Monte Carlo Rally
Live Text
Sort by
This is going well for VW, on the splits Mikkelsen is well on course to move ahead of Tanak, which should put him fourth depending on how much time Loeb loses.
Such was Loeb and Ogier's advantage, that sort of delay for the Citroen man isn't going to drop him much further than third, but let's see what the problem is when he comes through.
Breaking news
Loeb has lost 1m30s to Ogier on a late split!
Meeke continues to lose time on the stage, with the deficit to the leaders now over six minutes.
With the field now spreading out behind the World Rally Cars, he will probably still be in the overall top 20, but he will need to make sure he can get back to service on four road-legal wheels.
With the field now spreading out behind the World Rally Cars, he will probably still be in the overall top 20, but he will need to make sure he can get back to service on four road-legal wheels.
Loeb's first split on this stage is 4.1s off Ogier's.
Evans is now the slowest driver who hasn't crashed, 40s down on Ogier. He'll fall behind Ostberg, but with Meeke delayed, his overall position will remain seventh.
Crash
Reports from on the stage that Meeke is struggling through with damaged left rear suspension.
Neuville is slowest of those who haven't crashed, 27s down on Ogier and 5-7s off the Ostberg/Latvala/Mikkelsen group. The Hyundai man emphasises that he's focused firmly on finishing this weekend, and this is the furthest he's ever got onto a Monte Carlo Rally in his career.
He's currently hanging on to ninth place with a decent gap back to team-mate Sordo.
He's currently hanging on to ninth place with a decent gap back to team-mate Sordo.
Ostberg was actually in very good form on that stage - third quickest behind Ogier and Chardonnet (good run, Chardonnet!) so farm a second ahead of Latvala and Mikkelsen.
Quote
Here's Ostberg:
"It's been a really enjoyable day," says Ostberg, who is possibly fibbing. "Unfortunately there hasn't been much sun on the stages - some fog, some snow, some ice... I'm looking forward to sleeping a full night."
He adds that he enjoys the right-handers only due his car's understeer.
"It's been a really enjoyable day," says Ostberg, who is possibly fibbing. "Unfortunately there hasn't been much sun on the stages - some fog, some snow, some ice... I'm looking forward to sleeping a full night."
He adds that he enjoys the right-handers only due his car's understeer.
Breaking news
Meeke is now moving at full speed on the tracking system, but he's dropped four minutes.
Quote
While Kubica's damage took centre stage, Latvala and Mikkelsen come to the finish, both 21s off Ogier's pace.
"A clean stage for us - no risks. There's a lot of mud everywhere, so there was a lot of sideways driving. Quite fun," reports Mikkelsen.
He's on course to move up to fourth after Meeke's problem on this stage. Still awaiting more news on the Citroen.
"A clean stage for us - no risks. There's a lot of mud everywhere, so there was a lot of sideways driving. Quite fun," reports Mikkelsen.
He's on course to move up to fourth after Meeke's problem on this stage. Still awaiting more news on the Citroen.
Crash
Turns out Kubica's managed two separate shunts on that one:
"We had a massive moment at high speed. We went off, we were stuck and it was thanks to spectators that we could come back.
"Then at a junction, I was sideways and tried to recover, but I slid on the snow, hit a tree and had to drive 10kms with a puncture."
"We had a massive moment at high speed. We went off, we were stuck and it was thanks to spectators that we could come back.
"Then at a junction, I was sideways and tried to recover, but I slid on the snow, hit a tree and had to drive 10kms with a puncture."
Crash
Kubica now completes the stage with damage to his Ford's right front. That explains the roughly three-minute time loss.
Quote
Turns out VW hadn't let Ogier know he'd passed Loeb for the lead - the first he learns of it is when he's quizzed by the stage-end interviewers.
"I had no idea! We just need to wait for this one and then we'll see."
He still seems unsure about whether his tyre choice was right for that stage.
"I had no idea! We just need to wait for this one and then we'll see."
He still seems unsure about whether his tyre choice was right for that stage.
Ogier finishes the stage to big cheers from his assembled local fans.
Breaking news
Problem for Meeke - the tracking system has the Citroen stopped on the stage around halfway through.
Ogier has also had to pass the delayed Kubica on that stage, although it didn't seem to cost him any time.
Stopwatch
Ogier remains the pacesetter at the middle split, 5.6s up on Latvala and 6.1s faster than the other VW of Mikkelsen.
Banner
This stage takes place in the area where Ogier grew up, and there's a very decent turnout of his fans.
Naturally there's a lot of support for Loeb this weekend, but the other Seb has his followers too - although with their similar names you have to squint at the years and number of titles on the banners surrounding the stages to work out which French hero they're cheering for.
Stopwatch
Ogier is the early pacesetter on SS8, he's 3.1s up on Latvala at split one.
Kubica's time loss to Ogier is just over two and a half minutes. That doesn't matter too much when he dropped 10 minutes last night anyway.
Kubica's time loss to Ogier is just over two and a half minutes. That doesn't matter too much when he dropped 10 minutes last night anyway.
Breaking news
But trouble immediately on SS8 for our SS7 winner Kubica - he's stopped early on the stage and lost a couple of minutes. The RK Ford is now running again.
Breaking news
SS7 summary:
* Ogier takes the rally lead from Loeb by 8s as Loeb makes a mistake at a hairpin and struggles with mud levels
* Meeke edges clear of Tanak for fourth
* Kubica sets the overall pace again
* Ogier takes the rally lead from Loeb by 8s as Loeb makes a mistake at a hairpin and struggles with mud levels
* Meeke edges clear of Tanak for fourth
* Kubica sets the overall pace again
Checkered flag
SS7 results:
Stage times:
1 Kubica 14m36.1s
2 Ogier +1.3s
3 Meeke +13.4s
4 Sordo +13.7s
5 Loeb +15.9s
6 Tanak +18.8s
7 Latvala +18.9s
8 Mikkelsen +19.3s
9 Ostberg +20.4s
10 Neuville +23.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Loeb +8.0s
3 Latvala +1m25.2s
4 Meeke +2m02.3s
5 Tanak +2m08.4s
6 Mikkelsen +2m13.1s
7 Evans +2m35.9s
8 Ostberg +2m43.8s
9 Neuville +3m03.0s
10 Sordo +3m26.9s
Stage times:
1 Kubica 14m36.1s
2 Ogier +1.3s
3 Meeke +13.4s
4 Sordo +13.7s
5 Loeb +15.9s
6 Tanak +18.8s
7 Latvala +18.9s
8 Mikkelsen +19.3s
9 Ostberg +20.4s
10 Neuville +23.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Loeb +8.0s
3 Latvala +1m25.2s
4 Meeke +2m02.3s
5 Tanak +2m08.4s
6 Mikkelsen +2m13.1s
7 Evans +2m35.9s
8 Ostberg +2m43.8s
9 Neuville +3m03.0s
10 Sordo +3m26.9s
Lights out
And the battle continues, as Chardonnet and Kubica are already on SS8 and Ogier is about to start it.
Quote
Loeb is 14.6s slower on the stage so he's gone from 6s ahead of Ogier to 8s behind. He confirms there was a mistake at a hairpin, but thinks it's mainly conditions changing that's affecting him.
"I thought I had a good stage but I lost some seconds at a hairpin. I guess it's getting slippery, but I pushed really hard."
"I thought I had a good stage but I lost some seconds at a hairpin. I guess it's getting slippery, but I pushed really hard."
Breaking news
Loeb finishes the stage and he's lost the lead to Ogier - with TV crews reporting a spin on the stage for the nine-time champion.
Tanak comes through having set what he thinks is a "comfortable" pace. Looking at the splits, he may have lost fifth overall to Mikkelsen, but we're awaiting a final time to be sure - and we're not trusting our maths anymore, it's let us down too much today.
Loeb is now 6.7s slower than Ogier the final split, and the gap between them had been 6.6s at the stage start...
Crash
Slowest time so far, by quite a way, for Henning Solberg as he finishes the stage over a minute down on Kubica. Turns out Solberg went straight on off the road at one point and had to reverse. He's currently 12th overall and will stay there.
Loeb's overall lead is now looking vulnerable - he's now 5s slower than Ogier on the splits and the gap between them at the start of the stage was 6s.
That time reduces the gap between the two Hyundais of Neuville and Sordo from 34s to 24s too.
On the last stage, Prokop took a big chunk of time out of Sordo in the battle for 10th, more than halving the gap between the works Hyundai and private Ford.
The tables turn this time around, though, with Prokop's winter tyres less happy and Sordo flying through with the fourth-fastest time. The Spaniard is on four slicks and very happy with that.
The tables turn this time around, though, with Prokop's winter tyres less happy and Sordo flying through with the fourth-fastest time. The Spaniard is on four slicks and very happy with that.
Evans loses more time, admitting that two studded tyres and two snow tyres wasn't right for a stage that turned out to be mostly mud. That's going to make him vulnerable to eighth-placed Ostberg.
A turnaround at split two, Loeb is now 1.4s slower than Ogier.
Meeke has slotted in with the third-fastest time, 13s off Kubica but 6s clear of the closely-matched Latvala/Mikkelsen/Ostberg pack.
Meeke says he hasn't done much testing with "crossover tyres" (i.e. two tyres of different types) so this is all a learning experience. It's going well, that time should consolidate his fourth place.
Meeke says he hasn't done much testing with "crossover tyres" (i.e. two tyres of different types) so this is all a learning experience. It's going well, that time should consolidate his fourth place.
Stopwatch
Opening split in from Loeb, and again he's quicker than Ogier, this time by 2.2s.
Stopwatch
That's better, stage order so far:
1 Kubica
2 Ogier
3 Latvala
4 Mikkelsen
5 Ostberg
6 Neuville
1 Kubica
2 Ogier
3 Latvala
4 Mikkelsen
5 Ostberg
6 Neuville
Stopwatch
This morning the WRC's timing system was going a really good impression of being a fully-functioning timing system. That obviously made it a bit giddy, as it's slightly harder to stay on top of what the drivers are clocking this afternoon. Ostberg and Neuville are safely through, though, and Kubica remains our SS7 pacesetter.
We've reached the point in a rally where Ostberg's stage-end comments get a bit bonkers as he's not making great strides up the leaderboard. He praises the spectators for still being out there even when it's cold, and reckons he should be faster in those temperatures as he's Norwegian.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Scott Mitchell
Published:
Page:
