Rally GB 2017
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Ogier's through the first split in 3m44.5s, with Tanak and Neuville up and running too.
David Evans
Weather update… It was three degrees when I left the hotel in Chester this morning – that’s the coldest WRC morning start since Sweden. But since then the temperature has been rising all day and now sits at a balmy 15 degrees at the end of Myherin. There’s barely a cloud in the sky and zero chance of rain. Certainly in the more open sections of Myherin, the roads should dry out a little bit, but under the trees and in the heart of Hafren – especially where the logging has been happening – the mud will be deep and very, very difficult.
DAVID EVANS has many strings to his bow, so let's see what his take on the weather offers.
Green flag
Still warm and sunny out there, but with a pretty packed field let's see if any of the stages have dried out at all.
Green flag
We're underway - Ogier kicks off this afternoon's running.
David Evans
Championship-wise, good luck with trying to work out the finer points of who needs to do what. Suffice to say, if Ogier wins, he’s champion; if he finishes ahead of Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville, same deal. If Seb’s second, but wins the power stage, then he’s still champion.
The Frenchman’s priority this week is to try, as much as possible, to put the championship out of his mind and get on with focusing on what will be one of the toughest rounds of the season.
Fortunately for Ogier, he has a bank of reasonable experience to call – he’s won the last four Rally GBs. No wonder he says he feels quite at home here now.
The Frenchman’s priority this week is to try, as much as possible, to put the championship out of his mind and get on with focusing on what will be one of the toughest rounds of the season.
Fortunately for Ogier, he has a bank of reasonable experience to call – he’s won the last four Rally GBs. No wonder he says he feels quite at home here now.
No problems so far for Ogier, just a bit of caution. Nothing wrong with that. He's still in place to wrap up the title this weekend as things stand, but it's a slightly complicated picture. Here's DAVID EVANS' attempt to walk us through the permutations.
About five minutes until this afternoon's action kicks off, by the way.
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Fed up of this babbling? Need to catch up with what's happened so far?
Elfyn Evans leads the way - and is the first Brit to have led Rally GB in 16 years, since Colin McRae in 2001. The DMACK-shod Brit has gone beautifully so far, winning two of the three stages on this morning's loop, and leads by 6.7 seconds from Ott Tanak.
Kris Meeke might be the most pleasantly surprised man in the British Isles in third for Citroen, while WRC points leader Sebastien Ogier is fourth.
Elfyn Evans leads the way - and is the first Brit to have led Rally GB in 16 years, since Colin McRae in 2001. The DMACK-shod Brit has gone beautifully so far, winning two of the three stages on this morning's loop, and leads by 6.7 seconds from Ott Tanak.
Kris Meeke might be the most pleasantly surprised man in the British Isles in third for Citroen, while WRC points leader Sebastien Ogier is fourth.
JACK BENYON: This rally ace got his event off to an abysmal start. The marks in the road looks like he’s handbraked this into the ditch, which is a bit silly. Still, gave the spectators on shakedown something to talk about. That and the fact that the main car park overflowed and the mashals had to direct the fans into the media car park. The spectators are ga-ga for the 2017 cars.
Other bits of parking so far this weekend haven't been quite so good...
David Evans
This update comes live from the heart of Llangurig’s Village Team Room. The original plan had been to watch from Elfyn’s Corner (can’t quite bring myself to lose the apostrophe and do the whole hashtag thing) and then get to Newtown in time for the regroup, but the sheer popularity of car park B in Myherin made it impossible to get out in time.
A cup of tea and slice of lemon drizzle alongside FIA safety delegates Michele Mouton, Sue Sanders and Ryland James is hardly a poor second…
The crowds in Myherin were incredible, the attached video started a good 1.5 miles away from the stage – some folk had walked three miles up the hill to get in (it was only the last bit that was as muddy as this picture…). The atmosphere up there was superb, but it’s definitely the first time I’ve seen a bloke without his shirt on spectating on Rally GB. I would have taken a photo, but it might have led to some tricky questions…
If the atmosphere on the corner was good, the view from the next hill was even better, giving a much better impression of the speed as the cars came out of the wind farm, down the hill and through a fifth-gear right-hander.
A cup of tea and slice of lemon drizzle alongside FIA safety delegates Michele Mouton, Sue Sanders and Ryland James is hardly a poor second…
The crowds in Myherin were incredible, the attached video started a good 1.5 miles away from the stage – some folk had walked three miles up the hill to get in (it was only the last bit that was as muddy as this picture…). The atmosphere up there was superb, but it’s definitely the first time I’ve seen a bloke without his shirt on spectating on Rally GB. I would have taken a photo, but it might have led to some tricky questions…
If the atmosphere on the corner was good, the view from the next hill was even better, giving a much better impression of the speed as the cars came out of the wind farm, down the hill and through a fifth-gear right-hander.
A good start for one of the home hopes out there on the Welsh roads this morning, and the atmosphere out on the stages has got one of our men on the ground all fevered up.
Fed and watered? Good. Welcome back to Autosport's live coverage of Rally GB.
Autosport
We've left you in the dark a bit - one of our earlier stats appeared not to have filtered through. In leading Rally GB, Elfyn Evans becomes the first Brit to have done so since Colin McRae in 2001. Not a bad start.
With the morning loop complete, we're going to break for lunch now. May we suggest you do the same - possibly with a bit of lunchtime reading to fill a hole? Join us again at around 2:15pm UK time to see if Evans can maintain his lead on the repeat loop.
With the morning loop complete, we're going to break for lunch now. May we suggest you do the same - possibly with a bit of lunchtime reading to fill a hole? Join us again at around 2:15pm UK time to see if Evans can maintain his lead on the repeat loop.
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Before we declare lunch, let's give you a run down of times...
SS4 leading times:
1 Evans 20m25.3s
2 Tanak +4s
3 Neuville +8.5s
4 Meeke +9.8s
5 Latvala +13.5s
6 Ogier +14.2s
Overall classification:
1 Evans 35m23.2s
2 Tanak +6.7s
3 Meeke +16s
4 Ogier +16.4s
5 Latvala +20.9s
6 Mikkelsen +27.4s
7 Neuville +29.5s
8 Sordo +38.3s
SS4 leading times:
1 Evans 20m25.3s
2 Tanak +4s
3 Neuville +8.5s
4 Meeke +9.8s
5 Latvala +13.5s
6 Ogier +14.2s
Overall classification:
1 Evans 35m23.2s
2 Tanak +6.7s
3 Meeke +16s
4 Ogier +16.4s
5 Latvala +20.9s
6 Mikkelsen +27.4s
7 Neuville +29.5s
8 Sordo +38.3s
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A good start all round for M-Sport...
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SS4 summary:
- Evans storms to another stage win
- DMACK-shod driver extends lead to 6.7s
- Tanak second on stage and overall
- Cautious Ogier drops to fourth
- Meeke ends a "very happy" morning in third
- Evans storms to another stage win
- DMACK-shod driver extends lead to 6.7s
- Tanak second on stage and overall
- Cautious Ogier drops to fourth
- Meeke ends a "very happy" morning in third
Mikkelsen has completed the stage - it's seventh on the stage leaderboard for the Norwegian, who is 18.8s slower than Evans. He's sixth overall.
Paddon and Lappi are also in now - nothing remarkable to report there. Mikkelsen will be the next man through.
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"I had a good stage," says Meeke. "I braked early for one hairpin but to be honest it felt quite good. With our road position, I'm very happy with that morning."
Meeke is fourth on the stage, 9.8s down on Evans, and up to third overall at the expense of Ogier.
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"No idea [when it happened], it was a slow puncture," says Breen. "It started to go down. I haven't been anywhere I shouldn't have been."
Crash
Front-left puncture for Breen.
Probably, is the answer. He's more than a minute down on Evans' time.
Hanninen is also in, while Breen behind him has given up a huge chunk of time through that fourth split - not clear yet whether the Citroen man has had a problem or not.
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"I'm trying to be clean in places and push in others, but it's very difficult to balance," says Evans.
Cracking time for the DMACK-shod man. His rally lead goes out to 6.7s.
Stopwatch
Sordo is in and slowest of all, but Evans completes the stage and is a whopping four seconds faster than the previous best contender (Tanak)!
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In the absence of reaction at the stage end, here's Ogier's take on SS4:
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Latvala voices a similar concern to many of his peers.
"I'm not happy with that, but that's the way it is," he says. "I'm struggling with the turn in, it's understeering too much in these conditions."
"I'm not happy with that, but that's the way it is," he says. "I'm struggling with the turn in, it's understeering too much in these conditions."
Latvala is 9.5s slower than Tanak at the stage end. Evans, meanwhile, is on the run to the finish but for the first time on this stage has gone quicker than Tanak!
By: Matt Beer
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