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Bad news for Sordo, our rally leader two stages ago: the tracking system shows him stopped less than a mile onto this stage.
Rally leader Tanak passes split one 1.6s slower than team-mate Ogier.
Ogier was 5.2s off the outright lead starting this one, in third place behind Mikkelsen.
Ogier was 5.2s off the outright lead starting this one, in third place behind Mikkelsen.
Stopwatch
At the first split, Neuville has lost another 3.4s to Ogier. Neuville did fear he'd compromised himself with the aerodynamic damage he caused with his early trip off the road on the last stage. At least he only has this stage and another run at the superspecial to go before he can get it fully fixed at service.
Green flag
Meanwhile, over on SS4, Neuville has begun the stage. He's got work to do after that error on SS3.
Teemu Suninen starred on his two rallies in M-Sport's extra WRC entry in Poland and Finland but is back in WRC2 now. He's second in class behind Pontus Tidemand right now, but with pre-stage leader Jan Kopecky yet to come in.
M-Sport's third car is in the hands of Armin Kremer this weekend. The local veteran is some way off the pace of the World Rally Car regulars but settled into 12th place.
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We're heading straight onto the next stage now, Grafschaft begins in five minutes. Here's Seb Marshall's verdict on it:
SS4 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!
SS4 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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SS3 summary:
* Tanak takes overall lead as Sordo falls from first to fourth
* Neuville goes off through a vineyard and drops to seventh
* Mikkelsen brings his Citroen up to second!
* Ogier recovers to third after superspecial spin
* Lappi and Hanninen both go off and fall to 10th and 11th
* Tanak takes overall lead as Sordo falls from first to fourth
* Neuville goes off through a vineyard and drops to seventh
* Mikkelsen brings his Citroen up to second!
* Ogier recovers to third after superspecial spin
* Lappi and Hanninen both go off and fall to 10th and 11th
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SS3 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m00.3s
2 Ogier +2.3s
3 Mikkelsen +3.4s
4 Evans +4.8s
5 Latvala +7.1s
6 Sordo +7.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Mikkelsen +4.2s
3 Ogier +5.2s
4 Sordo +6.0s
5 Latvala +7.9s
6 Evans +8.5s
7 Neuville +11.3s
8 Breen +12.1s
9 Paddon +21.2s
10 Lappi +23.0s
11 Hanninen +25.7s
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m00.3s
2 Ogier +2.3s
3 Mikkelsen +3.4s
4 Evans +4.8s
5 Latvala +7.1s
6 Sordo +7.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Mikkelsen +4.2s
3 Ogier +5.2s
4 Sordo +6.0s
5 Latvala +7.9s
6 Evans +8.5s
7 Neuville +11.3s
8 Breen +12.1s
9 Paddon +21.2s
10 Lappi +23.0s
11 Hanninen +25.7s
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"We are pushing hard and taking risks!" laughs Mikkelsen. "There is so much gravel on the road, but we just have to take it. The car is really, really nice."
Very decent from Mikkelsen given he's a) on four softs on a stage where hards may have been better and b) driving a Citroen in 2017. He's third fastest and moves up to second overall, 4.2s behind leader Tanak.
Crash
And Hanninen's team-mate Lappi's time loss is for the same reason - he's also visited the vineyards. That drops the two Toyotas to the tail of the WRC pack so far, bar the extremely delayed Meeke.
Crash
Hanninen comes in slowest so far, 18.5s down on Tanak's benchmark and with quite a lot of cosmetic damage on his Yaris.
"Quite soon after the start, under braking we missed the corner and went wide into the vineyards. I don't think there's major damage but we have to go and have a look," Hanninen explains.
"Quite soon after the start, under braking we missed the corner and went wide into the vineyards. I don't think there's major damage but we have to go and have a look," Hanninen explains.
Mikkelsen, the other man on all softs and fourth overall at the start of this stage, is doing OK. He's on a similar pace to Latvala on the splits.
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Breen comes in and rues changing to a mix of hard and soft tyres given how dry it turned out to be.
Paddon is next and slowest so far. The mostly-dry road is bad news for him as he's on softs all round.
"I don't think there is a right choice," says Paddon, whose tyres were very worn not far onto the stage. "There are parts where four hards would be best and parts where four softs would be."
Paddon is next and slowest so far. The mostly-dry road is bad news for him as he's on softs all round.
"I don't think there is a right choice," says Paddon, whose tyres were very worn not far onto the stage. "There are parts where four hards would be best and parts where four softs would be."
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Evans is third fastest, which brings him to within 0.6s of Latvala for what is currently fourth overall.
"I had a bit of a moment in one place but otherwise it was OK," says Evans. "It felt like we didn't have a lot of grip in the dry."
"I had a bit of a moment in one place but otherwise it was OK," says Evans. "It felt like we didn't have a lot of grip in the dry."
Slow times from Toyota pair Hanninen and Lappi at the splits so far. They began the stage only 10th and ninth anyway, and are several seconds off the pace of the cars ahead on this one at present.
No particular problems for Sordo there, that time loss was just from how he handled the varying conditions between wet and dry on his mix of hard and soft tyres.
Former leader Sordo is in, only fourth fastest on the stage so far behind Latvala and he drops back to third overall for now at least, just behind Ogier.
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"It was surprisingly dry," says Latvala. "The car was feeling really soft under braking and I wasn't feeling comfortable with it."
Latvala comes in third fastest, putting him a temporary third overall between Ogier and Neuville. Latvala was fifth beginning this one, so we need to see times from the likes of Mikkelsen and Breen to work out where the Toyota slots in overall now.
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Asked what weather he hopes for on the next stage, Tanak just replies "the right information..."
Blunt.
Blunt.
Stopwatch
Tanak completes the stage, he's fastest by 2.3s over Ogier and is now 5.2s ahead of his team-mate overall.
At present, that looks set to make Tanak our rally leader given Sordo's pace.
"It was actually very tricky," says Tanak. "We expected it to be wet and then it was mostly dry."
At present, that looks set to make Tanak our rally leader given Sordo's pace.
"It was actually very tricky," says Tanak. "We expected it to be wet and then it was mostly dry."
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Stopwatch
Tanak is still the pacesetter at split three, but only by 0.7s over Ogier now.
Erstwhile outright leader Sordo is 8.1s slower than Tanak at split two.
Erstwhile outright leader Sordo is 8.1s slower than Tanak at split two.
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"It's more dry than expected," says Ogier. "It's not fantastic, but it's very hard to know what [tyres] to put on the car. Let's see what the other guys do on this one."
Stopwatch
Ogier completes the stage 8.6s faster than Neuville. That puts the champion 6.1s ahead overall, though it'll be some time before it's clear where both of them are in the overall order.
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Neuville jumps straight out of his car to assess the damage at the stage end.
He explains that he went off through the vineyard and took some of the front aero off his Hyundai, leaving him "understeering like hell".
He adds that conditions were varying throughout the stage, and he had a lot of scares.
He explains that he went off through the vineyard and took some of the front aero off his Hyundai, leaving him "understeering like hell".
He adds that conditions were varying throughout the stage, and he had a lot of scares.
Stopwatch
By split three, Ogier is 10.3s faster than Neuville, who's just reached the stage end with his minor front damage.
On that pace, Sordo has already lost his overall lead and several places.
And Sordo's first split is poor - he's slowest of all, 0.3s down even on Neuville, who'd gone off the road.
Stopwatch
Tanak's flying - by split two he's fastest by 3.3s over Ogier and 9.5s over the slightly delayed Neuville.
Sordo, who's just begun the stage, had a 1.5s lead over Tanak in the outright stages beginning this one.
Sordo, who's just begun the stage, had a 1.5s lead over Tanak in the outright stages beginning this one.
TV crews are reporting some front-end damage for Neuville. It doesn't look like it's costing him too much - Ogier was just 0.4s quicker than his title rival between splits one and two.
Crash
Suggestions from on the stage that Neuville had a quick trip off the road early on the stage. That would explain his loss of time.
Tanak is 4.3s faster than Neuville at the split too - that suggests it's a case of Neuville being off the pace rather than Ogier really flying.
Stopwatch
Big difference in time at the first split - Ogier is 5.8s faster than Neuville there. Has Neuville made a mistake or is Ogier flying?
In the conditions, you'd expect first on the road to be an advantage as mud will get dragged on by the earlier cars.
In the conditions, you'd expect first on the road to be an advantage as mud will get dragged on by the earlier cars.
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Ogier is onto the stage too. He had a quick spin on the earlier superspecial, which is why he's only seventh right now, but with only two short stages having been run so far the whole top 10's still within 8.7s. It'll be this stage that really sets the order.
Neuville sets off six minutes late. Let's get this rally going.
By: Matt Beer
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