Monte Carlo Rally 2018
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Blimey, this really is very testing. It's hard viewing as Breen crawls through the stage. The zero car hasn't cleaned the road at all (as you'd expect...)
Evans has joined Breen and Neuville on the stage.
Evans has joined Breen and Neuville on the stage.
Neuville's onto the stage now. Immediately looks a little more aggressive.
It's tip-toe stuff from Breen and even doing that he almost loses it at low-speed as the Citroen's rear tries to swap ends with the front. Keeps it together.
Breen is onto the stage. Wheelspin, wheelspin, wheelspin at the start! Super slippery start.
It's a snowy stage, and Breen's at the start line. Orange-tinted glasses at the ready. This is going to be a big test – hopefully his Citroen actually has working brakes for the duration.
David Evans
And here's what our man David Evans says awaits them on the 18.12-mile Agnieres en Devoluy-Corps test:
This stage includes action in the regions of Hautes Alpes and Isere and is mainly downhill apart from four short inclines – the steepest of which comes at the finish. First used last season, the road is generally quick with a twisty and technical section in the middle close to Monestier-d-Ambel.
This stage includes action in the regions of Hautes Alpes and Isere and is mainly downhill apart from four short inclines – the steepest of which comes at the finish. First used last season, the road is generally quick with a twisty and technical section in the middle close to Monestier-d-Ambel.
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Here's the order in which they'll take on SS9 this morning:
Breen
Neuville
Evans
Bouffier
Meeke
Latvala
Lappi
Sordo
Tanak
Ogier
Mikkelsen
Breen
Neuville
Evans
Bouffier
Meeke
Latvala
Lappi
Sordo
Tanak
Ogier
Mikkelsen
Just a quick reminder that an uncharacteristic Sebastien Ogier error closed up the lead fight on Friday. His 2017 WRC team-mate Ott Tanak, now driving for Toyota, is just 14.9 seconds behind the M-Sport man.
You don't have to look too far down this feed to find the report. Insert finger pointing down emoji here.
You don't have to look too far down this feed to find the report. Insert finger pointing down emoji here.
Good morning, rally fans! Welcome back to Autosport Live's coverage of the 2018 season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. We're just under 10 minutes from the first stage of the day. Join us, won't you?
Autosport
Here's the full report from today, our Live coverage resumes from 7am UK time tomorrow morning - see you then: 
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SS8 summary:
* Tanak hacks another 4s off Ogier's lead - the gap is down to 14.9s
* Latvala gets within 0.2s of Lappi for fourth
* Neuville wins stage and closes to 2.4s behind Evans for eighth
* Tanak hacks another 4s off Ogier's lead - the gap is down to 14.9s
* Latvala gets within 0.2s of Lappi for fourth
* Neuville wins stage and closes to 2.4s behind Evans for eighth
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SS8 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 8m36.2s
2 Latvala +7.4s
3 Tanak +8.1s
4 Meeke +10.6s
5 Evans +11.1s
6 Sordo +11.3s
7 Lappi +12.4s
8 Ogier +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Tanak +14.9s
3 Sordo +59.7s
4 Lappi +1m09.9s
5 Latvala +1m10.1s
6 Meeke +2m45.5s
7 Bouffier +3m34.6s
8 Evans +4m01.7s
9 Neuville +4m04.1s
10 Breen +5m06.6s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 8m36.2s
2 Latvala +7.4s
3 Tanak +8.1s
4 Meeke +10.6s
5 Evans +11.1s
6 Sordo +11.3s
7 Lappi +12.4s
8 Ogier +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Tanak +14.9s
3 Sordo +59.7s
4 Lappi +1m09.9s
5 Latvala +1m10.1s
6 Meeke +2m45.5s
7 Bouffier +3m34.6s
8 Evans +4m01.7s
9 Neuville +4m04.1s
10 Breen +5m06.6s
Lappi is seventh fastest on the stage, which drops him to 10.2s behind third-placed Sordo and just 0.2s ahead of Latvala.
Lappi is currently setting a similar pace to Sordo on the splits.
Sordo is happy enough with his Hyundai's performance there as he comes in sixth fastest on the stage, but under 4s slower than second-fastest Latvala.
That does mean the gap between Sordo and Latvala is down to 10.4s, with Lappi due to slot in around them too in a third/fourth/fifth battle.
That does mean the gap between Sordo and Latvala is down to 10.4s, with Lappi due to slot in around them too in a third/fourth/fifth battle.
That monster time from Neuville has brought him right onto Evans's tail for what is most likely going to be eighth - just 2.4s between them now.
Good effort from Latvala, he's 7s off Neuville and second on the stage times so far. That looks like it'll inch him closer to Sordo in third, but where Lappi slots in between them is yet to be seen.
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Neuville, who says his car was "working really well" on that stage, has revised his prediction of where he'll finish the rally from fifth to sixth, but adds "you see on some stages we are taking 30 seconds out of people - anything is possible".
That means Ogier's lead over Tanak is down to 14.9s heading into Saturday!
Tanak fades a touch at the end and is 8s off Neuville's mega time, but he's closed by 4s on Ogier there.
By the next split, Tanak has taken 6s off Ogier - this is looking great for the Toyota.
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Ogier's view: "It's been difficult, but we are there and still in the leading position. Without the spin we would have been a minute in the lead, but tomorrow will have to be good. When you are in the lead, you must be happy."
And Neuville comes through 12.5s faster!
Ogier completes the stage with a time of 8m36.2s.
Stopwatch
Big gap at split two - Neuville is 11.8s faster than Ogier there. Need to see Tanak's time now...
Stopwatch
Tanak's slower than Neuville (by 1.6s), but he's taken more time off Ogier - he's 3.3s faster than the rally leader at split one!
Neuville is currently back in ninth after his trip off the road yesterday - chasing Evans, as both chase Bouffier for seventh.
Either a very strong start for Neuville or a not-great one for Ogier - the Hyundai is 5s faster than the Ford at split one.
Ogier is safely past the first split point. Key thing to watch will be how Tanak compares to him - the gap between them in the overall lead fight came down to 19s with Ogier's ditch adventure on the last stage.
Green flag
Ogier is onto SS8 - this one's not looking anywhere near as wet as the previous one.
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Just over five minutes until our final Friday stage begins. What's it like? We asked Meeke's co-driver Paul Nagle:
SS8 Vaumeilh-Claret (9.43 miles)
This stage isn't very high, it climbs to around 850 metres for the first two thirds and then goes steeper downhill to the finish in the last few miles.
The start is a typical Monte stage with lots of really nice fast and flowing stages, with a few hairpins coming closer to the end – that last section could test the tyres a fair bit at the end of the loop.
SS8 Vaumeilh-Claret (9.43 miles)
This stage isn't very high, it climbs to around 850 metres for the first two thirds and then goes steeper downhill to the finish in the last few miles.
The start is a typical Monte stage with lots of really nice fast and flowing stages, with a few hairpins coming closer to the end – that last section could test the tyres a fair bit at the end of the loop.
David Evans
While the R5 ranks have been depleted a bit already, we've only lost one of our World Rally Cars - Andreas Mikkelsen's Hyundai.
Mikkelsen was third and in the thick of the fight for second with Sordo and Tanak when his alternator died before today's second stage.
He will now focus his efforts on the Sunday’s powerstage in an effort to salvage something from a disappointing start to his first full season with Hyundai.
"I got an alarm after the stage about the [low] voltage," Mikkelsen explained to Autosport.
"We stopped 10 seconds after [the alarm] and checked, the belt was broken so we tried to change it.
"It was so limited time, we had eight minutes to change it and it's a long job – there's not much room [under the bonnet] to do this job on the Hyundai. It was really, really difficult and we ran out of time.
"We have to drive for the powerstage now."
He'll be back under Rally2 tomorrow morning.
Mikkelsen was third and in the thick of the fight for second with Sordo and Tanak when his alternator died before today's second stage.
He will now focus his efforts on the Sunday’s powerstage in an effort to salvage something from a disappointing start to his first full season with Hyundai.
"I got an alarm after the stage about the [low] voltage," Mikkelsen explained to Autosport.
"We stopped 10 seconds after [the alarm] and checked, the belt was broken so we tried to change it.
"It was so limited time, we had eight minutes to change it and it's a long job – there's not much room [under the bonnet] to do this job on the Hyundai. It was really, really difficult and we ran out of time.
"We have to drive for the powerstage now."
He'll be back under Rally2 tomorrow morning.
Ah, a correction is required - we've been caught out again by the 'registered for WRC2?' conundrum again.
Veiby and Rovanpera are of course in WRC2-spec R5 class cars, but aren't registered for points this weekend. So Kopecky's lead is actually an enormous eight minutes over Guillaume de Mevius. Which is less exciting.
Veiby and Rovanpera are of course in WRC2-spec R5 class cars, but aren't registered for points this weekend. So Kopecky's lead is actually an enormous eight minutes over Guillaume de Mevius. Which is less exciting.
David Evans
Suninen described his SS4 exit as a choice between a wet place and a hard place:
"I had to choose if I hit the bridge or if I went to the river," he told Autosport.
"I went for the bank and in the end I stopped in the river.
Just after the mid-point in the stage we came to a medium speed left corner. It had started to rain half a kilometre, maybe a minute or something earlier, and the road became slippery. I had the corner before marked as slippery, but not this one."
Asked if he expected to be back in action for the weekend, the M-Sport driver replied: "We will have to see what the team says. The impact was quite hard. From the inside it's OK, but from the engine side, I don't know."
If he's not back out under Rally2 tomorrow, the next time we'll see Suninen will be when he takes the third M-Sport WRC entry currently occupied by Bouffier for Sweden in February.
"I had to choose if I hit the bridge or if I went to the river," he told Autosport.
"I went for the bank and in the end I stopped in the river.
Just after the mid-point in the stage we came to a medium speed left corner. It had started to rain half a kilometre, maybe a minute or something earlier, and the road became slippery. I had the corner before marked as slippery, but not this one."
Asked if he expected to be back in action for the weekend, the M-Sport driver replied: "We will have to see what the team says. The impact was quite hard. From the inside it's OK, but from the engine side, I don't know."
If he's not back out under Rally2 tomorrow, the next time we'll see Suninen will be when he takes the third M-Sport WRC entry currently occupied by Bouffier for Sweden in February.
What had been a very close WRC2 battle is now breaking up, with Sarrazin joining Camilli and Suninen in stopping. That means Kopecky has gone from having three drivers right on his tail to having a cushion of over a minute over Veiby, with Rovanpera up to third.
There's now a 50-minute pause till the final stage of the day. During that time we'll keep you posted on events in WRC2 and catch up with some of the early retirees.
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SS7 summary:
* Ogier slides into a ditch!!...
* ...but spectators are on hand and he escapes with a 19s rally lead still
* Sordo rebuilds an advantage over Lappi and Latvala in battle for third
* Evans and Neuville set the pace and close on Bouffier for seventh
* Ogier slides into a ditch!!...
* ...but spectators are on hand and he escapes with a 19s rally lead still
* Sordo rebuilds an advantage over Lappi and Latvala in battle for third
* Evans and Neuville set the pace and close on Bouffier for seventh
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SS7 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 19m03.5s
2 Neuville +1.0s
3 Tanak +20.3s
4 Breen +22.0s
5 Sordo +27.9s
6 Latvala +32.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Tanak +19.3s
3 Sordo +1m00.9s
4 Lappi +1m10.0s
5 Latvala +1m15.2s
6 Meeke +2m47.4s
7 Bouffier +3m26.9s
8 Evans +4m03.1s
9 Neuville +4m16.6s
10 Breen +5m04.1s
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 19m03.5s
2 Neuville +1.0s
3 Tanak +20.3s
4 Breen +22.0s
5 Sordo +27.9s
6 Latvala +32.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Tanak +19.3s
3 Sordo +1m00.9s
4 Lappi +1m10.0s
5 Latvala +1m15.2s
6 Meeke +2m47.4s
7 Bouffier +3m26.9s
8 Evans +4m03.1s
9 Neuville +4m16.6s
10 Breen +5m04.1s
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Bouffier jokes that this stage was "easy, very easy!" That really was a joke, though he adds "it's easy to go wide and hit something, but we enjoyed it".
He's still seventh but has drifted away from Meeke and will be under threat from Evans and Neuville soon.
He's still seventh but has drifted away from Meeke and will be under threat from Evans and Neuville soon.
Interesting splits from Lappi - his start to the start really wasn't great, but he steadied the deficit after that.
OK, he hasn't taken third from Sordo and has actually fallen away from the Hyundai by 9.1s, but he's still fourth ahead of Latvala with a 5.2s advantage over his team-mate. Thoroughly respectable, especially given Tanak's thoughts on how this isn't great weather for the Toyotas.
OK, he hasn't taken third from Sordo and has actually fallen away from the Hyundai by 9.1s, but he's still fourth ahead of Latvala with a 5.2s advantage over his team-mate. Thoroughly respectable, especially given Tanak's thoughts on how this isn't great weather for the Toyotas.
By: Matt Beer
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