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General

Rally Germany

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We know that Evans is running at least two of DMACK's full wets, and rally leader Mikkelsen has gone for four full wets and two softs.

The Toyotas, Ogier and Neuville have eschewed full wets entirely and gone with five softs, while Tanak has three wets and three softs.

That could lead to some big performance variations, although this morning none of the stages had consistent conditions - there were some sections basically dry, and others pretty wet. The weather has got a lot worse since then, though, as the recordings of rain on roofs that David Evans has been sending back to base prove.
Rain
It's now raining very, very hard and the field is about to break new ground - the WRC's 'full wet', a tyre sometimes referred to in the service park as the 'monsoon tyre', is being used for the first time ever.
Information
This is how the field stands heading into the afternoon:

1 Mikkelsen
2 Tanak +4.1s
3 Ogier +5.6s
4 Evans +14.8s
5 Neuville +17.5s
6 Lappi +29.2s
7 Breen +31.5s
= Hanninen +31.5s
9 Paddon +1m18.6s
10 Latvala +1m36.8s

(53 Kremer +10m31.9s)
Neuville was fastest on that stage, which has moved him right onto the tail of Evans for fourth place - they're now just 2.7s apart.
Crash
Since we left you this morning, there's been a superspecial stage on which disaster struck Latvala. A misfire dramatically slowed his Toyota, costing him nearly a minute and a half and dropping him from fifth to 10th place.
Welcome back to Autosport Live, Rally Germany is about to get its Friday afternoon leg under way.
Autosport
Here's the full report of the morning. The crews are having another run of the superspecial next up before heading to service, but we'll be back with Autosport Live coverage at 3.20pm UK time when they get to Mittelmosel to start the afternoon:

www.autosport.com
Information
SS4 summary:

* MIKKELSEN TAKES THE LEAD FOR CITROEN
* Sordo crashes out of fourth place
* Title rivals Ogier and Neuville run third and sixth
* Lappi gets back up to seventh with second-quickest time
* Paddon drops back in 10th with a puncture
Information
SS4 results:

Leading stage times:

1 Mikkelsen 10m50.3s
2 Lappi +7.4s
3 Ogier +7.8s
4 Evans +8.9s
5 Tanak +9.0s
6 Hanninen +9.2s

Overall leaderboard:

1 Mikkelsen
2 Tanak +4.8s
3 Ogier +8.8s
4 Evans +13.2s
5 Latvala +13.7s
6 Neuville +21.0s
7 Lappi +26.2s
8 Breen +30.7s
9 Hanninen +30.7s
10 Paddon +1m14.8s
Quote
"This was not really a perfect drive for me, I made two little small mistakes. I'm not really happy with that run. But I've always really struggled with that stage and finally I mastered it," says Mikkelsen.

"The car is amazing. The car definitely has potential and we're showing it."
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen wins the stage by 7.4s over Lappi and now leads Rally Germany for Citroen by 4.8s over Tanak!
While Mikkelsen is seemingly about to take the rally lead, his team-mate Meeke comes through with a seventh-fastest time that won't make much difference to his weekend as he's already 10 minutes behind following his superspecial crash. He was still right back in 52nd overall at the end of SS3.
Great time from Lappi too, he sneaks in 0.4s faster than Ogier to go fastest so far and move up to sixth ahead of Breen and Hanninen - though that'll become seventh when Mikkelsen appears.
Stopwatch
Citroen surely is - at split two, Mikkelsen is 7s quicker than Tanak.
Stopwatch
So at split one, Mikkelsen is 4.3s faster than Tanak. He began the stage 4.2s behind Tanak for the overall lead... Is Citroen about to LEAD A RALLY...?
Quote
Meanwhile Hanninen describes this stage as "much better than the one before as I didn't go through the vineyards this time". That would definitely help.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen is fastest of all at split one...
A decent fourth fastest time from Hanninen brings him level with Breen. They're likely to share seventh overall once Mikkelsen arrives.
Quote
"No idea at all," says Paddon when asked how that puncture happened. "We hit absolutely nothing. With about 10km to go it started to feel a bit strange like a slow puncture, then with 6km to go it was completely gone. That's how things go for us this year."
Crash
Paddon goes from being quickest at split one to losing 50 seconds, which will leave him a distant 12th overall.
Crash
Ah that explains why Paddon's pace has faded: he's picked up a puncture.
Paddon has faded at the next split and is a couple of seconds off the leaders' pace there, but still on course to get right up with Breen.

Also now onto the stage are the Toyotas of Hanninen and Lappi, which both went off the road on the previous stage.
Paddon has been fairly muted so far this morning, and is one of only two drivers - along with Mikkelsen - running all softs.

He began the stage only ninth, 9.1s behind Breen, and that pace will already take him past the Citroen thanks to Breen's excursions on this stage.
Stopwatch
That wait at the start of the stage seems to have been good for Paddon, he goes fastest of all at split one.
Green flag
The stage has now resumed, with Paddon starting 11 minutes late.
Crash
Bit of a messy stage for Breen, who clipped a wall and feared he had a puncture and also spent time off course in a field. He's 15s down on pacesetter Ogier so that may put his seventh place under threat from Paddon.
Crash
Looks like the organisers might be trying to retrieve Sordo's car. Paddon has been held at the stage start.
Evans, who was next in after Sordo, reports that he couldn't see where the Hyundai ended up but just "saw some marks" on the road.
Crash
Hyundai says Sordo crashed out. He and co-driver Marc Marti are OK.
A good end for Evans, though. He comes in second fastest to Ogier, 1.1s down, which jumps him ahead of Latvala by 0.5s into what is currently third overall but may be fourth when Mikkelsen comes through.
Not a lot to choose between Evans and Latvala here. Latvala went onto the stage just 0.6s ahead overall and he's 0.3s faster by split two.
Latvala comes in third fastest, so temporarily occupies that place overall as well. He's now 8.9s off Tanak's lead and battling with Evans, who'll be next through after a gap where Sordo should've been.
Breen had been eighth starting this stage, but with an ample 9.1s gap back to Paddon in ninth.
Slow first split from Breen, 12s off the leaders' pace there.
Stopwatch
Further back, Evans is now fastest at split one by 0.3s over Latvala, who he's chasing for what will become fourth overall with Sordo out. No further news on the stopped Hyundai yet.
Tanak pulls some time back on Ogier in the final miles and ultimately only loses 1.2s to his team-mate. That puts them 4.0s apart overall in first and second at present, with the possibility of Mikkelsen slotting in between them.
Quote
Here are Ogier's thoughts: "It's not only Neuville that we watch - we also have to be on the podium. I'm not perfectly happy with the car but I knew that before the stage and we'll do the best with what we have. It's only for today and the rest of the rally should be better."
Stopwatch
Ogier comes in 6.1s faster than Neuville, bringing the outright gap between the title rivals up to 12.2s. You don't really want to give that away to Ogier... They were third and seventh starting this one.
Quote
Neuville completes the stage and expects to lose a bit of time with his aero damage.

"I have a lot of understeer in the very fast sections but in the junctions it's OK. I tried to drive fast but it's very, very tricky," he says.
Stopwatch
By split two, Ogier has gained 3.4s on Tanak, bringing the outright gap down to 1.8s.

By: Matt Beer

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