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That time from Evans has taken over a minute out of his gap to WRC2 leader Mikkelsen in the overall standings. The seventh-placed Skoda driver (who really doesn't have to be fighting a World Rally Car anyway) is now 1m14s ahead of Evans.
And as Mikkelsen just said, with a huge margin over his class rivals, he could afford to be at "Sunday speed" on the ice there.
And as Mikkelsen just said, with a huge margin over his class rivals, he could afford to be at "Sunday speed" on the ice there.
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This is what's to come from SS10, described by Meeke's co-driver Paul Nagle:
SS10 La Batie Montsaleon-Faye (10.42 miles)
The first two kilometres is new at the beginning of this stage, so we have new notes for those, but after that we have [old] notes all the way to the finish.
The start is really fast, very fast until we get to the junction with the D48.
After that the road's quite a bit more twisty. We climb up over two cols in this stage and, again, the road here was really snowy during the recce.
SS10 La Batie Montsaleon-Faye (10.42 miles)
The first two kilometres is new at the beginning of this stage, so we have new notes for those, but after that we have [old] notes all the way to the finish.
The start is really fast, very fast until we get to the junction with the D48.
After that the road's quite a bit more twisty. We climb up over two cols in this stage and, again, the road here was really snowy during the recce.
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After the delay to the start of SS9 while spectators were encouraged to move to safer places, SS10 will begin 21 minutes late too - in seven minutes.
Information
SS9 summary:
* Neuville goes quickest and adds 2s to his lead over Ogier - now 47s
* Tanak isn't confident on the ice and falls 17s away from Ogier in third
* Sordo isn't confident either and loses fifth to Breen again
* The DMACKs work well on the dry sections and a resurgent Evans is third fastest
* Neuville goes quickest and adds 2s to his lead over Ogier - now 47s
* Tanak isn't confident on the ice and falls 17s away from Ogier in third
* Sordo isn't confident either and loses fifth to Breen again
* The DMACKs work well on the dry sections and a resurgent Evans is third fastest
Stopwatch
SS9 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 24m02.9s
2 Ogier +2.6s
3 Evans +5.8s
4 Breen +16.7s
5 Tanak +20.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Ogier +47.7s
3 Tanak +1m05.6s
4 Latvala +2m44.8s
5 Breen +3m20.8s
6 Sordo +3m22.1s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 24m02.9s
2 Ogier +2.6s
3 Evans +5.8s
4 Breen +16.7s
5 Tanak +20.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Ogier +47.7s
3 Tanak +1m05.6s
4 Latvala +2m44.8s
5 Breen +3m20.8s
6 Sordo +3m22.1s
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"It's not a massive difference to be honest," says Neuville of the gap to Ogier. "I tried to have a clean run. I had good information from the gravel crew so I was committed and confident.
"I've never had a car working like this for the first rally of the season, so I'm enjoying it."
"I've never had a car working like this for the first rally of the season, so I'm enjoying it."
Stopwatch
Neuville comes in fastest, 2.6s up on Ogier (though that gap had been as much as 8s on some of the splits). That means his rally lead is now 47s.
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"I tried to save the tyre a bit in the beginning," says Ogier. "It's tricky, in the ice it's very, very slippery. Happy to be here!"
Stopwatch
Ogier is in and the first man to beat Evans's time, by 3.2s. More significantly for the overall standings, he's a lot faster than Tanak and the gap from second to third is up to 17.9s.
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No problems for Tanak beyond just not feeling confident in the icy sections.
"I tried to be nice but obviously in the ice it's very slippery and even at that low speed it's very difficult," he says. "It is very tricky."
"I tried to be nice but obviously in the ice it's very slippery and even at that low speed it's very difficult," he says. "It is very tricky."
Not a stunner from Tanak. he's only third fastest so far behind Evans (who is 14s quicker) and Breen.
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Slowest time so far from Latvala, who's 29s off the pace set by Evans. He still has a 36s margin over Breen as he holds fourth overall, but he's mildly kicking himself for rooting his tyres on the better parts of the stage.
"It's very, very tricky. I think I did a bit of a mistake," he says. "In the beginning I tried too much on the dry Tarmac and I killed my studs so I struggled on the icy sections. It was my driving."
"It's very, very tricky. I think I did a bit of a mistake," he says. "In the beginning I tried too much on the dry Tarmac and I killed my studs so I struggled on the icy sections. It was my driving."
Stopwatch
Full set of times coming in from the leaders on the splits now, and it's slightly good news for Ogier in that he's pulled 11s clear of team-mate Tanak in their fight for second, but better news still for Neuville - he's 3.3s faster than Ogier.
Breen retakes fifth from Sordo - he's 7.6s quicker on the stage and that puts him 1.3s ahead overall. Neither was enjoying the mix of dry road/surprise ice very much but whereas Breen was quite animated about it all, Sordo is completely lacking in confidence in those conditions.
Stopwatch
We're not getting all the times from Ogier's car, but we do now have someone going quicker than Evans - rally leader Neuville is faster than the Welshman by 5.9s at split two.
And more relevantly, that's 13s faster than Tanak at that point. Neuville is looking set to storm away.
And more relevantly, that's 13s faster than Tanak at that point. Neuville is looking set to storm away.
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Evans is at the stage finish with a time of 24m08.7s. Yesterday he was stoically diplomatic, let's see what his Saturday mood is like after that stronger performance from the DMACKs:
"That's a bit of a surprise because the ice felt really, really slow again," he says. "OK, we'll take it!"
"That's a bit of a surprise because the ice felt really, really slow again," he says. "OK, we'll take it!"
Stopwatch
And a turnaround in the Breen/Sordo battle now - Sordo had been on course to make his gap back to Breen in sixth a bit more comfortable, but on the latest split Breen is nearly 3s quicker and halving his deficit in the overall standings.
Evans is losing a little of his pace advantage later on the stage - he was 12s clear of next-man-on-the-road Breen and now that's down to 10s in the area where the ice is believed to be. But that's a lot better than the minutes Evans was shipping to his rivals yesterday.
Stopwatch
Evans's split two time has come in now and he's still absolutely flying - 10s up on the mid-pack Michelin runners there.
We understand the first chunk of the stage is pretty dry and clear, then the ice arrives in the later miles. So as DMACK's tweet said, those tyres are fine on a clean road.
We understand the first chunk of the stage is pretty dry and clear, then the ice arrives in the later miles. So as DMACK's tweet said, those tyres are fine on a clean road.
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What we do know from split two is that Sordo is still looking good in his battle with Breen for fifth. The new Hyundai is 4s up on the old Citroen there.
Slightly annoyingly, Evans's car hasn't transmitted a time back for split two so we can't tell if he's still setting the pace. But there are no dramas there, he's still moving fine on the tracking system.
Stopwatch
Evans is still the split one pacesetter, but Neuville is now closest to him - 2.3s off. That puts the rally leader on course to add a bit to his cushion over the Fords.
Ogier and Tanak were just 0.3s apart in second and third for M-Sport overnight. Tanak was pessimistic about his chances of keeping pace with his illustrious new team-mate today, but right now he's on course to claim second back - though there's a lot of this long stage to go.
Stopwatch
Ogier is only fourth fastest at split one, on a similar pace to Latvala and Tanak (just a few tenths between those three) but still 5s slower than Evans.
Tanak is second quickest at split one, but he's 4s off Evans too.
Stopwatch
So far, no one has got within 4s of Evans's time on the first split. Is being first on the road a very good thing today...?
Sordo started this morning well, though. He's 4s up on Breen at the stage's first split.
Breen is one of the stars of the weekend so far. He's still in the 2016 Citroen for now and the more powerful 2017 machines should leave that car standing in clean conditions with their extra power and explosion of aero.
But when it's slushy and slippery, Breen can cause some upsets - and he spent yesterday battling hard with Dani Sordo's 2017-rules Hyundai. They're 7s apart this morning.
But when it's slushy and slippery, Breen can cause some upsets - and he spent yesterday battling hard with Dani Sordo's 2017-rules Hyundai. They're 7s apart this morning.
Reasonable start for Evans though, he's 10s quicker than Breen at the stage's first split.
First man on the road Evans had a very difficult Friday. When he slid into a ditch on the morning's opening stage and then lost two minutes in the following miles, we all assumed he'd damaged the car.
He hadn't - that was just as fast as he could make the car go as the DMACK tyres struggled on the ice.
Some stages were better than others, and Evans was very diplomatic all day, but it's fair to say Michelins are a better bet on snow and ice right now. Evans starts today in eighth overall, eight minutes off the lead and two minutes down on runaway WRC2 leader Andreas Mikkelsen.
He hadn't - that was just as fast as he could make the car go as the DMACK tyres struggled on the ice.
Some stages were better than others, and Evans was very diplomatic all day, but it's fair to say Michelins are a better bet on snow and ice right now. Evans starts today in eighth overall, eight minutes off the lead and two minutes down on runaway WRC2 leader Andreas Mikkelsen.
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Green flag
And 21 minutes later than planned, we're up and running - Evans is onto SS9.
After Ogier and Thierry Neuville in the running order will come those back in business under Rally2 - Juho Hanninen, Meeke and Stephane Lefebvre.
Hanninen and Meeke both crashed while in podium contention yesterday, while Lefebvre's Citroen hit transmission trouble on Thursday night.
Lefebvre has a reasonable shot at getting back into the points. He's up to 12th now, just under five minutes from the top 10 and with a gaggle of WRC2 cars ahead.
Hanninen and Meeke both crashed while in podium contention yesterday, while Lefebvre's Citroen hit transmission trouble on Thursday night.
Lefebvre has a reasonable shot at getting back into the points. He's up to 12th now, just under five minutes from the top 10 and with a gaggle of WRC2 cars ahead.
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When the stage does begin, Elfyn Evans will be first on the road - this being the first rally featuring the new (old) running order rules under which the leading contenders take to the stages in reverse order on Saturday rather than championship order.
That's going to be particularly pleasing for Sebastien Ogier, so accustomed to being furious on a Saturday as he swept dusty/snowy/slushy roads. Today he'll be sixth onto the stages after Evans, Craig Breen, Dani Sordo, Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tanak.
That's going to be particularly pleasing for Sebastien Ogier, so accustomed to being furious on a Saturday as he swept dusty/snowy/slushy roads. Today he'll be sixth onto the stages after Evans, Craig Breen, Dani Sordo, Jari-Matti Latvala and Ott Tanak.
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Spectator safety is always a priority in rallying, and this weekend it's a particularly pertinent topic after a spectator fatality in an incident involving Hayden Paddon's Hyundai on Thursday.
Paddon issued the following statement about events last night:
Upon reflection, I wanted to issue a small statement about yesterday’s events.
Firstly our thoughts are with the family and friends of the spectator involved. No matter the circumstances, this is never something we want to see.
Secondly, John and I are humbled by all the messages of support at this time. Obviously my thoughts are with the family and that is my only concern at the moment. Not being able to return home to New Zealand does make it a little tougher but it is important we stay strong.
I do want to take this chance to ask people not to speculate. Irrespective of how and why the accident happened, finger-pointing will not change anything .The most important thing is that we learn from this and I am committed to work with the FIA and rally organizers relentlessly to ensure this does not happen again.
I will take this chance to ask spectators at rallies to please be considerate where you stand and to respect the instructions of the marshals. We all want to enjoy a good show and go home to the family afterwards. I also ask each and every rally fan at the events if you see someone in a dangerous position to request they move for everyone’s best interest. As a community, we can collectively work together to prevent this from happening again.
Lastly, I please ask the respect from the media in these times, especially the for the family and friends of the spectator. I will not issue any further statements or conduct interviews at this stage. We made the decision to not continue this weekend out of respect, but will be back in Sweden where we will pay tribute.
Thank you again for everyone’s support and for the support of the team – it really does mean a lot.
Until Rally Sweden,
Hayden
Paddon issued the following statement about events last night:
Upon reflection, I wanted to issue a small statement about yesterday’s events.
Firstly our thoughts are with the family and friends of the spectator involved. No matter the circumstances, this is never something we want to see.
Secondly, John and I are humbled by all the messages of support at this time. Obviously my thoughts are with the family and that is my only concern at the moment. Not being able to return home to New Zealand does make it a little tougher but it is important we stay strong.
I do want to take this chance to ask people not to speculate. Irrespective of how and why the accident happened, finger-pointing will not change anything .The most important thing is that we learn from this and I am committed to work with the FIA and rally organizers relentlessly to ensure this does not happen again.
I will take this chance to ask spectators at rallies to please be considerate where you stand and to respect the instructions of the marshals. We all want to enjoy a good show and go home to the family afterwards. I also ask each and every rally fan at the events if you see someone in a dangerous position to request they move for everyone’s best interest. As a community, we can collectively work together to prevent this from happening again.
Lastly, I please ask the respect from the media in these times, especially the for the family and friends of the spectator. I will not issue any further statements or conduct interviews at this stage. We made the decision to not continue this weekend out of respect, but will be back in Sweden where we will pay tribute.
Thank you again for everyone’s support and for the support of the team – it really does mean a lot.
Until Rally Sweden,
Hayden
Still waiting for the stage to begin. Organisers had aimed for a revised start time of 8.18am local time but that has now been and gone.
By: Geoff Creighton
Published:
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