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Lappi's exit moves Breen and Hanninen's battle up to fifth and sixth for now, prior to Mikkelsen's arrival. With Breen a second quicker than Hanninen on this stage, that gap is up to 3.7s.
Crash
Trouble for Lappi - he was poised to take fifth but the tracking system shows him stopped on the stage.
At the first split, Mikkelsen is second to Ogier but a tenth quicker than his lead rival Tanak.
Rally leader Mikkelsen has now started the stage.
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Evans is slowest so far, and he may well lose fifth place to Lappi on this stage. They went in 2.4s apart and even at split one Lappi's Toyota is 2.6s up on Evans's DMACK Ford.
"I just have no grip in here," says Evans. "Struggling in every braking zone to get it stopped. Difficult."
"I just have no grip in here," says Evans. "Struggling in every braking zone to get it stopped. Difficult."
Latvala will be next through but after that earlier misfire it'll be some time before he's in a battle again. He's cleared the low-on-confidence Paddon for ninth but catching Hanninen requires making up another 55s.
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Tanak comes in fastest so far, 3.2s up on Neuville and 3.3s faster than Ogier - which puts him 9.9s clear of Ogier and either in first or second overall subject to Mikkelsen.
"Obviously it's very tricky to use a tyre which I've never used before," says Tanak, who has three wets on. "Maybe I should have pushed more but I had a little moment in the previous one.
"The car is perfect. I'm enjoying the car."
"Obviously it's very tricky to use a tyre which I've never used before," says Tanak, who has three wets on. "Maybe I should have pushed more but I had a little moment in the previous one.
"The car is perfect. I'm enjoying the car."
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"It's OK but a bit tricky. Obviously like Thierry I have not the optimum tyre choice as it looks like the rain tyre is working well," says slick-shod Ogier.
And Ogier is just 0.1s off his title rival at the stage end. That puts Ogier 18.7s ahead in a likely third place.
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Neuville makes it safely through, and says that was hard work on slicks:
"I was at the maximum but I had so much wheelspin and locking under braking. I tried to adjust the diff a bit during the stage but many times we nearly went off."
"I was at the maximum but I had so much wheelspin and locking under braking. I tried to adjust the diff a bit during the stage but many times we nearly went off."
Tanak is second fastest so far at split one, 1.2s slower than Ogier. On the previous stage, Tanak's fastest time pulled him 6.6s clear of team-mate Ogier for second place but this is still very much a three-way lead battle between Mikkelsen, Tanak and Ogier.
The leading cars are passing the first split of Grafschaft, with Ogier 2.8s faster than Neuville. After Neuville's latest slip-up on the previous stage, they're now 18s apart in third and fourth.
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We'll be straight on to the next stage - Grafschaft - in just over five minutes.
Paddon's co-driver Seb Marshall is your guide to it:
SS7 Grafschaft (11.40 miles)
The second and final vineyard stage for this year's event. We start on a farmland road, move into the vineyards and the finish on the country road again. Like the first one, the rhythm changes keep you on your toes and it's vital to be able to switch from the high to the low-speed tempo.
One of the things which you notice a little bit on the recce but very rarely when you're competing on these vineyard stages is just how high up you are and how big the drops down the valley are. It can be fairly daunting when you look over the edge and when you're tearing through in fifth gear with the car dancing between the wall and the drop, it tends to focus the mind fairly well!
Paddon's co-driver Seb Marshall is your guide to it:
SS7 Grafschaft (11.40 miles)
The second and final vineyard stage for this year's event. We start on a farmland road, move into the vineyards and the finish on the country road again. Like the first one, the rhythm changes keep you on your toes and it's vital to be able to switch from the high to the low-speed tempo.
One of the things which you notice a little bit on the recce but very rarely when you're competing on these vineyard stages is just how high up you are and how big the drops down the valley are. It can be fairly daunting when you look over the edge and when you're tearing through in fifth gear with the car dancing between the wall and the drop, it tends to focus the mind fairly well!
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SS6 summary:
* Mikkelsen not as fast as Tanak but clings onto overall lead by 0.9s
* Neuville takes fourth from Evans
* Latvala takes ninth from Paddon
* Mikkelsen not as fast as Tanak but clings onto overall lead by 0.9s
* Neuville takes fourth from Evans
* Latvala takes ninth from Paddon
Information
SS6 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m31.5s
2 Mikkelsen +3.2s
3 Ogier +5.1s
4 Lappi +5.8s
5 Meeke +11.1s
6 Neuville +12.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Mikkelsen
2 Tanak +0.9s
3 Ogier +7.5s
4 Neuville +26.3s
5 Evans +29.4s
6 Lappi +31.8s
7 Breen +49.3s
8 Hanninen +52.0s
9 Latvala +1m47.3s
10 Paddon +1m52.6s
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m31.5s
2 Mikkelsen +3.2s
3 Ogier +5.1s
4 Lappi +5.8s
5 Meeke +11.1s
6 Neuville +12.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Mikkelsen
2 Tanak +0.9s
3 Ogier +7.5s
4 Neuville +26.3s
5 Evans +29.4s
6 Lappi +31.8s
7 Breen +49.3s
8 Hanninen +52.0s
9 Latvala +1m47.3s
10 Paddon +1m52.6s
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Mikkelsen says full rain tyres were the only sensible choice given where he is in the running order.
"It's a mud bath almost everywhere. In the vineyards it's not so bad but in these parts there's a lot of mud. For me there was no choice."
"It's a mud bath almost everywhere. In the vineyards it's not so bad but in these parts there's a lot of mud. For me there was no choice."
Mikkelsen is in. He's not as fast as Tanak, losing 3.2s to his rival on the stage, but he clings onto his overall lead by 0.9s over the M-Sport Ford.
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"The road was a lot cleaner than I expected, the rain has washed it. We were expecting to have a bit more mud and to have benefited from it," says Meeke. "We don't often run these tyres even in tests."
Meeke is on all wets and is fourth fastest. He reminds outside the overall top 50 after last night's superspecial crash.
Mikkelsen now makes up some time between split two and three, and is back within 2.5s of Tanak's pace. That would keep Mikkelsen in the lead overall.
Remember we believe Mikkelsen is using four wet tyres, whereas Tanak had three wets and one soft slick.
Remember we believe Mikkelsen is using four wet tyres, whereas Tanak had three wets and one soft slick.
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That said, Lappi's not doing too badly at all - he's just come through third fastest behind Tanak and Ogier, using all softs and no wets.
Lappi's time pulls him clear of Breen and Hanninen and to within 2.4s of Evans in what will probably be fifth.
"70% of the stage was really OK, but when you have standing water and slick tyres it's not much fun," says Lappi. "I had some watersplashes!"
Lappi's time pulls him clear of Breen and Hanninen and to within 2.4s of Evans in what will probably be fifth.
"70% of the stage was really OK, but when you have standing water and slick tyres it's not much fun," says Lappi. "I had some watersplashes!"
Not a great second split for Mikkelsen - he's 7.7s behind Tanak there and that would cost him the overall rally lead.
Hanninen, who's just come in and is now 2.7s behind Breen in eighth, reports that the road conditions are getting worse as more mud is brought onto the stage.
Hanninen, who's just come in and is now 2.7s behind Breen in eighth, reports that the road conditions are getting worse as more mud is brought onto the stage.
Paddon finishes the stage 37s off the pace set by Tanak, so he definitely loses ninth place to Latvala and is now 5.3s behind the Toyota.
Breen is slowest in now, and he isn't sure if he did the right thing with his mix of soft and wet tyres, noting that the wets faded very quickly. But on the splits he's still a couple of seconds quicker than Hanninen, and they'd been tied for seventh at the start of this one.
Decent start for Mikkelsen, but he's not as quick as lead rival Tanak at split one. The Citroen is 1.5s off the M-Sport Ford there. They began the stage split by 4.1s for the outright lead.
Paddon is slowest on the stage by some distance at the moment and is likely to lose ninth place to Latvala.
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Evans says he had "a mix" of tyres on the car and "in some places it was good and in others we couldn't do anything".
Evans is next in and slowest so far, which means he loses fourth place (provisionally) to Neuville and is now 3.1s behind the Hyundai.
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Latvala is using soft tyres all round, and says that was the wrong choice for the wetter roads in the stage's final section.
"The first part of the stage was quite OK," he explains. "Towards the end, on the big, big, big roads, we started to have aquaplaning and then I lost confidence."
"The first part of the stage was quite OK," he explains. "Towards the end, on the big, big, big roads, we started to have aquaplaning and then I lost confidence."
Latvala comes in fourth fastest, slower even than spinner Neuville. Latvala's misfire on the previous stage has left him down in 10th, 18.2s behind Paddon ahead.
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Tanak says his tyre choice was good and he wishes he'd taken full wets all round, but he lost a bit of time with a mistake.
"Not such a good stage, there was a very tight hairpin where I went straight into the vines. I was very lucky I was not stuck. I lost 5-10s there."
"Not such a good stage, there was a very tight hairpin where I went straight into the vines. I was very lucky I was not stuck. I lost 5-10s there."
Stopwatch
Tanak comes in fastest so far by 5.1s over Ogier. Looks like he's using three full wets and one soft.
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Here's Ogier: "It's not so easy. Let's see the times behind, but it might work with the rain tyres as there was water on the lines. We might have made the wrong tyre choice, but at least we had the same as Neuville."
Tanak's margin has reduced very, very slightly - he's 4.3s faster than Ogier at the final split.
Stopwatch
That spin hurt - Ogier gains 6.9s on him and is now 18.8s of his title rival. Will they still be third and fifth overall or will Neuville have fallen back further?
Crash
Neuville makes it to the finish and says that wasn't easy on softs - and he had a spin too.
"I don't know what is the best choice. In the lines with the water there is no grip. I had a full spin in a hairpin. I tried my best but it's not very nice in these conditions."
"I don't know what is the best choice. In the lines with the water there is no grip. I had a full spin in a hairpin. I tried my best but it's not very nice in these conditions."
It'll be sometime before rally leader Mikkelsen gets onto the stage, his part-season means he's way down the running order and doesn't begin Mittelmosel for another seven minutes.
Stopwatch
By split two, Tanak's advantage is up to 6.9s over Neuville and 8.6s over Ogier.
Not so good for the DMACK wet (if that's what Evans is using), he's slowest so far at split one, and potentially on course to lose fourth to Neuville here.
Stopwatch
And it looks like the wets are working - at the first split of SS6, Tanak is 5.9s faster than Neuville and 5.5s up on Ogier.
By: Matt Beer
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