Rally GB 2017
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The field is now on a long road section into England for the Cholmondeley Castle spectator stage. Fans there can see whether Ogier gets closer to Tanak, Mikkelsen pinches fifth off Latvala or Paddon's hydraulic problems start to hurt.
Autosport Live is taking a pause, but we'll be back when the forest stages resume after dark at 6.45pm UK time.
And before then, we'll have Live coverage of Mexican Grand Prix third practice in our Formula 1 live section at 4pm.
Here's the latest rally report in the meantime:
Autosport Live is taking a pause, but we'll be back when the forest stages resume after dark at 6.45pm UK time.
And before then, we'll have Live coverage of Mexican Grand Prix third practice in our Formula 1 live section at 4pm.
Here's the latest rally report in the meantime:
Information
SS13 summary:
* Evans isn't fastest...
* ...but he still leads by 47.9s
* Neuville pulls away from Tanak with stage win
* Ogier back on Tanak's tail
* Latvala now under major pressure from Mikkelsen
* Paddon has hydraulic problems but stays eighth
* Evans isn't fastest...
* ...but he still leads by 47.9s
* Neuville pulls away from Tanak with stage win
* Ogier back on Tanak's tail
* Latvala now under major pressure from Mikkelsen
* Paddon has hydraulic problems but stays eighth
Information
SS13 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 15m21.2s
2 Evans +2.7s
3 Ogier +5.3s
4 Mikkelsen +7.3s
5 Tanak +7.9s
6 Breen +8.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +47.9s
3 Tanak +1m01.9s
4 Ogier +1m05.2s
5 Latvala +1m22.0s
6 Mikkelsen +1m23.6s
7 Meeke +1m31.0s
8 Paddon +2m22.2s
9 Sordo +2m30.7s
10 Hanninen +2m33.0s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 15m21.2s
2 Evans +2.7s
3 Ogier +5.3s
4 Mikkelsen +7.3s
5 Tanak +7.9s
6 Breen +8.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +47.9s
3 Tanak +1m01.9s
4 Ogier +1m05.2s
5 Latvala +1m22.0s
6 Mikkelsen +1m23.6s
7 Meeke +1m31.0s
8 Paddon +2m22.2s
9 Sordo +2m30.7s
10 Hanninen +2m33.0s
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"To be honest at the start everything was OK but we weren't really pushing, and by the end we had no grip at all compared to what we're used to," says Evans. "It was very, very difficult. From the middle of the stage I started to struggle quite a lot."
Just waiting for Evans now, and the splits suggest he's going to add at least a couple of seconds to his lead...
...but he doesn't! Evans's run of stage wins ends as Neuville outpaces him by 2.7s.
That's fine, the Welshman's lead is still 47.9s.
...but he doesn't! Evans's run of stage wins ends as Neuville outpaces him by 2.7s.
That's fine, the Welshman's lead is still 47.9s.
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"There's nothing we can do about him," says Tanak of the escaping Neuville. "We just need to do our own thing."
Ogier is a bit faster than Tanak on that one, and is happy enough with that pace now. Fourth is still good enough to make him champion tomorrow - depending on what Tanak and Neuville do on the powerstage.
Here's how second to fourth looks now:
2 Neuville
3 Tanak +14.0s
4 Ogier +17.3s
Here's how second to fourth looks now:
2 Neuville
3 Tanak +14.0s
4 Ogier +17.3s
Stopwatch
Neuville is fastest so far at the finish by 5.3s over Ogier, who's in next.
Stopwatch
On the splits, Neuville continues to outpace Tanak and Ogier, Evans continues to massively outpace everyone.
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Latvala pushed hard on that one:
"I can't push more. I gave absolutely everything. I don't have anything in reserve at the moment. We have improved from yesterday but not enough."
He says the front suspension is the next thing Toyota has to look at.
"I can't push more. I gave absolutely everything. I don't have anything in reserve at the moment. We have improved from yesterday but not enough."
He says the front suspension is the next thing Toyota has to look at.
Here's Meeke's time, he's 5s off Mikkelsen. Latvala comes in between them, second fastest so far.
That leaves their battle overall looking like this:
5 Latvala
6 Mikkelsen +1.6s
7 Meeke +9.0s
That leaves their battle overall looking like this:
5 Latvala
6 Mikkelsen +1.6s
7 Meeke +9.0s
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Meeke's in, though his time has yet to register. He doesn't exactly sound hamstrung by half his wing departing.
"Sorry to the engineers, but I don't think the loss of downforce is having much effect!"
"Sorry to the engineers, but I don't think the loss of downforce is having much effect!"
Stopwatch
At the final split, Mikkelsen is 0.9s faster than Latvala and 2.8s up on the partially wing-less Meeke.
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And here's Mikkelsen: "It was a good stage, better than last time. For sure there are still places where we can go faster, but it's a decent drive. Happy with that."
Stopwatch
Still no stopping rally leader Evans, whose split one time is the fastest so far.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen comes through with the fastest time so far by a hefty 7s over Lappi.
Very little to choose between Mikkelsen and Latvala on the splits. Latvala started this one just 4.3s ahead of the closing Hyundai in fifth overall. Both are a touch quicker than Meeke now.
Even with that problem, Paddon is only 1.3s slower than team-mate Sordo. So the back end of the points now looks like this:
8 Paddon
9 Sordo +8.5s
10 Hanninen +10.8s
11 Lappi +20.6s
8 Paddon
9 Sordo +8.5s
10 Hanninen +10.8s
11 Lappi +20.6s
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Paddon will have to grapple with that for the Cholmondeley Castle stage too before Hyundai has chance to try to fix it at service ahead of the night stages.
Crash
"We've had no hydraulics at all for the whole stage," reports Paddon. "No gearbox, no diff. We tried to minimise the time loss but it was a handful to drive. It happened on the road section before the stage, so nothing we could do to fix it."
For all the Toyota drivers' misery, they've both gained on Paddon. The Hyundai's lead over Hanninen for eighth overall is down to 10.8s, with Sordo yet to slot in somewhere around there too.
Stopwatch
Neuville is fastest of all at split one now, while Mikkelsen is the pacesetter at split two.
Lappi is still half a second faster than team-mate Hanninen at the stage end, and both look like they will have gained on the slower pair of Hyundais ahead in the overall standings.
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Lappi is in and asked if there's any improvement in the Toyota's handling.
"No," he replies. A sad pause. "We are struggling like hell. We are much, much slower on the second pass, like yesterday. It's like on ice all the time. It doesn't matter what you do with the steering wheel or on the braking. It's impossible."
"No," he replies. A sad pause. "We are struggling like hell. We are much, much slower on the second pass, like yesterday. It's like on ice all the time. It doesn't matter what you do with the steering wheel or on the braking. It's impossible."
Stopwatch
Now Meeke sets the fastest split one time so far, just two tenths up on Mikkelsen but that's contrary to the trend of the morning.
And also a pretty mighty effort for a bloke who lost the majority of his rear wing on the last stage.
And also a pretty mighty effort for a bloke who lost the majority of his rear wing on the last stage.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen continues to fly, he's fastest of the early batch at the first split.
Further along the stage, nothing to choose between Toyota pair Lappi and Hanninen - they're only a tenth apart. That's a turnaround from this morning, when Hanninen was pretty much storming away from his team-mate in their battle for 10th.
But after losing ground to the third and fourth Hyundais on Gartheiniog, Hanninen is coming back at them here. He's 6.4s up on Paddon at the mid-stage split so the battle for eighth, ninth and 10th is being revived.
Further along the stage, nothing to choose between Toyota pair Lappi and Hanninen - they're only a tenth apart. That's a turnaround from this morning, when Hanninen was pretty much storming away from his team-mate in their battle for 10th.
But after losing ground to the third and fourth Hyundais on Gartheiniog, Hanninen is coming back at them here. He's 6.4s up on Paddon at the mid-stage split so the battle for eighth, ninth and 10th is being revived.
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Information
SS13 Dyfi (16.06 miles)
As it's been raining, this road will be really slippery – especially near the start where there's always the risk of a bit of standing water on the inside of some of the corners.
But the worst place for grip is on the bedrock, which comes in the middle of the stage. After that, once it starts to climb, this one just gets better and better with plenty of medium and high-speed corners.
Not dissimilar in nature to Gartheiniog, which is no surprise because both roads are pretty much under the same – massive – bunch of trees.
As it's been raining, this road will be really slippery – especially near the start where there's always the risk of a bit of standing water on the inside of some of the corners.
But the worst place for grip is on the bedrock, which comes in the middle of the stage. After that, once it starts to climb, this one just gets better and better with plenty of medium and high-speed corners.
Not dissimilar in nature to Gartheiniog, which is no surprise because both roads are pretty much under the same – massive – bunch of trees.
Twitter
5 stages done this morning, our plan was to climb higher in the classification, and we are! Now P5. #WalesRallyGB… twitter.com/i/web/status/9…
Green flag
The next stage, Dyfi, was being delayed while spectators were moved to safe places, but is now under way just under 20 minutes late. Al-Qassimi is again first in.
David Evans
Just one WRC regular running under Rally2 today. Craig Breen's closest-to-home event went awry yesterday afternoon.
"I had a spin in a second-gear left-hander,” he explained to Autosport. “I could have reversed, but instead I was greedy and just tried to drive it around.
"I drove on and it looked OK, so I was just starting to get the car turned around when it dropped into a drain or a hole or something. I couldn't see the hole over the bonnet and once it was in there, it wasn't coming out.
"There were loads of spectators there and I'm so thankful to them, but in the end I had to run three miles to fetch a tow-rope. Once I was back with the rope, it took us two minutes to pull it out.
"I'm gutted. I really had the feeling with the car, the dampers were working, it was good."
Breen's Rally2 penalty leaves him 12 minutes off the leaders. On some rallies, you might still be able to score from there, but with an ample entry in Wales he only managed to progress from 36th overall to 29th during this morning.
"I had a spin in a second-gear left-hander,” he explained to Autosport. “I could have reversed, but instead I was greedy and just tried to drive it around.
"I drove on and it looked OK, so I was just starting to get the car turned around when it dropped into a drain or a hole or something. I couldn't see the hole over the bonnet and once it was in there, it wasn't coming out.
"There were loads of spectators there and I'm so thankful to them, but in the end I had to run three miles to fetch a tow-rope. Once I was back with the rope, it took us two minutes to pull it out.
"I'm gutted. I really had the feeling with the car, the dampers were working, it was good."
Breen's Rally2 penalty leaves him 12 minutes off the leaders. On some rallies, you might still be able to score from there, but with an ample entry in Wales he only managed to progress from 36th overall to 29th during this morning.
Information
SS12 summary:
* Evans fastest again, lead hits 50s
* Neuville pulls away from Tanak and Ogier to cement third
* Mikkelsen inches closer to Latvala's fifth
* Half of Meeke's rear wing drops off, causing puzzlement
* Paddon and Sordo stretch clear of pursuer Hanninen
* Evans fastest again, lead hits 50s
* Neuville pulls away from Tanak and Ogier to cement third
* Mikkelsen inches closer to Latvala's fifth
* Half of Meeke's rear wing drops off, causing puzzlement
* Paddon and Sordo stretch clear of pursuer Hanninen
Information
SS12 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 7m35.1s
2 Neuville +1.3s
3 Mikkelsen +4.0s
4 Latvala +4.4s
5 Paddon +5.7s
6 Ogier +5.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +50.6s
3 Tanak +56.7s
4 Ogier +1m02.6s
5 Latvala +1m14.7s
6 Mikkelsen +1m19.0s
7 Meeke +1m21.4s
8 Paddon +2m05.8s
9 Sordo +2m15.6s
10 Hanninen +2m20.9s
11 Lappi +2m42.0s
Leading stage times:
1 Evans 7m35.1s
2 Neuville +1.3s
3 Mikkelsen +4.0s
4 Latvala +4.4s
5 Paddon +5.7s
6 Ogier +5.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Evans
2 Neuville +50.6s
3 Tanak +56.7s
4 Ogier +1m02.6s
5 Latvala +1m14.7s
6 Mikkelsen +1m19.0s
7 Meeke +1m21.4s
8 Paddon +2m05.8s
9 Sordo +2m15.6s
10 Hanninen +2m20.9s
11 Lappi +2m42.0s
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"It's obviously going pretty well," grins Evans. "We're managing everything we have. It's a long, long loop for us in terms of getting through on the tyres so we're trying to be as neat as possible.
"Tonight will be difficult. It's never easy in the wet and the weather's coming in so we might have fog too."
Oh yes, tonight. Challenging itinerary today: after a pause to pop to England for the Cholmondeley Castle spectator stage, the WRC field will be back in the Welsh forests at night this evening.
"Tonight will be difficult. It's never easy in the wet and the weather's coming in so we might have fog too."
Oh yes, tonight. Challenging itinerary today: after a pause to pop to England for the Cholmondeley Castle spectator stage, the WRC field will be back in the Welsh forests at night this evening.
Stopwatch
Boom, again. Evans fastest by 1.3s and now leading by 50.6s. (Or will be, when the timing system gives Neuville his four hours back)
Stopwatch
Evans is now on the stage and fastest of all, again, at the split.
Tanak is slower than Ogier, just seventh quickest and 4.9s off Neuville, so that gap will be up to 6.1s.
Tanak says there's no obvious problem, the Hyundai's just going quicker than the Michelin-shod M-Sport Fords today.
Tanak says there's no obvious problem, the Hyundai's just going quicker than the Michelin-shod M-Sport Fords today.
Only fifth quickest for Ogier, 4.5s slower than Neuville. They're now 12s apart overall - or will be when the timing system resets as it's just added four and a quarter hours to Neuville's time. Which you'd hope is a glitch.
"The last three stages I was trying and we are not super-fast," Ogier admits. "It looks like Ott is not really going faster, so it looks like it's a bit in the car."
"The last three stages I was trying and we are not super-fast," Ogier admits. "It looks like Ott is not really going faster, so it looks like it's a bit in the car."
Ogier was eight tenths down on Neuville on the split, let's see how it turns out overall.
By: Matt Beer
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