Monte Carlo Rally
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Here are the big things to look out for this afternoon:
* As at the start of the day, Ogier just has to keep it smooth. But he's got to be a bit more wary, as team-mate Latvala took a chunk of time out of him early. That probably won't be repeated in the afternoon to the same degree, but it's enough to keep a bit of intrigue ging at the front
* The only VW driver who has room to breathe is Mikkelsen, who is a very comfortable third - especially after M-Sport's Tanak crashed on SS10
* That off for Tanak has left Ostberg, Evans and the Hyundais of Sordo and Neuville sparring over fourth. The i20s lack pack up here and are a minute adrift, but Evans has shown good pace at the times - and is just a few seconds behind Citroen's lone frontrunner
* It'll still be worth keeping an eye on Loeb's progress. He's already on the cusp of the points after the drama on SS10 and is 30 seconds off of ninth
* And Kubica's always fun, especially when he puts on as stunning a performance as he did this morning
There's still a lot to be excited about, even if the Ogier/Loeb fight is but a distant memory.
As you'll see just below, the the afternoon loop begins with a re-run of the 12-mile run from Prunieres to Embrun.
Here's what our man in the service park, DAVID EVANS, has to say of SS11:
"The Prunieres-Embrun stage has been chopped down slightly from the last time it was used in 2003, running to 12.38 as opposed to 17.62 miles.
"It might be shorter, but it’s still a fabulous stretch of south-facing road, where, if it’s dry, the grip will be high and the cars quick.
"Especially in the final downhill section towards the finish, which is narrow, but still devilishly rapid."
Here's what our man in the service park, DAVID EVANS, has to say of SS11:
"The Prunieres-Embrun stage has been chopped down slightly from the last time it was used in 2003, running to 12.38 as opposed to 17.62 miles.
"It might be shorter, but it’s still a fabulous stretch of south-facing road, where, if it’s dry, the grip will be high and the cars quick.
"Especially in the final downhill section towards the finish, which is narrow, but still devilishly rapid."
Hello, and welcome back to the second half of Saturday's leg of the Monte Carlo Rally.
The opening round of the World Rally Championship has given us plenty of thrills so far, and who's to say that won't continue in this afternoon's brace of stages?
The opening round of the World Rally Championship has given us plenty of thrills so far, and who's to say that won't continue in this afternoon's brace of stages?
Time for a quick service break, but don't be away too long as we'll resume coverage at about 12.45pm UK time.
Two more stages this afternoon: another attempt to run the 12-mile Prunieres - Embrun that had to be cancelled this morning, then the 23 miles of Sisteron - Thoard to finish the day.
See you back here for all of that.
Two more stages this afternoon: another attempt to run the 12-mile Prunieres - Embrun that had to be cancelled this morning, then the 23 miles of Sisteron - Thoard to finish the day.
See you back here for all of that.
Breaking news
SS10 summary:
* Ogier goes very slowly on the ice and lets his lead drop to 1m04s, but isn't too fussed
* Kubica sets an incredible stage-winning pace, half a minute clear of everyone else, and nearly two minutes faster than Ogier
* Loeb is third quickest and up to 12th overall, within 30s of ninth place
* Tanak crashes from fourth place and loses 20 minutes
* Evans closes to within 7s of Ostberg for fourth
* Sordo takes sixth place from Neuville
* Ogier goes very slowly on the ice and lets his lead drop to 1m04s, but isn't too fussed
* Kubica sets an incredible stage-winning pace, half a minute clear of everyone else, and nearly two minutes faster than Ogier
* Loeb is third quickest and up to 12th overall, within 30s of ninth place
* Tanak crashes from fourth place and loses 20 minutes
* Evans closes to within 7s of Ostberg for fourth
* Sordo takes sixth place from Neuville
Crash
Tanak has made it to the stage finish having lost nearly 20 minutes. He says he lost it under braking on a patch of gravel and went off the road, and is hugely grateful to the spectators who helped him back on.
There's not too much damage to the M-Sport Ford so continuing shouldn't be a problem, but he's going to be somewhere near 30th overall.
There's not too much damage to the M-Sport Ford so continuing shouldn't be a problem, but he's going to be somewhere near 30th overall.
Checkered flag
SS10 results:
Stage times:
1 Kubica 30m41.9s
2 Meeke +33.4s
3 Loeb +41.2s
4 Mikkelsen +1m04.1s
5 Sordo +1m08.8s
6 Latvala+1m09.0s
7 Evans +1m10.2s
8 Ostberg +1m14.7s
9 Ogier +1m49.5s
10 Neuville +1m58.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1m04.9s
3 Mikkelsen +1m49.4s
4 Ostberg +2m28.1s
5 Evans +2m35.9s
6 Sordo +3m22.3s
7 Neuville +3m38.5s
8 Prokop +6m22.5s
9 Solberg +8m31.0s
10 Lefebvre +8m49.6s
11 Koci +8m56.3s
12 Loeb +8m59.7s
Stage times:
1 Kubica 30m41.9s
2 Meeke +33.4s
3 Loeb +41.2s
4 Mikkelsen +1m04.1s
5 Sordo +1m08.8s
6 Latvala+1m09.0s
7 Evans +1m10.2s
8 Ostberg +1m14.7s
9 Ogier +1m49.5s
10 Neuville +1m58.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1m04.9s
3 Mikkelsen +1m49.4s
4 Ostberg +2m28.1s
5 Evans +2m35.9s
6 Sordo +3m22.3s
7 Neuville +3m38.5s
8 Prokop +6m22.5s
9 Solberg +8m31.0s
10 Lefebvre +8m49.6s
11 Koci +8m56.3s
12 Loeb +8m59.7s
This WRC2 battle is shaping up to be quite a thriller too - Citroen protege Stephane Lefebvre leads young Estonian Martin Koci by just 6.7s and they're now 10th and 11th overall amid the WRC attrition.
With the WRC2 runners coming through now, we can see that Loeb is now 12th overall, within 10s of 10th place and 30s of ninth place.
Tanak is on the move again after a lot of help from spectators. He should make it to the finish, but he's dropped 15 minutes.
So now we're waiting to see if Tanak manages to get going again, and to see the WRC2 cars' pace to judge where Loeb's going to end up.
Loeb took 2m40s out of Prokop there, and he's now 2m37s behind the eighth-placed (after Tanak's exit) Ford overall.
In fact with Bertelli and Tanak off, there's a chance Loeb might actually be straight back into the top 10 on this stage depending on the pace the WRC2 cars manage.
In fact with Bertelli and Tanak off, there's a chance Loeb might actually be straight back into the top 10 on this stage depending on the pace the WRC2 cars manage.
Prokop's dramatic lack of pace on that stage was due to his confidence plunging in the conditions.
He's not going to lose any places yet as Solberg's time won't be too different, but it does make it much more likely that Loeb will be zooming past him before today is done.
He's not going to lose any places yet as Solberg's time won't be too different, but it does make it much more likely that Loeb will be zooming past him before today is done.
Despite that excursion, we think Sordo will have taken seventh place from Neuville on that stage - and with Tanak off, it's going to become sixth.
Crash
Sordo admits he had a minor off when distracted by catching up with Prokop. But overall he's enjoying himself.
Crash
Spectators are reported to be trying to help Tanak get going again.
Sordo's pace was such that he caught and passed Prokop on the road near the end of that stage.
Stopwatch
Stage order so far:
1 Kubica
2 Meeke
3 Loeb
4 Mikkelsen
5 Latvala
6 Evans
7 Ostberg
8 Ogier
9 Neuville
1 Kubica
2 Meeke
3 Loeb
4 Mikkelsen
5 Latvala
6 Evans
7 Ostberg
8 Ogier
9 Neuville
Crash
Reports at the stage end that our fourth-placed man Tanak has gone off the road.
Breaking news
Bertelli has stopped on the stage. That's another place gained for Loeb.
Ostberg and Evans are through safely on a similar pace, which will keep him solidly in fifth and sixth.
Neuville is losing a lot to time to those ahead and there won't be a lot of his advantage over Sordo left. The Belgian reaches the stage finish and says he had to be very careful on soft slicks.
Neuville is losing a lot to time to those ahead and there won't be a lot of his advantage over Sordo left. The Belgian reaches the stage finish and says he had to be very careful on soft slicks.
We're not paying too much attention to the other cars Loeb has to overhaul today, as WRC2 trio Stephane Lefebvre, Martin Koci and Armin Kremer just ahead of him in the standings will be swiftly passed as their machines are lower-spec.
Then it's WRC2-to-WRC graduate Lorenzo Bertelli in 11th. He's three minutes ahead of Loeb at the moment but already lost 45s of that at split one of this stage.
Then it's WRC2-to-WRC graduate Lorenzo Bertelli in 11th. He's three minutes ahead of Loeb at the moment but already lost 45s of that at split one of this stage.
At split five, Loeb is 1m40s quicker than Prokop, and Solberg (who's 10th) is on a similar pace to Prokop so far.
Should we be looking further ahead for Loeb? Probably not, next target after Prokop would be Sordo in eighth, and the Hyundai is basically on the same pace as the Citroen.
So our bet remains a final finish of ninth for Loeb, further attrition permitting.
Should we be looking further ahead for Loeb? Probably not, next target after Prokop would be Sordo in eighth, and the Hyundai is basically on the same pace as the Citroen.
So our bet remains a final finish of ninth for Loeb, further attrition permitting.
Mikkelsen's third place is now looking more secure, Tanak's middle splits are slower and he's dropping over 20s to the VW.
"We went with no risks. We took no risks in the icy parts," says Mikkelsen of his run.
"We went with no risks. We took no risks in the icy parts," says Mikkelsen of his run.
Loeb's mission update: he's going to take over a minute out of the gap to Prokop on this stage.
Why are we going on about Loeb vs Prokop? Because we reckon the Czech privateer, who's currently ninth, is the highest-placed realistic target for Loeb in his comeback charge from 15th. They started the day three and a half minutes apart.
Why are we going on about Loeb vs Prokop? Because we reckon the Czech privateer, who's currently ninth, is the highest-placed realistic target for Loeb in his comeback charge from 15th. They started the day three and a half minutes apart.
Quote
Latvala is amazed he gained so much on Ogier:
"I don't understand it. I spun at the beginning of the stage and lost 10-15s. There was a lot of gravel on the road.
"I was afraid I was going to lose 50s or a minute on this stage."
"I don't understand it. I spun at the beginning of the stage and lost 10-15s. There was a lot of gravel on the road.
"I was afraid I was going to lose 50s or a minute on this stage."
Latvala is in, and he's taken 40s out of Ogier on that stage, but he's still over a minute adrift (and he was over a minute slower than the amazing Kubica there).
Quote
Ogier confirms he's just taking it very easy with such a handy lead:
"Everything is OK. We were very safe with the tyre choice. I was really slow on every icy part. I have nothing to play for. It was fully safety for me.
"I don't know what Jari's rhythm is, maybe I will lose it."
Informed that Latvala is half a minute quicker, he replies: "No problem."
"Everything is OK. We were very safe with the tyre choice. I was really slow on every icy part. I have nothing to play for. It was fully safety for me.
"I don't know what Jari's rhythm is, maybe I will lose it."
Informed that Latvala is half a minute quicker, he replies: "No problem."
At the splits available so far, Ogier is still losing over half a minute to Latvala and Mikkelsen.
Ogier comes through the finish, and he's a massive 1m50s slower than pacesetter Kubica.
Loeb reported he was simply cautious on the ice, and that his soft tyres would maybe the wrong choice for the dry parts, where super-softs would've been better.
Loeb reported he was simply cautious on the ice, and that his soft tyres would maybe the wrong choice for the dry parts, where super-softs would've been better.
Neuville is set to fall further away from the top six group on this stage, he's between 20-40s slower than the cars ahead of him in the results at the moment, and 10s down on Hyundai team-mate Sordo, who's chasing him for seventh.
Tanak is nibbling a bit of time out of Mikkelsen in their battle for third, but not a lot - just a second or so of their 10s gap.
Loeb is in, and he's 7.8s slower than Meeke so slowest so far. That time still compares well to the leaders, and puts him on course to take a big chunk out of the gap to the top-10 tail-enders, though.
There's Meeke's time - he's 34.4s slower than Kubica. And he's probably going to be second-fastest at the present rate!
Meeke is in, yet to get his complete stage time. He reports that there was much more ice than he was expecting. He was on four soft slicks.
Ogier's latest split time is 1m20s slower than Kubica's pace and 31s down on Latvala.
Crash
Kubica also confirms that Chardonnet has crashed. He reckons the Frenchman lost it under braking on ice at a slow hairpin. The crew are OK.
Quote
What were you doing in there, Kubica is asked...
"Nothing, just driving," he says. "We have good tyres, and the conditions were very, very tricky. Our gravel crew did a very good job.
"It's not easy, because when you see ice you don't know how long it will last.
"It was a very difficult stage, but I think I drove it nicely."
Yes, you did.
"Nothing, just driving," he says. "We have good tyres, and the conditions were very, very tricky. Our gravel crew did a very good job.
"It's not easy, because when you see ice you don't know how long it will last.
"It was a very difficult stage, but I think I drove it nicely."
Yes, you did.
Kubica reaches the stage end, he's beaming, and he's on four super-soft Pirellis.
Latvala is half a minute quicker than leader Ogier at split four. Ogier has a 1m45s cushion to sit on, but that's a lot to lose.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Scott Mitchell
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