Rally GB 2017
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Meanwhile Neuville and Ogier are on the stage, with Neuville 1.4s faster than his title rival at split one.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen has taken 5.2s off Meeke on that stage, getting the gap down to 3.6s. And Mikkelsen's gained 6.6s on Latvala on the splits so far - nearly enough to take sixth.
Mikkelsen has gained 4.3s on Latvala at the first split, while at the second one he's 3.2s faster than Meeke. The battle for fifth continues to close up.
Crash
Paddon is through and thinks he has a front left puncture, which he admits is due to "touching something near the start".
The tyre has stayed mostly inflated but is in bad shape, and that drops him back behind team-mate Sordo into what will probably be ninth place.
The tyre has stayed mostly inflated but is in bad shape, and that drops him back behind team-mate Sordo into what will probably be ninth place.
Neuville and Ogier are onto the stage. Neuville's pace on the last one brought him to within 6s of his title rival for third, though really he needs to be winning this with Ogier not scoring to bring the championship back to life.
Hanninen made "a small change" to his Toyota's set-up and says it's "something we need to think about for the future", but in general he was much happier with that one than Lappi.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen is looking very strong on the splits - he's taken 4.5s out of Meeke in the first part of this stage!
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Another swing in the Toyotas-not-driven-by-Latvala battle as Hanninen finishes the stage 2.3s quicker than Lappi and brings the gap between them back up to 6.4s.
Lappi says he made a set-up change between stages and it wasn't the best idea.
"The change was really, really bad - I've never had so many moments!" Lappi says. "We need to go back."
Lappi says he made a set-up change between stages and it wasn't the best idea.
"The change was really, really bad - I've never had so many moments!" Lappi says. "We need to go back."
The pacesetter on the splits is now Mikkelsen, three seconds faster at split one than anyone through so far.
His third-fastest time on the opening stage brought him to within 6.8s of sixth-placed Latvala, with Meeke only a further two seconds ahead.
His third-fastest time on the opening stage brought him to within 6.8s of sixth-placed Latvala, with Meeke only a further two seconds ahead.
Lappi is fastest of the handful of cars to reach the finish so far, a second up on Ostberg.
Further back, Sordo lost eighth place to Paddon on the previous stage and is another 2.3s off his team-mate at the split on this one.
Further back, Sordo lost eighth place to Paddon on the previous stage and is another 2.3s off his team-mate at the split on this one.
And it swings back towards Lappi at the next split, where he's a tenth faster than his team-mate.
Stopwatch
Fastest of the early runners on the splits is Hanninen. He lost a bit of ground to Lappi in the battle for 10th on the last stage, but is 1.6s faster than his team-mate at split one.
That's the 'battle', in the 'war' Lappi has a Toyota seat for next year and this rally is Hanninen's swansong.
That's the 'battle', in the 'war' Lappi has a Toyota seat for next year and this rally is Hanninen's swansong.
Green flag
And the best news - the timing system has found Dyfnant! Al-Qassimi, running 28th going into today, is first up.
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Information
Just over five minute until Dyfnant begins. Here's what it holds:
SS9 Dyfnant (11.12 miles)
One of the most famous and visited stages on the route, with the hairpin right in the middle (accessed from car park I) a really popular place to watch.
If you walk away from that junction in the same direction of the cars – always following the marshal's instructions – you'll come to a fast right-hander which has become known as Irish Corner in recent years.
Dyfnant flows nicely, but the surface can change quite a lot second time through. This one tends to polish a bit, which makes it a bit more slippery on the re-run.
Having said that, in 2015 it rained so hard the mud was washed away, exposing the stone base beneath, and the grip got better.
SS9 Dyfnant (11.12 miles)
One of the most famous and visited stages on the route, with the hairpin right in the middle (accessed from car park I) a really popular place to watch.
If you walk away from that junction in the same direction of the cars – always following the marshal's instructions – you'll come to a fast right-hander which has become known as Irish Corner in recent years.
Dyfnant flows nicely, but the surface can change quite a lot second time through. This one tends to polish a bit, which makes it a bit more slippery on the re-run.
Having said that, in 2015 it rained so hard the mud was washed away, exposing the stone base beneath, and the grip got better.
Information
So, here they are: SS8 results
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 7m30.2s
2 Neuville +2.5s
3 Mikkelsen +4.8s
4 Tanak +5.4s
5 Meeke +6.0s
6 Ogier +6.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Tanak +30.0s
3 Ogier +33.0s
4 Neuville +39.6s
5 Meeke +48.0s
6 Latvala +50.0s
7 Mikkelsen +56.8s
8 Paddon +1m29.7s
9 Sordo +1m31.1s
10 Hannine +1m57.7s
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 7m30.2s
2 Neuville +2.5s
3 Mikkelsen +4.8s
4 Tanak +5.4s
5 Meeke +6.0s
6 Ogier +6.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Tanak +30.0s
3 Ogier +33.0s
4 Neuville +39.6s
5 Meeke +48.0s
6 Latvala +50.0s
7 Mikkelsen +56.8s
8 Paddon +1m29.7s
9 Sordo +1m31.1s
10 Hannine +1m57.7s
And now we've got all the info we were missing earlier, we can see that Meeke grabbed fifth from Latvala there, Mikkelsen was an excellent third fastest and closed on them both, Paddon took eighth off Sordo and Lappi moved to within 4.1s of Hanninen for 10th.
But up front, it's still all about Evans.
A gust of Welsh wind has blown all the times in!
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And hello rally leader Evans:
"It was a very good stage, a good rhythm and the car working well. It's slippy enough in there, so all good."
The arrival of some light rain is taking care of that tyre worry we mentioned earlier.
"It was a very good stage, a good rhythm and the car working well. It's slippy enough in there, so all good."
The arrival of some light rain is taking care of that tyre worry we mentioned earlier.
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Ogier is sticking to his play-it-safe-and-sort-the-title tactics.
"Not so bad but the conditions are still tricky - low grip this morning," he says. "I had a clean stage but of course I'm cautious."
"Not so bad but the conditions are still tricky - low grip this morning," he says. "I had a clean stage but of course I'm cautious."
Stopwatch
Rally leader Evans is in, and his advantage hits the half-minute mark - he's fastest on the stage (of the cars we know about) by 2.5s over Neuville and now leads Ogier by precisely 30s.
Neuville adds that changes to the centre differential mapping and altering how he uses the handbrake have helped cure the understeer that hurt him on Friday.
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And here's pacesetter Neuville:
"It was a good stage for us. The car was behaving very well. I drove quite well too..."
"It was a good stage for us. The car was behaving very well. I drove quite well too..."
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We don't have a time for Latvala, but believe he's still fifth. He's made suspension adjustments this morning but isn't convinced they were the right move.
"We tried something but I don't know at this point if it felt better or worse," he says. "The conditions now are a little bit different. We still have the understeer, I don't have trust in the front."
"We tried something but I don't know at this point if it felt better or worse," he says. "The conditions now are a little bit different. We still have the understeer, I don't have trust in the front."
Tanak loses 2.9s to Neuville and pulls another eight tenths clear of Ogier, which means the battle behind Evans now looks like this:
2 Tanak
3 Ogier +3.0s
4 Neuville +6.6s
2 Tanak
3 Ogier +3.0s
4 Neuville +6.6s
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Ogier finishes the stage (hello stage times, we've missed you) and he's lost 3.7s to Neuville.
That brings the gap between them down to 6.6s.
Not quite a title battle turnaround yet, but intriguing.
That brings the gap between them down to 6.6s.
Not quite a title battle turnaround yet, but intriguing.
Tanak's mid-stage split is a tenth slower than Ogier's, which suggests Neuville is going to make a decent gain on both of the main M-Sport team's cars.
Stopwatch
Maybe that data's getting through, we have a completed stage time for Neuville (7m32.7s). Just need something for the 10 drivers who arrived before him.
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So at the moment, the only information the timing system's reliably offering is mid-stage split times for most, but not all, drivers. Judging by that, Neuville is quickest and has taken a couple of seconds out of the gap to title rival Ogier ahead.
We're hoping that any minute now a load of data will clatter out of the Welsh sky and the system will refresh with a flourish and give us a full picture.
We're hoping that any minute now a load of data will clatter out of the Welsh sky and the system will refresh with a flourish and give us a full picture.
Lappi is in and happier than yesterday, but not yet sure if that's down to set-up changes or conditions being different.
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Hanninen has finished the stage (no idea in what time), and says his Toyota is "feeling slightly better" today.
The timing system isn't functioning especially well this morning. With the info we can piece together, Ostberg has safely finished the stage, while Andreas Mikkelsen is quickest of the early runners on the splits.
As that tweet shows, teenage sensation Kalle Rovanpera departed his first WRC rally early yesterday but is back in business today.
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On the splits in so far, Lappi is edging closer to 10th-placed Toyota team-mate Hanninen. Both had pretty low-key days yesterday.
Information
SS8 Aberhirnant (8.61 miles)
A very, very fast start to Saturday morning. One of the fastest sections of the stage is now being used as a car park (with some great views from N), but the rest of the road is far from slow.
There are a few surface changes in there and, from what we've been told, there's been quite a bit of logging activity in the middle. Wherever there's been a lot of work done in pulling the trees out of the forest, the road can be quite badly affected.
Fully loaded, these logging trucks weigh around 40 tonnes, so it's not hard to see how they stir the mud up and, almost regardless of the weather, can make a bit of a mess.
The crews will note these sections on the recce, but if the mud's quite deep you have to slow down or there's a real risk of going off and into the pile of logs.
As well as being one of the quickest, this stage is also one of the highest on the route. If the fog comes in, especially for the second run through at night, it'll make the thing really interesting!
A very, very fast start to Saturday morning. One of the fastest sections of the stage is now being used as a car park (with some great views from N), but the rest of the road is far from slow.
There are a few surface changes in there and, from what we've been told, there's been quite a bit of logging activity in the middle. Wherever there's been a lot of work done in pulling the trees out of the forest, the road can be quite badly affected.
Fully loaded, these logging trucks weigh around 40 tonnes, so it's not hard to see how they stir the mud up and, almost regardless of the weather, can make a bit of a mess.
The crews will note these sections on the recce, but if the mud's quite deep you have to slow down or there's a real risk of going off and into the pile of logs.
As well as being one of the quickest, this stage is also one of the highest on the route. If the fog comes in, especially for the second run through at night, it'll make the thing really interesting!
David Evans
One of the features of the Aberhirnant stage will be a couple of miles of deep mud in the middle of the stage. This picture was taken just days before the recce.
By: Matt Beer
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