Rally GB 2017
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Title chaser Neuville is onto the stage, and second quickest to team-mate Mikkelsen at split one.
Meeke completes the stage 2.1s slower than Mikkelsen, which brings the gap from fifth to seventh down to 11.5s.
Mikkelsen hints he might try to get his jump-start penalty overturned, saying "we'll look into that".
Meeke's car didn't trigger the mid-stage split, but Latvala has lost 2.8s to Mikkelsen there.
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Stopwatch
Mikkelsen's stage time makes him fastest so far by 1.3s over Hanninen. Now awaiting splits from Meeke and Latvala to see what inroads Mikkelsen has made on fifth and sixth.
Stopwatch
It's been a half-great, half-annoying morning for Mikkelsen so far - third and second fastest on the two stages but all that good work undone by a 10s jump-start penalty.
He's resumed the chase of Latvala for sixth by setting the fastest split one time so far.
He's resumed the chase of Latvala for sixth by setting the fastest split one time so far.
Paddon lost eighth to Sordo on the last stage when he picked up a puncture, and the gap grows a tiny bit here - Sordo is three tenths faster and now 2.6s ahead of his team-mate.
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And his pessimism is well-founded - Lappi loses 4s to Hanninen and the gap is back up to 10.4s in their fight for 10th.
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Lappi doesn't sound like he'll have made any progress towards Hanninen:
"I was too slow. The grip was much higher than on the last one. I had too many moments on the last one so again had no confidence. Just way, way too slow."
"I was too slow. The grip was much higher than on the last one. I had too many moments on the last one so again had no confidence. Just way, way too slow."
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Ostberg is in. He's a distant 12th and was concerned that his differential had a mind of its own earlier. He's been convinced that there was an electrical problem, and reckons he discovered it when he accidentally switched the engine off while trying to adjust the headlights earlier.
"At least six times the centre diff opened by itself and every time I went off. At least the other 100 corners were OK. But at least I now know I can still drive a car. We now know there's a problem and we can solve it."
"At least six times the centre diff opened by itself and every time I went off. At least the other 100 corners were OK. But at least I now know I can still drive a car. We now know there's a problem and we can solve it."
The first battle to watch is for 10th, between Toyota team-mates Hanninen and Lappi.
Lappi felt the set-up changes he'd made for the previous stage were a big mistake, and he ended up losing a bit of time to Hanninen having begun the morning by gaining on him.
Expect Lappi to have had a further tinker before this one. He's currently 6.4s behind Hanninen.
Lappi felt the set-up changes he'd made for the previous stage were a big mistake, and he ended up losing a bit of time to Hanninen having begun the morning by gaining on him.
Expect Lappi to have had a further tinker before this one. He's currently 6.4s behind Hanninen.
Green flag
Al-Qassimi, Ostberg and Lappi are on the stage so far.
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SS10 Gartheiniog (7.83 miles)
Elfyn's favourite. Even though there are a couple of really tight hairpins in the stage, this one still flows very nicely.
And there's good news for this year: the organisers have extended the stage at the start by about 800 metres, which means the cars will come charging up the road really into a tricky right-left sequence with some great spectating on offer there (from car park H).
Elfyn's favourite. Even though there are a couple of really tight hairpins in the stage, this one still flows very nicely.
And there's good news for this year: the organisers have extended the stage at the start by about 800 metres, which means the cars will come charging up the road really into a tricky right-left sequence with some great spectating on offer there (from car park H).
Anyway, putting the calculator down - Gartheiniog time.
Tanak and Neuville need to outscore Ogier by eight points here to postpone the coronation.
Second for Tanak with Ogier fourth is only a six-point gain, but there are another five available on the powerstage finale.
If it comes down to countback, Neuville looks good as he already has three wins to Ogier and Tanak's two each - and you'd assume Neuville needs a fourth (and maybe fifth) rally win to turn this around.
On further-back-countback, Ogier has the edge over Tanak as he has three second places to his team-mate's one.
Second for Tanak with Ogier fourth is only a six-point gain, but there are another five available on the powerstage finale.
If it comes down to countback, Neuville looks good as he already has three wins to Ogier and Tanak's two each - and you'd assume Neuville needs a fourth (and maybe fifth) rally win to turn this around.
On further-back-countback, Ogier has the edge over Tanak as he has three second places to his team-mate's one.
If Ogier drops to fourth, the chance of the title battle rolling on to Australia increases, as does the intrigue for the powerstage tomorrow.
Nearly time for the quickfire back-to-back of Gartheiniog and Dyfi. Will Neuville take third from Ogier here?
But Al-Rahji was unhurt and pretty chilled
Here's how it ended up
There's a class for the old-spec World Rally Cars this year but it hasn't been the best supported. Jourdan Serderidis is still going in an old-style Citroen DS3 and British privateer Charles Payne is running an old-spec Ford Fiesta, but Yazeed Al-Rahji is out of action after doing this - right in front of our photographers from Sutton Images - on Sweet Lamb yesterday.
A quick pause now while the cars are driving to Dyfnant, which begins in half an hour.
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SS9 summary:
* Evans pulls 36s clear with yet another stage win
* Neuville now within 2.6s of Ogier for third
* Mikkelsen gets within 0.9s of Latvala for sixth then gets a jump-start penalty and falls back again
* Puncture for Paddon allows Sordo back into eighth
* Evans pulls 36s clear with yet another stage win
* Neuville now within 2.6s of Ogier for third
* Mikkelsen gets within 0.9s of Latvala for sixth then gets a jump-start penalty and falls back again
* Puncture for Paddon allows Sordo back into eighth
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SS9 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 10m15.5s
2 Mikkelsen +3.5s
3 Neuville +5.8s
4 Tanak +6.1s
5 Meeke +8.7s
6 Hanninen +9.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Tanak +36.1s
3 Ogier +42.8s
4 Neuville +45.4s
5 Meeke +56.7s
6 Latvala +59.4s
7 Mikkelsen +1m10.3s
8 Sordo +1m44.6s
9 Paddon +1m46.9s
10 Hanninen +2m06.7s
11 Lappi +2m13.1s
12 Ostberg +2m33.4s
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 10m15.5s
2 Mikkelsen +3.5s
3 Neuville +5.8s
4 Tanak +6.1s
5 Meeke +8.7s
6 Hanninen +9.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Tanak +36.1s
3 Ogier +42.8s
4 Neuville +45.4s
5 Meeke +56.7s
6 Latvala +59.4s
7 Mikkelsen +1m10.3s
8 Sordo +1m44.6s
9 Paddon +1m46.9s
10 Hanninen +2m06.7s
11 Lappi +2m13.1s
12 Ostberg +2m33.4s
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"The morning's gone OK, but this one was exceptionally difficult," says Evans. "I found it difficult to find the grip, but the car feels good."
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Another stage win for the unstoppable Evans - 3.5s faster than Mikkelsen and now leading by 36.1s over Tanak.
The final miles of Tanak's stage aren't so good and he drops three tenths to Neuville, though he does pull further away from Ogier.
Tanak is now 6.7s ahead of Ogier and 9.3s in front of Neuville.
Tanak is now 6.7s ahead of Ogier and 9.3s in front of Neuville.
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This weekend is an odd one for Ogier. No need to do much except avoid being massively outscored by Tanak and Neuville.
"For us it's not really the plan to battle too hard this weekend, but of course we'll try to keep a good rhythm," says the four-time champion. "On this one I didn't have such a good feeling on the stage, I struggled a bit."
"For us it's not really the plan to battle too hard this weekend, but of course we'll try to keep a good rhythm," says the four-time champion. "On this one I didn't have such a good feeling on the stage, I struggled a bit."
Crash
Mikkelsen has just had a 10s penalty applied for jumping the start on this stage.
That means he's now 10.9s off Latvala for fifth rather than 0.9s.
That means he's now 10.9s off Latvala for fifth rather than 0.9s.
Tanak is still on course to pull further away from Ogier and Neuville on the splits.
Neuville takes 4s off Ogier, bringing the Hyundai to within 2.6s of the M-Sport Ford for third overall.
"Not 100% happy, it wasn't the perfect stage. I could've gone a bit faster but in the first part it was tricky," says Neuville, who also says he has to dodge "a really big" rock on the stage.
"Not 100% happy, it wasn't the perfect stage. I could've gone a bit faster but in the first part it was tricky," says Neuville, who also says he has to dodge "a really big" rock on the stage.
Neuville completes the stage second fastest so far behind Mikkelsen.
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No stopping Evans, though. He's fastest of anyone so far at split one.
Neuville is now 3.5s faster than Ogier at the second split. A change for third looks imminent.
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"It's difficult," says Latvala. "I don't have the best confidence with the car. It's really challenging now. It's not going in the direction I was hoping for. It's the balance and the traction as well."
Latvala is in, and he's the fastest so far through the final sector of the stage, which means he limits his loss to Mikkelsen to 5.9s.
So the fight for fifth overall looks like this:
5 Meeke
6 Latvala +2.7s
7 Mikkelsen +3.6s
So the fight for fifth overall looks like this:
5 Meeke
6 Latvala +2.7s
7 Mikkelsen +3.6s
While Neuville is getting closer to Ogier for third, second-placed Tanak is sneaking a bit further ahead. He's 1.6s faster than Neuville at the first split.
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"A messy stage for me," Meeke admits. "It wasn't clean. It was so difficult to judge the braking. For sure I lost 4-5s."
By: Matt Beer
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