18 miles! Amazing. Rallying's brilliant.
Let's see if that actually costs Lappi a position. He will now be all-but-out of the podium fight, subject to mistakes from other drivers, but he had 2m30s (or thereabouts) over Meeke...so depends how quick the change was. Could still be in the mix for a decent result.
Lappi looks like he's moving again.
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Meeke says he is "happy" with his effort despite going into the field. Says there was "really good grip". The Citroen driver was a few seconds slower than Evans.
That drops the Toyota man out of the podium fight he was enjoying with team-mate Latvala.
Crash
Lappi's Toyota is stranded on the left-hand side of the road after suffering what looks to be a puncture.
Crash
Esapekka Lappi has stopped.
Bouffier's ended the stage in a far-from-impressive 19m53.9s. That's the slowest so far. Meeke might have got away with that.
In fact Bouffier – who went off in the field as well! – struggled so much he's dropped behind Evans in the overall classification.
In fact Bouffier – who went off in the field as well! – struggled so much he's dropped behind Evans in the overall classification.
Crash
Meeke's gone off at the same place Neuville ended up in a field – unlike the Hyundai driver, Meeke throws the Citroen into a U-turn and rejoins the road where he went off. No harm done, apart from to his time. Chance for Bouffier to close in some more?
Bouffier is nearing the stage end. Then it'll be Meeke, Latvala and Lappi.
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Evans with a frank assessment of a difficult stage, despite being quickest: "I was a little bit surprised to be honest, it wasn't the best feeling. I think we were quite clean. We had some studs on the car but it's improved enough not to need them."
Stopwatch
Evans comes in 8.3s quicker than Neuville.
Ogier on the stage now, so just Mikkelsen to come at the beginning.
A suggestion that Latvala has stopped briefly in the stage.
A suggestion that Latvala has stopped briefly in the stage.
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Neuville looks surprised to be at the end: "Huge aquaplaning! A small spin as well, went backwards under normal braking, rear wheel went a bit in the snow and I spun straight away."
He reckons he "didn't lose so much" in the field.
He reckons he "didn't lose so much" in the field.
By: Matt Beer
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