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We've got a full 15-strong World Rally Car field in, let's take a look at it:
1 Ogier 8m53.0s
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Meeke +4.4s
4 Sordo +4.7s
= Neuville +4.7s
6 Paddon +11.9s
7 Tanak +12.1s
8 Ostberg +12.9s
9 Breen +18.3s
10 Latvala +23.1s
11 H Solberg +23.7s
12 Evans +30.4s (hello WRC2 interloper)
13 Bertelli +37.4s
14 Camilli +40.1s
15 Al Qassimi +49.9s
16 Al Rahji +53.2s
1 Ogier 8m53.0s
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Meeke +4.4s
4 Sordo +4.7s
= Neuville +4.7s
6 Paddon +11.9s
7 Tanak +12.1s
8 Ostberg +12.9s
9 Breen +18.3s
10 Latvala +23.1s
11 H Solberg +23.7s
12 Evans +30.4s (hello WRC2 interloper)
13 Bertelli +37.4s
14 Camilli +40.1s
15 Al Qassimi +49.9s
16 Al Rahji +53.2s
Slight typo there in the excitement, but you get the idea.
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"It's so hard to get your head around," says Breen. "I'd say the conditions are quite good in places. It's so, so fast."
Breen slots in with ninth place, 18s off the pace. So that's 6-7s off the Paddon/Tanak/Ostberg group ahead, and 5s ahead of the troubled Latvala.
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"First time here without anything is not easy," Camilli admits.
Camilli is still very much on the learning curve. He finishes the stage 40s off the pace, so quicker only than Al-Qassimi.
Breen's pace on the splits is going to put him in the lower top 10 region. He'll be a little way behind the likes of Paddon, Tanak and Ostberg, but clear of the privateers.
Speaking of Breen, this is his plan for the event: 
Decent World Rally Car field this weekend - still to come are two more Citroens (Khalid Al Qassimi and team debutant Craig Breen), privateers Lorenzo Bertelli and Yazeed Al-Rahji, M-Sport number two Eric Camilli and welcome returnee Henning Solberg.
Paddon is sixth quickest, but a bit of a way off the pace - 11.9s down. That gets him in just ahead of Tanak and Ostberg.
Stopwatch
So our order so far is:
1 Ogier
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Meeke +4.4s
4= Neuville/Sordo +4.7s
1 Ogier
2 Mikkelsen +0.3s
3 Meeke +4.4s
4= Neuville/Sordo +4.7s
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"I'm quite surprised," Meeke says. "Credit to the organisers. It's difficult to judge the grip because it was gravel for the recce."
He says he took it quite steady early on while he sussed things out.
He says he took it quite steady early on while he sussed things out.
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Here's Meeke - his first split wasn't stunning compared to his rivals but his pace has held up much better through the rest of the stage.
He's third so far, 4.4s off Ogier and 0.3s ahead of the two Hyundais. Good start.
He's third so far, 4.4s off Ogier and 0.3s ahead of the two Hyundais. Good start.
Crash
"We have a problem," Latvala reports. "It's a broken driveshaft."
That's very bad news with two more stages to complete before service.
That's very bad news with two more stages to complete before service.
That's that settled then.
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Other drivers have said the stage gets softer in the final miles, is road position starting to hurt or has Latvala had a bigger problem?
Trouble for Latvala, he completes the stage 23s off the pace and slowest so far.
Sordo's time has popped in, and he matched team-mate Neuville exactly - they're in joint third, both 4.7s behind Ogier.
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"It's really hard and very slippy in places," says Tanak. "The next one is definitely more icy."
Up front, it's Ogier leading by 0.3s from Mikkelsen, and we're waiting to see how Latvala compares.
Still waiting for Sordo's missing time, but Tanak is in and is 12.1s off the pace, so slots in 0.8s ahead of Ostberg at what is currently the back of the pack.
Sordo sounded perky enough, but there's a high water temperature light flashing on the Hyundai's dashboard.
Sordo has arrived at the stage finish faster than his time has arrived on the results system.
Latvala has dropped to third fastest at the middle split, 2s off the mark Mikkelsen had set there.
Meeke is away and he's slowest of all at split one, although that's only 2.7s off pacesetter Mikkelsen there.
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Not a great start for Ostberg, a man who's fought for victory here before. He's 12.9s off the pace at the finish.
"Not a good stage for me, unfortunately I struggled a bit and did not have a very good feeling," he reports. "I just have to get used to driving the car in these conditions."
"Not a good stage for me, unfortunately I struggled a bit and did not have a very good feeling," he reports. "I just have to get used to driving the car in these conditions."
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Latvala, down the running order after his Monte Carlo retirement, is second fastest to Mikkelsen at split one, a tenth off his team-mate.
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Good start for the DMACK-shod Ott Tanak, he's fourth fastest at split one ahead of Neuville and Ostberg.
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Neuville is third, 4.7s off Ogier. "The last part of the stage is quite bad but the beginning is OK," the Hyundai driver reports.
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And our man at the end of the stage DAVID EVANS is about to illustrate this...
When drivers talk about the base, they're referred to how solidly the road surface is frozen. Even where there's been little snowfall, if the temperatures have got low enough then the road surface will freeze hard and that will give the studded tyres something to bite into still.
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Here's Mikkelsen's verdict: "The base is hard, but I really felt like the tyres were going off near the end."
Dani Sordo is third fastest behind the VWs at split one, a touch quicker than Neuville and Ostberg.
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And after being quicker than Ogier on all the splits, Mikkelsen is slower at the finish - he's three tenths down on his champion team-mate.
By: Matt Beer
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