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Rally Poland 2017
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That's it for our WRC live coverage. Stay on Autosport for live MotoGP race coverage from the Sachsenring in a little under 40 minutes, live video and blogging from the Goodwood Festival of Speed all day and then the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend. The 2017 WRC resumes in a month: IN FINLAND.
Now that is going to be spectacular.
Now that is going to be spectacular.
Information
Final result:
1 Neuville
2 Paddon +1m23.9s
3 Ogier +2m20.8s
4 Sordo +2m47.4s
5 Lefebvre +3m11.8s
6 Suninen +3m16.8s
7 Ostberg +3m39.6s
8 Evans +4m39.1s
9 Mikkelsen +4m43.5s
10 Hanninen +4m53.7s
1 Neuville
2 Paddon +1m23.9s
3 Ogier +2m20.8s
4 Sordo +2m47.4s
5 Lefebvre +3m11.8s
6 Suninen +3m16.8s
7 Ostberg +3m39.6s
8 Evans +4m39.1s
9 Mikkelsen +4m43.5s
10 Hanninen +4m53.7s
On the one hand, of course he doesn't want to jeopardise a clear win and 25 points when looking for five. But with Ogier having already bagged four bonus points here and just 18 between them, surely every point counts in this title battle?
Not a very impressive first split from Neuville, he's only fifth fastest there.
No bonus for Sordo, he's only sixth fastest.
Only drama for Paddon or Neuville will bring Ogier higher than third. It's all about whether he can limit the damage to his championship lead by outscoring Neuville on the powerstage.
Stopwatch
Right. Ogier time. And he's fastest so far at split one.
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"I don't really know what happened," says Suninen. "Next to where Tanak went off before, I lost the rear. But I was able to keep the car on the road. That's a disappointment to make a mistake in the last stage."
Not as hot for Lefebvre in the middle of the stage - he's now third quickest on the splits behind Latvala and Mikkelsen.
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Powerstage positions so far:
1 Latvala 8m57.5s
2 Mikkelsen +5.3s
3 Ostberg +12.4s
4 Evans +13.8s
5 Haninen +19.5s
1 Latvala 8m57.5s
2 Mikkelsen +5.3s
3 Ostberg +12.4s
4 Evans +13.8s
5 Haninen +19.5s
Mikkelsen and Evans are split up by the out-of-position Latvala. Though fourth in the start order on this stage, he's going to be 20th overall following his clutch failure while third yesterday.
Is Mikkelsen going quickly enough to get two places here? The gap to Evans in eighth was 12.9s, and the DMACK Ford's just started the stage.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen has got this - he's 10.6s faster at the next split.
Meanwhile, first up on the stage is Craig Breen. He'll finish 11th overall at the end of an event that began with a broken driveshaft that left him in front-wheel-drive throughout the opening morning.
It wasn't even the fun way around - a sick front-wheel-drive Citroen World Rally Car shipping minutes to its rivals much less satisfying than the rear-wheel-drive Ford Escort MkII he enjoyed on an Irish rally last weekend.
Perhaps worse still was how despondent Breen sounded even when the car was fixed - saying he was permanently "petrified" of crashing at every corner and that it was the worst day of his rallying career.
After that, just hearing him less miserable on Saturday was a relief. Recovering from 26th to 11th was the best he could hope for.
It wasn't even the fun way around - a sick front-wheel-drive Citroen World Rally Car shipping minutes to its rivals much less satisfying than the rear-wheel-drive Ford Escort MkII he enjoyed on an Irish rally last weekend.
Perhaps worse still was how despondent Breen sounded even when the car was fixed - saying he was permanently "petrified" of crashing at every corner and that it was the worst day of his rallying career.
After that, just hearing him less miserable on Saturday was a relief. Recovering from 26th to 11th was the best he could hope for.
But the key thing now is powerstage points, and particularly Neuville and Ogier's powerstage points.
They're only 18 points apart in the championship now, and Neuville stands to gain 10 by winning with Ogier third, so the bonus score available here - 5-4-3-2-1 for the top five finishers - is going to make a big difference.
They're only 18 points apart in the championship now, and Neuville stands to gain 10 by winning with Ogier third, so the bonus score available here - 5-4-3-2-1 for the top five finishers - is going to make a big difference.
That's where we're going to leave our Live coverage for tonight. Keep an eye on Autosport.com for the full report from this afternoon after the superspecial later, and in the morning for a report from the first loop. We'll be back with full on Autosport Live coverage for the deciding two stages from 9.45am UK time tomorrow.
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SS18 summary:
* Neuville roars back into the rally lead by 2.5s despite rain hitting
* Tanak can only manage the ninth-fastest time with his lack of wing
* Mikkelsen makes it back into the top 10 at troubled Hanninen's expense
* Neuville roars back into the rally lead by 2.5s despite rain hitting
* Tanak can only manage the ninth-fastest time with his lack of wing
* Mikkelsen makes it back into the top 10 at troubled Hanninen's expense
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SS18 RESULTS
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m02.1s
2 Paddon +0.5s
3 Lefebvre +2.7s
4 Ogier +3.4s
5 Mikkelsen +3.5s
6 Ostberg +7.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +2.5s
3 Paddon +24.9s
4 Ogier +1m31.6s
5 Sordo +1m42.9s
6 Suninen +2m04.3s
7 Lefebvre +2m19.2s
8 Ostberg +2m45.4s
9 Evans +3m23.3s
10 Mikkelsen +3m34.4s
11 Hanninen +3m35.8s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m02.1s
2 Paddon +0.5s
3 Lefebvre +2.7s
4 Ogier +3.4s
5 Mikkelsen +3.5s
6 Ostberg +7.1s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +2.5s
3 Paddon +24.9s
4 Ogier +1m31.6s
5 Sordo +1m42.9s
6 Suninen +2m04.3s
7 Lefebvre +2m19.2s
8 Ostberg +2m45.4s
9 Evans +3m23.3s
10 Mikkelsen +3m34.4s
11 Hanninen +3m35.8s
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And Neuville says the weather had a good go at stopping him there:
"I had a lot of rain in the last 5km. It started 7-8km before the finish so all the Tarmac was wet. I pushed like hell. It was very hard. Very unlucky."
"I had a lot of rain in the last 5km. It started 7-8km before the finish so all the Tarmac was wet. I pushed like hell. It was very hard. Very unlucky."
Stopwatch
Next split times are in and Neuville is now 6.2s faster than Tanak - which puts him in the lead by 0.1s if he maintains it.
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Firmly ensconced in third after Latvala's troubles, Paddon adds "we'll just try to look after this position".
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Paddon's in, fastest so far by 2.2s over Lefebvre, and says he took it "a bit easier" there as he was making a few too many mistakes and there was a bit of rain in the air.
Stopwatch
But Neuville's first split is very good - he's fastest there and 3.6s up on Tanak. On course to take back the lead on this stage...?
The leaders are now joining the stage, Tanak has just left the startline and Neuville is lining up next.
Hanninen comes in slowest so far, 13.9s off the benchmark that Lefebvre's set, and that drops him behind Mikkelsen to what will be 11th - and brings Mikkelsen back into the top 10 at long last.
Stopwatch
And at the stage finish, Mikkelsen has gained 7.1s on Evans. Good stage for the Citroen.
Hanninen's first split is in, and he's lost 4.9s to Mikkelsen.
After Evans pulled away from Mikkelsen a touch on the last stage, this time the Citroen's gaining ground again - 3s up at the first split.
Green flag
Kruklanki is up and running, Breen, Mikkelsen, Evans and Ostberg all onto the stage.
Crash
Meanwhile, back on SS17, both the WRC2 frontrunners - Veiby and Tidemand - have had punctures, which has instantly brought Breen a lot closer to them. Veiby comes out of it best, with a 1m06s class lead.
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OK, onto the last full-length stage of the day, the second run of Kruklanki.
Pryce and Furniss talk us through it:
SS18 Kruklanki (12.16 miles)
The opening section is quite fast, but after that it gets quite similar to Pozezdrze (SS12/16) in that it's hard to find a rhythm again.
There's definitely no room for error in this one, it's so technical and really difficult in the middle and end.
Pryce and Furniss talk us through it:
SS18 Kruklanki (12.16 miles)
The opening section is quite fast, but after that it gets quite similar to Pozezdrze (SS12/16) in that it's hard to find a rhythm again.
There's definitely no room for error in this one, it's so technical and really difficult in the middle and end.
Neuville comes through second fastest, 0.5s off team-mate Paddon, and that means he brings Tanak's lead down to just 6.1s already.
Tanak adds that the wing just dropped off on a straight section.
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"It's very risky, it's very difficult," says Tanak. "What can I do?"
Tanak is in, ninth quickest and 8.8s off current benchmark Paddon. How much is he going to lose to Neuville...?
Now the leaders are starting to take to the stage. Sordo's splits suggest he won't be coming back at Ogier's fourth place any time soon.
But the ones to watch are Tanak and Neuville. How will Tanak fare without his wing and did Neuville's puncture do any additional damage?
But the ones to watch are Tanak and Neuville. How will Tanak fare without his wing and did Neuville's puncture do any additional damage?
Evans, who is fastest so far, looks like he has a very good shot at grabbing ninth from Hanninen on this stage.
Mikkelsen is getting himself involved in a battle for ninth now - 21.8s covers Hanninen, Evans and Mikkelsen in ninth to 11th.
Breen's progress from 26th after yesterday's problems has now brought him up to 14th.
There's a two minute gap to WRC2 leaders Ole Christian Veiby and Pontus Tidemand, which ought to be cleared this afternoon, and then he'll be 12th.
Once he gets there, Breen's relying on trouble ahead to make further progress, though, as there's an eight-minute gulf to the WRC stragglers from there.
There's a two minute gap to WRC2 leaders Ole Christian Veiby and Pontus Tidemand, which ought to be cleared this afternoon, and then he'll be 12th.
Once he gets there, Breen's relying on trouble ahead to make further progress, though, as there's an eight-minute gulf to the WRC stragglers from there.
By: Matt Beer
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