Rally Germany, Belgian GP supports
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WRC - Germany: Latvala extends his lead by taking the stage win with a cracking time of 9m59.1s. The Finn took a brief trip across some grass mid-stage, but said it was "nothing too serious."
WRC - Germany: Drama for Meeke who said that towards the end of the stage that he "started to feel something strange." Looks like he had a puncture. His time is still a respectable 10m03.7s.
WRC - Germany: Sordo loses time to Neuville in their fight for third. The Spaniard finishes SS11 in 10m05.4s.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Fastest time klaxon! Neuville completes the stage in 10m00.8s. Team-mate Sordo was 1.3s behind at the interval, how will he do?
BSS – Slovakia Ring: The rain has abated, but the barrier repairs – which triggered the safety car – are still on-going. When the race re-starts, and we don't know when, it will be from behind the safety car.
BSS – Slovakia Ring: The cars are on the grid and being put onto wets. The most amazing sight is Giorgio Pantano's McLaren in fourth place - he started 20th!
WRC - Germany: Evans can't beat Ostberg and his time is 10m07.6s.
Hirvonen, meanwhile has managed to complete the stage quicker than his Welsh rival with a time of 10m04.4s, moving him up to sixth overall.
Hirvonen, meanwhile has managed to complete the stage quicker than his Welsh rival with a time of 10m04.4s, moving him up to sixth overall.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Scratch that, because Ostberg has just reached the finish in 10m07.2s.
BSS - Slovakia Ring: The good news is that Enge extricated himself from the wrecked Lambo unaided. The bad news is that it is absolutely tipping it down.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Bouffier is next up and he's gone quickest of all, with a time of 10m07.7s.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: And here come the frontrunners, starting with Prokop, whose time is the quickest so far - 10m14.1s.
"I'm surprise by the weather," he said. "It's completely dry and this stage was too much for this tyre. It was moving a lot."
He's running on softs this afternoon.
"I'm surprise by the weather," he said. "It's completely dry and this stage was too much for this tyre. It was moving a lot."
He's running on softs this afternoon.
Red flag
BSS - Slovakia Ring: Heavy rain now brings out the red flags.
WRC - Germany: Decent effort by Irish newcomer Moffett, who completes the stage in 10m36.8s. He's currently 16th overall.
BSS - Slovakia Ring: The safety car is out after a monster shunt involving Tomas Enge's Reiter Lambo. The car ended up on the grass after Turn 1 and rolled end over end before ending up perched on the barrier.
WRC - Germany: Next up is WRC2 frontrunner Protasov, who is behind the wheel of a WRC Ford this weekend. His time is 10.29.0s, which is 34.3s quicker than the first time round.
WRC - Germany: The former grand prix driver beats his morning time and reaches the finish in 10m15.5s.
"Everything has dried up and we have soft tyres," said Kubica. "There was no mud, just a bit of gravel."
"Everything has dried up and we have soft tyres," said Kubica. "There was no mud, just a bit of gravel."
WRC - Germany: How far is 17.53km in miles? Precisely 10.892637. Kubica was the quickest on this stage this morning, completing it in 10m21.8s.
Lights out
WRC - Germany: The second run through Stein & Wein has begun and Kubica is the first to tackle the 17.53km test. He's currently 12th overall at the moment, having lost four minutes when he went off-course during Friday's opening loop of stages.
WRC - Germany: All the frontrunners bar Bouffier and Evans have gone out with five soft compound tyres this afternoon. The aforementioned duo have opted for four softs and two hards instead.
WRC - Germany: We don't have a sun icon here on Race Centre Live, but if we did, we would use it right now as there is no sign of rain at the moment.
WRC - Germany: And here is the current top 10:
1 Latvala
2 Meeke +45.8s
3 Neuville +53.8s
4 Sordo +55.1s
5 Mikkelsen +1m06.1s
6 Evans +1m28.6s
7 Hirvonen +1m29.0s
8 Ostberg +1m32.7s
9 Bouffier +2m24.7s
10 Prokop +2m58.5s
The closest battle at present is between Evans and Hirvonen as just 0.4s separates them in their fight for sixth.
1 Latvala
2 Meeke +45.8s
3 Neuville +53.8s
4 Sordo +55.1s
5 Mikkelsen +1m06.1s
6 Evans +1m28.6s
7 Hirvonen +1m29.0s
8 Ostberg +1m32.7s
9 Bouffier +2m24.7s
10 Prokop +2m58.5s
The closest battle at present is between Evans and Hirvonen as just 0.4s separates them in their fight for sixth.
WRC - Germany: Here is this afternoon’s schedule (all UK times):
SS11 Stein & Wein 2 - 1.31pm
SS12 Peterberg 2 - 2.31pm
SS13 Arena Panzerplatte 2 - 3.44pm
SS14 Panzerplatted Lange - 3.59pm
SS11 Stein & Wein 2 - 1.31pm
SS12 Peterberg 2 - 2.31pm
SS13 Arena Panzerplatte 2 - 3.44pm
SS14 Panzerplatted Lange - 3.59pm
WRC - Germany: What’s happened to Sebastien Ogier?
Well, the reigning champion crashed his Volkswagen Polo R heavily into a roadside barrier 1.1km into the Peterberg test this morning. Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were not injured, but both were taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
The impact damaged the barrier and the test was stopped for safety reasons. The barrier, which separates the stage from the motorway, is unable to be repaired for this afternoon, so SS12 has been shortened.
Well, the reigning champion crashed his Volkswagen Polo R heavily into a roadside barrier 1.1km into the Peterberg test this morning. Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia were not injured, but both were taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
The impact damaged the barrier and the test was stopped for safety reasons. The barrier, which separates the stage from the motorway, is unable to be repaired for this afternoon, so SS12 has been shortened.
WRC - Germany: Ready for another dose of Rally Germany? The first of this afternoon’s loop of stages gets underway at 1.31pm UK time and it’s Jari-Matti Latvala who currently leads the way, ahead of an in-form Kris Meeke and the Hyundais of Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo.
You can read our recent report by clicking this hyperlink.
You can read our recent report by clicking this hyperlink.
AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live is now going to head to service for a while until the rally resumes for the afternoon loop.
We'll be back from 1.30pm UK time with full coverage of the afternoon loop of Rally Germany stages, the Spa GP2 and GP3 races, plus updates from the BTCC at Knockhill and Blancpain Sprint Series at the Slovakia Ring.
We'll be back from 1.30pm UK time with full coverage of the afternoon loop of Rally Germany stages, the Spa GP2 and GP3 races, plus updates from the BTCC at Knockhill and Blancpain Sprint Series at the Slovakia Ring.
Bar
WRC - Germany: The forecast suggests there's going to be more rain for the re-runs of these stages after lunch.
AUTOSPORT is well aware that it rained last night - largely because DAVID EVANS was kept awake by the general revelry of those inside the Zum Augustiner bar in Trier.
There was still a hardcore of boozers (and, alarmingly alsatian dogs) when he left for service this morning. Clearly thirsty work this German rally watching.
WRC - Germany: Bad stage for Frenchmen in the feeder classes.
Sebastien Chardonnet, who led WRC2 yesterday, and Eric Camilli, who was leading WRC3, have both crashed.
Sebastien Chardonnet, who led WRC2 yesterday, and Eric Camilli, who was leading WRC3, have both crashed.
Breaking news
WRC - Germany: So shall we round up the morning?
* Latvala storms away in rally lead
* Ogier has massive crash
* Neuville jumps from fifth to third, just behind Meeke, ahead of Sordo and Mikkelsen
* Evans, Hirvonen and Ostberg close up in sixth-place battle
* Kubica gets back up to 12th
* Latvala storms away in rally lead
* Ogier has massive crash
* Neuville jumps from fifth to third, just behind Meeke, ahead of Sordo and Mikkelsen
* Evans, Hirvonen and Ostberg close up in sixth-place battle
* Kubica gets back up to 12th
Checkered flag
WRC - Germany - SS10 results:
Stage times:
1 Latvala 24m40.2s
2 Neuville +0.7s
3 Meeke +5.2s
4 Sordo +6.6s
5 Mikkelsen +13.6s
6 Ostberg +16.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Latvala
2 Meeke +45.8s
3 Neuville +53.8s
4 Sordo +55.1s
5 Mikkelsen +1m06.1s
6 Evans +1m28.6s
7 Hirvonen +1m29.0s
8 Ostberg +1m32.7s
9 Bouffier +2m24.7s
10 Prokop +2m58.5s
Stage times:
1 Latvala 24m40.2s
2 Neuville +0.7s
3 Meeke +5.2s
4 Sordo +6.6s
5 Mikkelsen +13.6s
6 Ostberg +16.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Latvala
2 Meeke +45.8s
3 Neuville +53.8s
4 Sordo +55.1s
5 Mikkelsen +1m06.1s
6 Evans +1m28.6s
7 Hirvonen +1m29.0s
8 Ostberg +1m32.7s
9 Bouffier +2m24.7s
10 Prokop +2m58.5s
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: And after all this talk about how difficult soft tyres were on this stage, Latvala has just beaten Neuville to the stage win - on softs.
And he doesn't even need to push. Extraordinary stuff from Latvala today.
And he doesn't even need to push. Extraordinary stuff from Latvala today.
BSS - Slovakia Ring: Laurens Vanthoor takes pole for the WRT Audi squad. His 1m58.187s edges out Lambo driver Jeroen Bleekemolen by a tenth and a half. Markus Winkelhock is third a further half a second back.
F1 - Belgium: We'll continue with our WRC coverage until Panzerplatte is finished, but if you want to pop open another window to see what's happening over the border in Belgium, coverage of Formula 1 practice three at Spa is beginning on AUTOSPORT GP Live now.
WRC - Germany: Neuville does gain two places - he jumps both Mikkelsen and Sordo to go from fifth to third on a single stage.
Sordo thinks Neuville was probably the bolder man on the slippery sections, where their hard tyre wasn't so great.
Sordo is still fourth, though, and pulled away from Mikkelsen.
Sordo thinks Neuville was probably the bolder man on the slippery sections, where their hard tyre wasn't so great.
Sordo is still fourth, though, and pulled away from Mikkelsen.
WRC - Germany: Mikkelsen's tyres were extremely worn by the end of that one.
"Phew! Not easy!" says the Norwegian, who is mainly relieved that he got to the end of that one without incident.
"Phew! Not easy!" says the Norwegian, who is mainly relieved that he got to the end of that one without incident.
WRC - Germany: Mikkelsen completes the stage 12.9s slower than Neuville!
That's a huge time loss at the end of the stage, and it drops him from fourth to fifth overall behind the flying Hyundai.
That's a huge time loss at the end of the stage, and it drops him from fourth to fifth overall behind the flying Hyundai.
WRC - Germany: By the final splits, Neuville is our fastest man so far and it seems his tyre choice is working.
But he's kicking himself at the end of the stage, saying he made too many mistakes.
The times suggest he could gain two places here, though, and jump to third...
But he's kicking himself at the end of the stage, saying he made too many mistakes.
The times suggest he could gain two places here, though, and jump to third...
WRC - Germany: M-Sport men Evans and Hirvonen are a bit slower than Ostberg, with the Welsh rookie faster than the Finnish sometime title contender, not for the first time this weekend.
BSS - Slovakia Ring: A rare mistake from Bleekemolen – he takes a trip through the gravel on his out-lap in final qualifying.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Despite his various adventures, Kubica was still faster than all the midfielders by over half a minute, and on the same pace as Bouffier's hard-shod Hyundai.
Ostberg is the first man through who's quicker, by 21s.
Ostberg is the first man through who's quicker, by 21s.
BSS - Slovakia Ring: Markus Winkelhock is on top in Q2 for the Phoenix Audi squad on a 1m58.770s. The 11 going through to final qualifying are: Winkelhock, Bleekemolen, Vanthoor, Enge, Gotz, Fumanelli, Zanardi, Rast, Dusseldorp, Stolz and Ebrahim.
By: Matt Beer, David Evans, AUTOSPORT staff, Gary Watkins, Dan Cross, Charles Bradley, Kevin Turner
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