Monte Carlo Rally 2019
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Tanak completes the stage 12.5s down on Neuville's pace, so the order overall now is:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +9.1s
3 Neuville +14.3s
With obviously Meeke and Loeb having the potential to mix that up later.
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +9.1s
3 Neuville +14.3s
With obviously Meeke and Loeb having the potential to mix that up later.
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"That's not enough, we were expecting more," says Neuville of his time gain. "It's OK, we tried. It was a bit risky but with the information I had it seemed like the right choice."
Stopwatch
Neuville completes the stage 11s faster than Ogier - which closes the gap between them to 5.2s. Now how will that compare to Tanak and Meeke?
Stopwatch
Ogier is at the stage finish, his time a 13m29.5s.
Tanak is seen scrabbling for grip on the onboard footage and it's showing on the times - at split three he's 6s down on Neuville.
Stopwatch
Next splits in, and Neuville is still fastest by only by 2.4s over Ogier.
Latvala is past split one, slowest so far, 6s down on Neuville there.
Latvala is past split one, slowest so far, 6s down on Neuville there.
Not so good for rally leader Tanak on this one so far - at split two he's third fastest of the three cars so far, 3.4s down on Neuville.
At the next split, Neuville is down to 2s faster than Ogier. And bear in mind Neuville has over half a minute to make up on rally leader Tanak to get properly back into contention.
Stopwatch
Neuville's theory was that his slick tyres would pay off on this stage even if they cost him on the snowier SS1. We're only one split in, but it's looking good - Neuville is 4s faster than Ogier at split one.
David Evans
Toyota begins this stage holding first and second places with Tanak and Meeke.
And earlier today the team's four-time Monte winner Makinen gave us some insight into how to win here.
“It’s about an easy car,” he said. “You must have a car which is easy to drive and forgiving. You can’t come here with a stiff racing car because the minute you have some ice you have no [subtlety] and nothing is progressive – you are going straight out of the road.
"You need a car which you can relax with. When you are relaxed then you are fast, but if you have race car then all of the time you are stressed.”
Makinen is also a fan of the cold weather, adding: “I would like it to stay cold now. Last year when it warmed up a bit we saw that the cars cutting the corners pulled so much mud out. If the ground is frozen then it stays more equal for everybody – it would be nice if we could have the equal race.
“But anyway, this isn’t real cold. When we flew here a couple of days ago, we came from Helsinki and it was the coldest place in Finland – it was minus 30. Driving to the airport, the ice was bad and there were cars off on the road all over the place!”
And earlier today the team's four-time Monte winner Makinen gave us some insight into how to win here.
“It’s about an easy car,” he said. “You must have a car which is easy to drive and forgiving. You can’t come here with a stiff racing car because the minute you have some ice you have no [subtlety] and nothing is progressive – you are going straight out of the road.
"You need a car which you can relax with. When you are relaxed then you are fast, but if you have race car then all of the time you are stressed.”
Makinen is also a fan of the cold weather, adding: “I would like it to stay cold now. Last year when it warmed up a bit we saw that the cars cutting the corners pulled so much mud out. If the ground is frozen then it stays more equal for everybody – it would be nice if we could have the equal race.
“But anyway, this isn’t real cold. When we flew here a couple of days ago, we came from Helsinki and it was the coldest place in Finland – it was minus 30. Driving to the airport, the ice was bad and there were cars off on the road all over the place!”
Information
We're onto SS2, with Ogier first on the road once more.
Here's Latvala's guide to what to expect here:
SS2 Avançon-Notre Dame du Laus (12.84 miles)
Sixty percent of this stage is open, like the first one. The difference here is that there are some tight hairpins and some corners on the top of the crest – these can be tricky in the night when there’s not so much definition from the lights. Yesterday on the recce the stage was 70% damp and 30% snow, but how much of that snow has melted?
On this stage we are climbing and descending a bit more than on the other one and the surface – where we are on the asphalt – is changing in the grip available.
Here's Latvala's guide to what to expect here:
SS2 Avançon-Notre Dame du Laus (12.84 miles)
Sixty percent of this stage is open, like the first one. The difference here is that there are some tight hairpins and some corners on the top of the crest – these can be tricky in the night when there’s not so much definition from the lights. Yesterday on the recce the stage was 70% damp and 30% snow, but how much of that snow has melted?
On this stage we are climbing and descending a bit more than on the other one and the surface – where we are on the asphalt – is changing in the grip available.
David Evans
While we’re on lights, we have interesting light news from M-Sport and Hyundai spotlight supplier… for the first time this year, both teams have active spotlights available.
Lazer Lamps’ managing director Ben Russell-Smith explained: “One of the issues with lights is that they are affected by the pitch of the car. When a car is braking, for example, you can lose some of the light because the lamps are pointing towards the floor. “What we have done this year is put in some additional bulbs which only come on when the brakes are applied or when the driver is on the throttle. Those bulbs are angled to keep a more even spread of light.”
For the more technically minded, Lazer Lights use LED bulbs which offer a colour rendering index (CRI – a measure of closeness to daylight, apparently) of 85. A bright sunny day has a CRI of 100. So, when Elfyn flicks his lights on tonight, the road ahead will be 85% daylight.
David Evans
M-Sport Ford team leader Elfyn Evans was late for last night’s Autosport interview – but he was late for a good reason.
“I was out getting the lights set-up,” he said. The Welshman then proceeded to give a fascinating insight into the importance of getting this side of night time rallying right.
He said: “We found a road not far from service a few years ago, so we go back there every time and just drive the car at slow speed. We’re looking for straights and varying widths of roads to make sure we’ve got the light spread across completely. We’ve got lights on the corners [where the fog lights would be on road cars] and these are pointing into the apex of the corner. The big four blocks are spreading the light straight ahead.
“This is actually a really important job. In an ideal world you’d do it at the factory at the start of the year, but the cars don’t always have the engine and the transmission in, so you have to do it on the event.
“We have adjustor on each set of lamps which we use to subtly change where the light’s going.”
“I was out getting the lights set-up,” he said. The Welshman then proceeded to give a fascinating insight into the importance of getting this side of night time rallying right.
He said: “We found a road not far from service a few years ago, so we go back there every time and just drive the car at slow speed. We’re looking for straights and varying widths of roads to make sure we’ve got the light spread across completely. We’ve got lights on the corners [where the fog lights would be on road cars] and these are pointing into the apex of the corner. The big four blocks are spreading the light straight ahead.
“This is actually a really important job. In an ideal world you’d do it at the factory at the start of the year, but the cars don’t always have the engine and the transmission in, so you have to do it on the event.
“We have adjustor on each set of lamps which we use to subtly change where the light’s going.”
Speaking of lights...
Rovanpera is moving again, but with battered lights on his Skoda - which won't be helpful in the dark, obviously.
Crash
Bad start for a WRC 2 Pro favourite - Skoda's teenage sensation Kalle Rovanpera is already off the road.
Information
SS1 summary:
* Tanak leads...
* ...but new team-mate Meeke makes a flying start to his Toyota renaissance and is a close second
* Neuville's slick tyre gamble goes OK - he's fifth
* Suninen is first to crash out
* Tanak leads...
* ...but new team-mate Meeke makes a flying start to his Toyota renaissance and is a close second
* Neuville's slick tyre gamble goes OK - he's fifth
* Suninen is first to crash out
Information
SS1 result:
1 Tanak
2 Meeke +5.0s
3 Ogier +10.6s
4 Loeb +23.2s
5 Neuville +26.8s
6 Evans +32.3s
7 Lappi +32.7s
8 Latvala +35.4s
9 Mikkelsen +37.0s
10 Tidemand +52.2s
1 Tanak
2 Meeke +5.0s
3 Ogier +10.6s
4 Loeb +23.2s
5 Neuville +26.8s
6 Evans +32.3s
7 Lappi +32.7s
8 Latvala +35.4s
9 Mikkelsen +37.0s
10 Tidemand +52.2s
M-Sport's newcomer Tidemand will be the final World Rally Car in, but his pace looks understandably cautious.
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"Honestly I was full of anticipation to drive again this morning, and more so tonight in competitive conditions," says Meeke. "I was waiting for that moment for so many months. The car just gives you confidence, and when you have that confidence you can drive.
"Very happy. Very, very happy."
And he says he backed off and took it carefully after seeing Suninen in the ditch too...
"Very happy. Very, very happy."
And he says he backed off and took it carefully after seeing Suninen in the ditch too...
Stopwatch
Meeke comes and back it a Toyota one-two, 5s slower than Tanak. That is a fantastic start to this era of his career.
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Here's Loeb: "We saw the road getting very bad behind. There are a lot of corners where I have absolutely nothing in the notes and it's full of snow because the cars in front cut. It was really tricky."
Stopwatch
Meeke is within 0.6s of pacesetter Tanak at his latest split.
Loeb completes the stage, 23.2s slower than Tanak - but third fastest. That'll do nicely for a returnee who's barely driven this car.
Loeb is slightly further down the road than Meeke, and he's now third fastest behind Tanak and Ogier.
Stopwatch
Latest split has Meeke second fastest to Tanak...
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Evans is next to chat at the stage finish:
"For us, we could've gone a bit harder I think. There was a few places I was kicking myself a little bit. But it's that tricky, sometimes you can't get it stopped and other times you can. But at least it's a clean start."
"For us, we could've gone a bit harder I think. There was a few places I was kicking myself a little bit. But it's that tricky, sometimes you can't get it stopped and other times you can. But at least it's a clean start."
Strong time for Meeke at split two, where there's little to choose between him, Tanak and Ogier.
Evans comes in fourth fastest, 32.3s off Tanak's pace and behind Ogier and Neuville too.
Behind the Welshman it's Lappi, Latvala then Mikkelsen.
Behind the Welshman it's Lappi, Latvala then Mikkelsen.
Still fourth fastest for Loeb at the latest split, behind Tanak, Ogier and Neuville.
It's looking unlikely that Suninen is going to be able to get back on the road at this rate. Still no movement from the beached Fiesta.
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Here's Mikkelsen's summary: "Before the finish, there was this sign that was like the finish so I started to back off but we still had a kilometre to go. Stupid mistake by me. And we were very cautious".
Meeke is second fastest behind Tanak at split one, but again that hasn't been a particularly accurate guide to how the rest of the stage will go so far.
Mikkelsen is in, and he's slowest so far - 1.6s down on Latvala ahead.
The M-Sport Ford's on-car camera shows spectators trying to push his stranded car back on course. The engine is still running.
Crash
Teemu Suninen is off the road!
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"It was changing conditions, in the beginning some damp places were frozen, so it was a bit tricky to try to judge the grip," explains Lappi.
Lappi is next in, 2.7s faster than Latvala so not slowest at least. But that's a muted start to his Citroen stint.
No huge problem for Latvala, he says he simply put too soft a set-up on the car and lacked confidence.
Further back, Loeb begins his first competitive stage in a Hyundai.
By: Matt Beer
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