Rally GB 2017
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Meeke now goes fastest, and Tanak doesn't quite beat that - he's 0.2s slower.
But the overall news is good for Tanak overall - he's 1.8s up on Mikkelsen, who he's chasing for fifth overall, at the split.
"We can't do anything with the championship, it's not in our hands," says Tanak. "We'll just do our job and see where that takes us."
Right now, this sixth place is taking Tanak out of title contention and putting him on the back foot in what might become a battle for the runner-up honours with Neuville.
But the overall news is good for Tanak overall - he's 1.8s up on Mikkelsen, who he's chasing for fifth overall, at the split.
"We can't do anything with the championship, it's not in our hands," says Tanak. "We'll just do our job and see where that takes us."
Right now, this sixth place is taking Tanak out of title contention and putting him on the back foot in what might become a battle for the runner-up honours with Neuville.
Stopwatch
Lappi is quickest of the early batch, his 4m54.8s time 4.5s up on Sordo and 5.1s faster than Paddon.
Green flag
Right, Gwydir is go. Al-Qassimi is first in, followed by Sordo, Lappi, Paddon and Meeke.
Meeke's chances of getting above seventh on his home rally basically depend on someone ahead having a drama. He's now 27.2s off Tanak in front.
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So when SS19 begins, the intrigue is pretty much around second place. Just 12.6s covers Neuville, Ogier, Latvala, Mikkelsen and Tanak. Three of those five are title contenders. Another one is a title contender's team-mate.
In WRC2, champion Pontus Tidemand continues to dominate for SKoda, with a lead of nearly two minutes.
The tension is in the fight for second, where local driver Tom Cave is now just 1.4s ahead of Eric Camilli.
The tension is in the fight for second, where local driver Tom Cave is now just 1.4s ahead of Eric Camilli.
So if the rally ended now, the points would look like this:
Ogier: 213
Neuville: 178
Tanak: 168
That makes Ogier champion.
But there's still a maximum of five points available on the powerstage, where the fastest five drivers score on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Neuville has to win the powerstage and hope Ogier doesn't score there, or hope more cars get between him and Ogier over the next three stages - which is certainly possible given Mikkelsen's pace in the second Hyundai.
Ogier: 213
Neuville: 178
Tanak: 168
That makes Ogier champion.
But there's still a maximum of five points available on the powerstage, where the fastest five drivers score on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Neuville has to win the powerstage and hope Ogier doesn't score there, or hope more cars get between him and Ogier over the next three stages - which is certainly possible given Mikkelsen's pace in the second Hyundai.
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SS19 Gwydir (4.60 miles)
Gwydir stands out from the others a little bit in that you feel you're driving through more of a parkland-type forest rather than some of the denser woods in mid-Wales.
The surface changes quite a lot, which means the drivers have to be on guard for varying grip levels.
In the right weather there are some lovely views from up on the top of this stage – then again, the trees have grown a bit since the event was last here in 2013. And you wouldn't have seen the view then, because it ran in the dark!
Gwydir stands out from the others a little bit in that you feel you're driving through more of a parkland-type forest rather than some of the denser woods in mid-Wales.
The surface changes quite a lot, which means the drivers have to be on guard for varying grip levels.
In the right weather there are some lovely views from up on the top of this stage – then again, the trees have grown a bit since the event was last here in 2013. And you wouldn't have seen the view then, because it ran in the dark!
That's enough from the archive for a bit, though Sainz features strongly in the next few tales too. Back to 2017.
But there was revenge for Sainz in 1992 as he won the season finale and the championship while it was Kankkunen's turn to finish third.
In 1991, Juha Kankkunen started a point behind Sainz, but won in Britain and took the title as his rival could only muster third.
With a quick gap before Gwydir, let's dip back into the archive pot for more of Autosport Academy rallying group members Alasdair Lindsay, Josh Suttill and Mark Paulson's 'other times the WRC title's been settled in Britain' picks.
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Ostberg comes in with the 10th-fastest time, but that problem that's been there all week hasn't gone away.
"If we knew, we wouldn't have had the same problem today," he says when asked if the problem had been found.
"But unfortunately we do. I don't know. It's some kind of electrical. I have no idea what. We tried to find out yesterday. It seems like the centre diff is just opening when it wants to. Sometimes I'm able to drive the car and then it just opens and when it happens it's horrible. You can crash with that."
"If we knew, we wouldn't have had the same problem today," he says when asked if the problem had been found.
"But unfortunately we do. I don't know. It's some kind of electrical. I have no idea what. We tried to find out yesterday. It seems like the centre diff is just opening when it wants to. Sometimes I'm able to drive the car and then it just opens and when it happens it's horrible. You can crash with that."
This picture from Autosport Academy member STEPHEN BRUNSDON, who's with Citroen this weekend for a Motorsport News feature, sums up how Breen's closest-to-home rally started to go awry
We've got a couple of WRC cars running under Rally2 today too. Craig Breen has been there since a Friday shunt, while Mads Ostberg is back after dropping out yesterday with an electrical problem that was driving him crazy. Breen comes in sixth fastest now.
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Like Meeke, Evans is peeved about the placing of hay bales on that stage.
"I didn't enjoy much in there, to be honest," he says. "Bales scattered all over the road. It's not great."
"I didn't enjoy much in there, to be honest," he says. "Bales scattered all over the road. It's not great."
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SS18 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 4m04.0s
2 Neuville +0.6s
3 Tanak +1.4s
4 Ogier +1.8s
5 Latvala +1.9s
6 Lappi +3.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +46.3s
3 Ogier +50.0s
4 Latvala +53.4s
5 Mikkelsen +55.3s
6 Tanak +58.9s
Leading stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 4m04.0s
2 Neuville +0.6s
3 Tanak +1.4s
4 Ogier +1.8s
5 Latvala +1.9s
6 Lappi +3.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +46.3s
3 Ogier +50.0s
4 Latvala +53.4s
5 Mikkelsen +55.3s
6 Tanak +58.9s
Evans is through, a safe ninth fastest time that keeps his lead at 46.3s with three stages to go.
Let's be honest, Ogier is still an overwhelmingly massive favourite to win this championship. But he's made clear he doesn't want the fight to go down to Australia and its wild road cleaning stresses so he'd like to get it tied up today.
That's still the most likely outcome, but it looks ever more likely that it will come down to who scores what on the powerstage.
That's still the most likely outcome, but it looks ever more likely that it will come down to who scores what on the powerstage.
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"Everyone is pushing so we had to push as well," says Ogier. "It's tricky but we're trying our best."
Ogier is fourth fastest, so drops 1.2s to Neuville.
That means the gap from Neuville in second to Ogier in third is now 3.7s.
Ogier has added 0.1s to his cushion to fourth-placed Latvala but the interesting one is Mikkelsen's progress.
Neuville's fifth-placed team-mate gained 1.8s on Ogier there so that gap is down to 5.3s. And Mikkelsen's made clear he's flat-out this morning.
That means the gap from Neuville in second to Ogier in third is now 3.7s.
Ogier has added 0.1s to his cushion to fourth-placed Latvala but the interesting one is Mikkelsen's progress.
Neuville's fifth-placed team-mate gained 1.8s on Ogier there so that gap is down to 5.3s. And Mikkelsen's made clear he's flat-out this morning.
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Neuville says the last part of the stage, which is mostly asphalt, isn't great for those further down the start order.
"I had a very good start to the stage. At the end the Tarmac was getting dirty and I was a bit too careful."
"I had a very good start to the stage. At the end the Tarmac was getting dirty and I was a bit too careful."
Here's Ogier's split, and he's lost 0.3s to Neuville there.
Mikkelsen's last few miles of this stage were mega. Neuville is in, but doesn't pinch the stage win from his team-mate.
Still the second fastest time so far edges Neuville a bit further away from Latvala, and we'll now see what Ogier's pace looks like.
If you've recently joined us, Neuville took second from Ogier on this morning's opener.
Still the second fastest time so far edges Neuville a bit further away from Latvala, and we'll now see what Ogier's pace looks like.
If you've recently joined us, Neuville took second from Ogier on this morning's opener.
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Latvala's troubled by the way Mikkelsen is closing in on his fourth place.
"I pushed really, really hard and I don't know where I can get that time," he says. "At the moment Andreas is really, really quick."
"I pushed really, really hard and I don't know where I can get that time," he says. "At the moment Andreas is really, really quick."
Stopwatch
Meanwhile Neuville is past split one and fastest of all. He's clearly going to do everything in his power to take this to the wire.
Latvala is only third fastest, 1.9s down on Mikkelsen - and that's what the gap between them overall is now down to.
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That might bring Mikkelsen closer to Latvala's fourth place too. They were 3.8s apart going in.
"I don't have too much more to give, but it's fun to drive like that and stretch the limits," says Mikkelsen. "It's not so often we do that."
"I don't have too much more to give, but it's fun to drive like that and stretch the limits," says Mikkelsen. "It's not so often we do that."
Stopwatch
But now Mikkelsen beats Tanak by 1.4s to go fastest so far, which rebuilds the gap between them in fifth and sixth to 3.6s.
Stopwatch
Tanak is fastest so far by 2.1s.
"We try to do everything we can," he says as he inches towards the top five. "This one was really slippery."
"We try to do everything we can," he says as he inches towards the top five. "This one was really slippery."
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Meeke is in and mildly unhappy.
"I just hate it when the organisers mess about with a stage. They've put a load of hay bales in and people are clipping them," he says.
He's second fastest to Lappi, 1.6s down.
"I just hate it when the organisers mess about with a stage. They've put a load of hay bales in and people are clipping them," he says.
He's second fastest to Lappi, 1.6s down.
Of the early cars through Brenig, Lappi is fastest by 2.8s over Sordo and 3.9s over Paddon. They're ninth, 10th and eighth respectively on the final morning and all a fair way apart so don't need to press on.
Autosport Academy member STEPHEN BRUNSDON has spent this weekend embedded with the Citroen team. Look out for a feature on his experience in Motorsport News later in the year.
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Green flag
Al-Qassimi and Sordo have begun Brenig.
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But first, Evans on the start to his day:
"All good," he says. "Very mixed conditions again this morning. In some places it felt like the grip was OK and in other places very, very slippery.
"I'm still trying to keep a good rhythm but not take any risks."
"All good," he says. "Very mixed conditions again this morning. In some places it felt like the grip was OK and in other places very, very slippery.
"I'm still trying to keep a good rhythm but not take any risks."
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Right, straight onto SS18 already!
SS18 Brenig (3.99 miles)
This is the powerstage again this year, but it's been shortened and changed around a little bit.
The road alongside the lake is really quick and open to the elements – you can watch the cars in this section standing on the dam – but then we go into trees and the road will get more slippery and a bit narrower.
After that there's a Tarmac section that takes the crews to the finish of the stage and the event.
SS18 Brenig (3.99 miles)
This is the powerstage again this year, but it's been shortened and changed around a little bit.
The road alongside the lake is really quick and open to the elements – you can watch the cars in this section standing on the dam – but then we go into trees and the road will get more slippery and a bit narrower.
After that there's a Tarmac section that takes the crews to the finish of the stage and the event.
Information
SS17 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 5m32.2s
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Neuville +0.7s
4 Evans +1.9s
5 Meeke +2.0s
6 Latvala +2.4s
7 Ogier +3.7s
8 Paddon +4.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +52.4s
3 Ogier +54.9s
4 Latvala +58.2s
5 Mikkelsen +1m02.0s
6 Tanak +1m04.2s
7 Meeke +1m27.7s
8 Paddon +2m06.6s
9 Lappi +2m43.8s
10 Sordo +3m38.8s
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 5m32.2s
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Neuville +0.7s
4 Evans +1.9s
5 Meeke +2.0s
6 Latvala +2.4s
7 Ogier +3.7s
8 Paddon +4.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +52.4s
3 Ogier +54.9s
4 Latvala +58.2s
5 Mikkelsen +1m02.0s
6 Tanak +1m04.2s
7 Meeke +1m27.7s
8 Paddon +2m06.6s
9 Lappi +2m43.8s
10 Sordo +3m38.8s
By: Matt Beer
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