Monte Carlo Rally 2019
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In case you missed it earlier, you can read about those Valdrome-Sigottier concerns - and Tommi Makinen's frustration at stage issues this morning - here 
David Evans
Here’s a picture of a Corsa. Looks pretty standard, right?
That bit of the road it straddles is part of the Valdrome-Sigottier stage that crews have just completed for the first time after it was cancelled in the morning.
The owner couldn’t be located so nine people lifted it out of position - but it’s little surprise crews had concerns about running the stage this afternoon with pictures like this. Bonkers.
Information
SS6 summary:
*Ogier closes in on Neuville with stage win...
*...but Neuville limits time loss despite early mistake
*Tanak continues to fall away from lead pair
*Mikkelsen and Latvala jump up after fast times
*Meeke now sixth ahead of Loeb, who is slow on dry tyres
*Ogier closes in on Neuville with stage win...
*...but Neuville limits time loss despite early mistake
*Tanak continues to fall away from lead pair
*Mikkelsen and Latvala jump up after fast times
*Meeke now sixth ahead of Loeb, who is slow on dry tyres
Information
SS6 results:
Stage times:
1 Ogier 13m39.5s
= Latvala 13m39.5s
3 Mikkelsen +0.4s
4 Neuville +2s
5 Meeke +12.9s
6 Tanak +13.3s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville 1h09m02.5s
2 Ogier +1.4s
3 Tanak +28.2s
4 Mikkelsen +1m01.8s
5 Latvala +1m03.6s
6 Meeke +1m25.2s
7 Loeb +1m26.2s
8 Evans +1m51.3s
Stage times:
1 Ogier 13m39.5s
= Latvala 13m39.5s
3 Mikkelsen +0.4s
4 Neuville +2s
5 Meeke +12.9s
6 Tanak +13.3s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville 1h09m02.5s
2 Ogier +1.4s
3 Tanak +28.2s
4 Mikkelsen +1m01.8s
5 Latvala +1m03.6s
6 Meeke +1m25.2s
7 Loeb +1m26.2s
8 Evans +1m51.3s
Reports in that Tidemand, who is in the final WRC car to tackle this stage, has stopped on stage and is changing a tyre.
Meeke gets a decent time on the board as is fifth, 12.9s off the pace. That elevates him three places to sixth overall!
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"I think maybe we lost too much [time]," says Loeb. "The conditions for the last one of the loop, we hope for slicks."
Loeb comes through and is sixth fastest, 37.6s off Ogier's and Latvala's benchmark. He's 2.7s faster than Evans.
Evans' time loss might be down to his tyre choice - he confirms he was on four slicks on the stage!
Looks like Evans and Loeb may be struggling now with the drier parts of the road - their gains at the third and fourth splits are nothing like those ahead of them in the order.
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"It was good for this stage but let's see for the next stage," says Mikkelsen of his tyre choice.
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Here's Lappi...
"Probably a rock," he says, when asked what he hit. "I'm not sure, but something hard.
"We drove more than 10 kilometres like this. very sorry for the team, but it's part of the game."
"Probably a rock," he says, when asked what he hit. "I'm not sure, but something hard.
"We drove more than 10 kilometres like this. very sorry for the team, but it's part of the game."
Mikkelsen is at the stage end hot on Lappi's heels, and goes third fastest - just 0.4s off the pacesetters.
Lappi makes the end of the stage but is 1m48s slower than pacesetter Ogier. Looks as though his suspension has gone.
Crash
Lappi, who should be the next driver through, looks as though he's struggling in his Citroen.
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"It was surprisingly good," says Latvala. "It was a safe choice - we took four studs."
He can't beat the previous benchmark, but Latvala matches Ogier's time. Good effort from the Toyota man, who before lunch said he was "finally" feeling relaxed in his Yaris.
Latvala will be in next, and looks like he could snatch fastest time from Ogier.
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"No issues. Just tricky, but nothing wrong," says Tanak.
Tanak is in now but is 13.3s slower than Ogier. He's quickly falling away from Neuville and Ogier, who are close to half a minute up the road in the order now.
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"I was too fast with this tyre," says Neuville of his off. "I just [tried to] turned but I couldn't turn and I chose the escape.
"We could have been 17-18 seconds faster [than Ogier] and for the next stages he has the better tyres."
"We could have been 17-18 seconds faster [than Ogier] and for the next stages he has the better tyres."
Neuville completes and drops another second to Ogier - but that's not dreadful damage limitation considering his off at the start of the stage. That time keeps him in the lead of the rally, too - albeit only by 1.4s.
Neuville is now a second slower than Ogier at the final split, while Tanak has dropped a further 10 seconds at the previous split.
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"Not the best tyre choice I think," says Ogier at the stage end. "I struggled with the car."
Stopwatch
Suninen completes the stage in 14m36.2s, but that time is convincingly beaten by Ogier - who is 56.7s faster.
And Neuville is now quicker than Ogier at split three! The Belgian has nosed his Hyundai ahead by 0.4s.
And Tanak now comes back into the picture on stage! His split one time was nothing to write home about, but he's now just three seconds shy of Ogier's time at the second split.
Neuville doesn't appear to have been phased by that error. By the second split he's already reduced his deficit to Ogier to 5.9s.
Ogier is 27.4s to the good compared to Suninen at the second split, which is just shy of the halfway point on the stage.
Tanak and Latvala are also on the stage.
Neuville is the best part of 20s slower than Ogier through the first split as a result of that mistake.
Crash
Error from rally leader Neuville, who takes the wrong fork in the road at the start of his run!
Ogier - who is already 3.4s up on Suninen at the first split - and Neuville are both on the stage as well now.
Information
That probably means you're due a stage preview - here are the thoughts of Meeke's co-driver Seb Marshall:
SS6 Valdrome-Sigottier 1 20.04km (12.45 miles)
This stage is completely new for all of us. We haven’t even done bits of this one with the odd section of road here or there. It’s probably been in the route, but not for a long, long time. The first six or seven kilometres are really fast along a valley with some quick corners then you come to two narrow bridges and this – on the recce – was where the frosty, icy stuff started.
We climb up and over the col from here and then descend on the southern side where, obviously, it was much drier with much better grip. The stage heads down through a village and into a really fast section to the finish. We’ll see what Wednesday’s snow did to this one, but there was a four or five-kilometre section in the middle which was really tricky.
SS6 Valdrome-Sigottier 1 20.04km (12.45 miles)
This stage is completely new for all of us. We haven’t even done bits of this one with the odd section of road here or there. It’s probably been in the route, but not for a long, long time. The first six or seven kilometres are really fast along a valley with some quick corners then you come to two narrow bridges and this – on the recce – was where the frosty, icy stuff started.
We climb up and over the col from here and then descend on the southern side where, obviously, it was much drier with much better grip. The stage heads down through a village and into a really fast section to the finish. We’ll see what Wednesday’s snow did to this one, but there was a four or five-kilometre section in the middle which was really tricky.
Green flag
We do indeed get going on time this afternoon - Suninen is off on SS6.
Information
Updated tyre allocations for this afternoon are as follows:
*Ogier and Lappi have three studded tyres, one supersoft and two softs
*Toyota pair Tanak and Meeke also have three studs but have gone for three softs
*Suninen and Evans have two studs and four softs for M-Sport, as does Loeb
*Latvala, Tidemand, Neuville and Mikkelsen have four studs and two softs
*Ogier and Lappi have three studded tyres, one supersoft and two softs
*Toyota pair Tanak and Meeke also have three studs but have gone for three softs
*Suninen and Evans have two studs and four softs for M-Sport, as does Loeb
*Latvala, Tidemand, Neuville and Mikkelsen have four studs and two softs
There were also calls from teams to cancel the running of the same Valdrome-Sigottier test due to the same concerns over the volume of fans at the stage end, but for now there's nothing to suggest we won't go ahead as planned at 1:35pm UK time.
If you weren't with us earlier, SS3 - which was due to be the first stage of the day - was cancelled due to spectator safety fears. That affected a number of teams, most notably Toyota, which had opted for a bigger allocation of studded tyres in anticipation of icier conditions on SS3 than the other two stages.
Overnight leader Ott Tanak dropped to third as he struggled with his studs, and Makinen - who called for all three morning stages to be cancelled - has threatened to withdraw his drivers from media commitments this evening.
Overnight leader Ott Tanak dropped to third as he struggled with his studs, and Makinen - who called for all three morning stages to be cancelled - has threatened to withdraw his drivers from media commitments this evening.
Autosport
If we are delayed, that will give us a bit longer to discuss a few lunchtime developments - like Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen slamming officials over stage issues this morning 
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By: Matt Beer
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