Monte Carlo Rally 2019
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We're preparing for SS4 - as we always intended to be - right now, but are doing so without a first stage of the day on the board. If you weren't with us earlier, that's because organisers took the decision at a bit before 8:20am to cancel SS3 as too many fans were in unsafe positions on the stage.
Welcome back to Autosport Live - shall we try that again?
As we've got a bit of a break before SS4 starts at 9:14am UK time, we're going to take a bit of a pause - join us again in half an hour or so though as we (hopefully) build up to the start of Friday's stages.
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Crash
We're going to interject there before running through other allocations - reports coming in suggest the stage has been cancelled.
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Sebastien Loeb was boldest with his selection yesterday evening, taking a bigger allocation of studded tyres and dropping down the order on the second, drier stage, and is again the outlier this morning - taking two studded tyres, two softs and two supersofts.
Fear not, though, for we have plenty to bring you up to speed on - including the all important tyre choices.
There's a slight delay to the start here while organisers assess safety risks, but we should be up and running shortly.
David Evans
Day two of the 2019 season has dawned bright and clear with no fresh snowfall on the mountains surrounding Gap. No further snowfall is predicted for the day ahead, but then again none was predicted on Wednesday…
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Speaking of Meeke, it was a good start to his Toyota spell for the Northern Irishman - even if he ended the first two stages in seventh in the order. Meeke had been second to team-mate Tanak on the opener, only to suffer a puncture on SS2 and drop down the order.
But that wasn't enough to dampen his spirits, with Meeke saying on Thursday evening: "I’m enjoying the Toyota so let’s see what the next three days bring us."
But that wasn't enough to dampen his spirits, with Meeke saying on Thursday evening: "I’m enjoying the Toyota so let’s see what the next three days bring us."
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We're five minutes away from the start of this morning's action, so let's check with Seb Marshall - Toyota newcomer Kris Meeke's co-driver - for our first stage guide of the day.
SS3 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 once the ice note crews go through, but it was a four or five-kilometre section in the middle which was really tricky.
SS3 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 once the ice note crews go through, but it was a four or five-kilometre section in the middle which was really tricky.
Autosport
Kicking off 2019 in the form he finished last season in, it's Toyota's Ott Tanak who holds an early lead - from regular frontrunning rivals Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. 
We say first day proper, but the 2019 WRC season is now well underway after last night's pair of very different 12-mile stages.
Good morning, and welcome back to Autosport Live for coverage of the first day proper of the Monte Carlo Rally.
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Here's the full report from tonight's action - we'll be back for more of this intrigue and snowy madness from 8am UK time tomorrow: 
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SS2 summary:
* Neuville fastest - but it's not enough to satisfy him and he's still only third
* Meeke falls from second to seventh with a puncture
* Loeb falls from fourth to eighth with wrong tyre choice
* Tanak maintains lead ahead of Ogier
* Neuville fastest - but it's not enough to satisfy him and he's still only third
* Meeke falls from second to seventh with a puncture
* Loeb falls from fourth to eighth with wrong tyre choice
* Tanak maintains lead ahead of Ogier
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SS2 results:
Stage times:
1 Neuville 13m18.5s
2 Ogier +11.0s
3 Tanak +12.5s
4 Latvala +23.5s
5 Lappi +25.0s
6 Evans +28.4s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +9.1s
3 Neuville +14.3s
4 Lappi +45.2s
5 Latvala +46.4s
6 Evans +48.2s
7 Meeke +53.8s
8 Loeb +55.2s
9 Mikkelsen +59.6s
10 Tidemand +1m41.1s
Stage times:
1 Neuville 13m18.5s
2 Ogier +11.0s
3 Tanak +12.5s
4 Latvala +23.5s
5 Lappi +25.0s
6 Evans +28.4s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +9.1s
3 Neuville +14.3s
4 Lappi +45.2s
5 Latvala +46.4s
6 Evans +48.2s
7 Meeke +53.8s
8 Loeb +55.2s
9 Mikkelsen +59.6s
10 Tidemand +1m41.1s
Tidemand comes in slowest of the WRC pack - a tenth down on punctured Meeke!
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"No idea," says Meeke when asked how that happened. "I had to drive 7 or 9km with a puncture. It's OK, there's a long way to go."
Crash
It's a right-front puncture for Meeke, he has a tyre off the rim.
New co-driver Seb Marshall quickly reassures Meeke that "there's a load way to go".
Crash
There's a horrible noise coming from Meeke's car, as he crosses the stage finish a full minute off the pace and down from second to seventh!
Big time loss for Meeke ahead of the penultimate split - he's suddenly nearly 40s off the pace...
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"With the studded tyres, we did not have the mixed choice, it was not a good choice," says Loeb. "I did what I could but it was difficult to drive in these conditions. But the feeling is starting to come."
Loeb is in, 44.5s off the pace and now 55.2s off current leader Tanak. That drops him to what will probably be eighth overall, between Evans and Mikkelsen.
Now Loeb's deficit to Neuville's time is up to nearly 40s as he goes into the final miles.
Loeb was a solid 'best of the rest' in fourth going onto this stage, but he'll drop back at least into this tight Lappi/Latvala/Evans pack here.
But Meeke's faring better than Loeb, who is 32s off the pace at his latest split.
Meeke is fourth fastest on the splits in the middle of the stage, losing around 4s to leader Tanak and currently on course to lose second place to Ogier.
Evans is sixth fastest on the stage, only a few seconds slower than Latvala and Lappi but it's enough to drop behind them both overall.
Loeb is in the same situation with an all-winter tyre choice, and he's still slowest so far at split two - now 15.7s off pacesetter Neuville.
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"Completely dry, and I had four winter tyres," says Mikkelsen. "I was just sliding everywhere and just did the best I could."
He rues not following the example of those who cross-matched winter and slick tyres, but says he lacks experience of the car in that spec so preferred not to take the risk.
He rues not following the example of those who cross-matched winter and slick tyres, but says he lacks experience of the car in that spec so preferred not to take the risk.
Mikkelsen is a massive 35.1s off his stage-pacesetting Hyundai team-mate Neuville, so falls to the back of the pack overall - 59.6s from leader Tanak and 13.2s behind Latvala just ahead.
Mikkelsen is approaching the stage end and looks like he'll be slowest so far by quite a way.
Lappi tells stage-end reporters that he left a bit too much on the table tonight and needs to push harder and not worry so much about saving the studs on the tyres.
Not a good start to SS2 for Loeb after his promising beginning - he's slowest at split one so far, 10.8s down on pacesetter Neuville.
Lappi is slowest of those to complete the stage so far, 25s off the pace. That means ex-team-mate Latvala is now within 1.2s of his tail for the top-six-ish position they're fighting for.
The Lappi, Mikkelsen, Evans group is on the stage and setting times that will keep them in a 'best of the rest' battle, but the real focus is on the next two cars taking the start - Loeb and Meeke.
Another slow time from Latvala, he drops a further 23.5s to pacesetter Neuville so is now 46.4s from his rally-leading team-mate Tanak after just two stages.
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Tanak says it was "a clean run, no worries at all".
By: Matt Beer
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