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Tanak completes the stage 8s off Neuville's pace. He's up to second as Meeke has stopped, but the gap to leader Neuville is now 25.8s.
Latvala explains that his pace would be a bit better if he'd been able to make all the set-up changes he wanted this morning, but he lost time having trouble getting the car started.
Twitter
Citroen has handily retweeted a picture of Meeke in trouble, here it comes...
Latvala is 7s faster than Sordo, which is likely to put him sixth behind the flying Ogier.
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Sordo puts his lack of pace down to the conditions rather than a problem.
"Very, very slippery. Very difficult conditions and hard to read the road."
He'll be around seventh as everyone else slots in, most likely.
"Very, very slippery. Very difficult conditions and hard to read the road."
He'll be around seventh as everyone else slots in, most likely.
Crash
Tracking system shows Meeke is stopped on the stage...
Neuville is nearly 40s faster than team-mate Sordo on that stage. Trouble for Sordo or just Neuville flying...? Let's find out.
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"I stalled on the hairpin before the finish but I didn't lose much time. At the end the tyres were a bit gone, and it was tricky to drive," says the mainly happy rally leader Neuville.
Stopwatch
Neuville completes the stage 4.9s faster than Ogier. Just need to see how that compares to Meeke and Tanak - indications so far are that he'll pull away a touch.
Quote
Ogier is through, here's his view of the weather:
"It's a mix of everything. The problem is when there's snow, there's a thin layer and there's no grip."
And of the Fiesta: "I'm not happy with everything".
Early days, though.
"It's a mix of everything. The problem is when there's snow, there's a thin layer and there's no grip."
And of the Fiesta: "I'm not happy with everything".
Early days, though.
Stopwatch
Hanninen is right in the thick of this still - at split one he's second fastest to Tanak.
Stopwatch
Indeed Neuville is flying now and setting the pace through all the latest splits. After that blistering start, Tanak is now losing a couple of seconds to the Hyundai.
Stopwatch
Still a couple of splits to go and Ogier is already doing enough to jump from eighth to fifth (past Sordo, Breen and Latvala) on this one.
But he's not as fast as Neuville overall.
But he's not as fast as Neuville overall.
Meeke is remaining about 5s off leader Neuville's pace on this one. We're missing a split time from Tanak, but no sign of that being due to a problem on the stage, it just seems to be a glitch.
But Breen's old Citroen is still quicker than Evans's 2017 Ford at present - the DMACK car is half a minute down at split one.
If you're just joining us, Evans was two minutes slower than the leaders on SS3 and said the problem was nothing more than a lack of grip.
If you're just joining us, Evans was two minutes slower than the leaders on SS3 and said the problem was nothing more than a lack of grip.
This is the first stage where Breen's 2016-vintage (and that DS3 wasn't exactly fresh and brand new for 2016) Citroen is struggling for pace compared to the new-generation 2017 cars. He's nearly 20s off the top times already at split one.
Ogier may get pretty close to fifth-placed Latvala by the end of this one based on split times so far.
Hanninen was a minute late starting the stage. Not clear why yet.
Stopwatch
Not good for Meeke - he's 4.5s off Neuville's pace at split one and therefore nearly 8s off Tanak. That will pop Tanak past Meeke into second overall if that balance is maintained to the finish of this long stage.
Ogier is on course to get ahead of Sordo on this stage at current pace, and Breen's 2016 car was only a tenth further up the order. So that could be Ogier back into sixth at the end of this one.
Stopwatch
Great stuff from Tanak again - he's taken 2.5s out of Neuville's lead by split one.
Further back on the SS4 splits, Latvala is edging away from Sordo and cementing his fifth place. Tanak and Meeke are on the road and heading for split one, so let's see how they do relative to leader Neuville.
WRC2 is pretty ferociously competitive this weekend, but Mikkelsen is holding his lead in it - albeit now by just three tenths over Skoda team-mate Jan Kopecky.
Stopwatch
Early splits on SS4 are in, and Neuville is 0.7s quicker than Ogier up to now.
But really after Ogier's delay on the last stage what matters is how he compares to the midfielders he's trying to overhaul, and what Neuville's doing compared to nearest challengers Meeke and Tanak.
But really after Ogier's delay on the last stage what matters is how he compares to the midfielders he's trying to overhaul, and what Neuville's doing compared to nearest challengers Meeke and Tanak.
Information
This is what SS4 will hold, as described by Meeke's co-driver Nagle:
SS4 Aspres les Corps-Chaillol 1 (24.19 miles)
This is two stages combined from last year. Just after St Firmin last year, we slotted on the D985, but this year we keep right and go into a hairpin and carry on down a really tricky, twisty kind of road. There are some fast places, but it’s not quite as flowing.
The road down into the village of La Motte-en-Champsaur was so icy on the recce, it's downhill to the side of a river which runs through the village – that'll be really tricky.
Just after that is where Kris and I retired when we broke a [steering] arm in 2015 and a little bit further down the road is where Sebastien Loeb damaged his wheel.
I've got those places marked in the notes – our place is a fifth-gear corner – and I'll call to Kris "Our corner" just to remind him.
SS4 Aspres les Corps-Chaillol 1 (24.19 miles)
This is two stages combined from last year. Just after St Firmin last year, we slotted on the D985, but this year we keep right and go into a hairpin and carry on down a really tricky, twisty kind of road. There are some fast places, but it’s not quite as flowing.
The road down into the village of La Motte-en-Champsaur was so icy on the recce, it's downhill to the side of a river which runs through the village – that'll be really tricky.
Just after that is where Kris and I retired when we broke a [steering] arm in 2015 and a little bit further down the road is where Sebastien Loeb damaged his wheel.
I've got those places marked in the notes – our place is a fifth-gear corner – and I'll call to Kris "Our corner" just to remind him.
Right, shall we crack straight on with SS4? Three cars are onto it already...
Information
SS3 summary:
* Ogier goes off and drops to eighth
* Neuville maintains a 16s lead over Meeke
* Tanak sets the pace and closes right in on Meeke for second
* Evans loses over two minutes and blames a pure lack of grip
* Hanninen is right on the lead pace until having to pass Evans on the stage, he falls to fourth overall
* Ogier goes off and drops to eighth
* Neuville maintains a 16s lead over Meeke
* Tanak sets the pace and closes right in on Meeke for second
* Evans loses over two minutes and blames a pure lack of grip
* Hanninen is right on the lead pace until having to pass Evans on the stage, he falls to fourth overall
Information
SS3 results:
Stage times:
1 Tanak 19m17.8s
2 Neuville +1.6s
3 Meeke +2.3s
4 Latvala +11.9s
5 Hanninen +14.5s
6 Sordo +15.3s
(9 Ogier +43.2s)
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Meeke +16.5s
3 Tanak +17.8s
4 Hanninen +27.9s
5 Latvala +38.7s
6 Breen +40.2s
7 Sordo +40.3s
8 Ogier +49.4s
Stage times:
1 Tanak 19m17.8s
2 Neuville +1.6s
3 Meeke +2.3s
4 Latvala +11.9s
5 Hanninen +14.5s
6 Sordo +15.3s
(9 Ogier +43.2s)
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Meeke +16.5s
3 Tanak +17.8s
4 Hanninen +27.9s
5 Latvala +38.7s
6 Breen +40.2s
7 Sordo +40.3s
8 Ogier +49.4s
And completing the World Rally Car pack is Stephane Lefebvre in the second Citroen. He retired with transmission trouble last night so is running under Rally2 a long way off the pack.
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Evans lost 2m17s but insists the car isn't damaged...
"It's just the grip I have. I was in the ditch once but that was just 10 seconds. I don't know," he says.
He's on DMACK tyres when the rest are on Michelins, but whether he's saying that gap is pure tyre performance on the ice or a mechanical issue costing him grip isn't clear.
"It's just the grip I have. I was in the ditch once but that was just 10 seconds. I don't know," he says.
He's on DMACK tyres when the rest are on Michelins, but whether he's saying that gap is pure tyre performance on the ice or a mechanical issue costing him grip isn't clear.
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"Nothing special, I lost some time over there but it's OK," is Hanninen's neutral summary of what happened in the final miles.
And has passing Evans cost Hanninen time? He was right on the quickest drivers' pace up to the final split but is 14s off Tanak at the finish and he falls to fourth overall.
In fact Evans's time loss is so great he'll have to get out of Hanninen's way. That's not easily done on narrow and icy Monte stages.
Crash
Evans continues to limp through the stage, he's now dropped nearly two minutes to the frontrunners. Looks like he'll reach the finish and can tell us about his problems.
Underdog hero Breen and his 2016 car are in, unsurprisingly slower than all the 2017 machines that haven't visited ditches, but not by much.
He hangs on ahead of Sordo overall by 0.1s, which will probably mean he is seventh-ish.
Actually, make that sixth as Evans has lost time.
He hangs on ahead of Sordo overall by 0.1s, which will probably mean he is seventh-ish.
Actually, make that sixth as Evans has lost time.
Stopwatch
Hanninen is going to stay right in the podium fight - he was the fastest man of all between splits two and three, and he's 2.5s off Tanak's pace overall at that point.
Quote
"It's just a complete lottery," says Meeke of the ice and snow patches, but he's happy with the car.
"I just drive my stage and forget about everything else. If the time's good, it's good."
"I just drive my stage and forget about everything else. If the time's good, it's good."
Stopwatch
Here's Meeke, third fastest on the stage, 2.3s off Tanak's pace.
He does hang on to second place ahead of Tanak, 16.5s behind Neuville overall and 1.3s ahead of Tanak.
He does hang on to second place ahead of Tanak, 16.5s behind Neuville overall and 1.3s ahead of Tanak.
Quote
"Really tricky, some bad moments," says Tanak. "We need to look at the radio because we could hear all the conversation behind other people and it was disturbing me quite a lot. I tried my best."
By: Geoff Creighton
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