Rally Sweden
Live Text
Sort by
Breaking news
SS8 summary:
* Ogier rebuilds his lead a little, to 2.9s, despite still lacking windscreen wipers
* Mikkelsen goes quickest and closes to within 11.5s of the lead
* Ostberg is enraged after being disturbed by a drunk spectator, falling away from Mikkelsen and finding himself only 5s ahead of Neuville for fourth
* Evans loses two minutes when he gets beached on a snow bank
* Meeke second quickest as he tries to make up ground after going off on the previous stage
* Ogier rebuilds his lead a little, to 2.9s, despite still lacking windscreen wipers
* Mikkelsen goes quickest and closes to within 11.5s of the lead
* Ostberg is enraged after being disturbed by a drunk spectator, falling away from Mikkelsen and finding himself only 5s ahead of Neuville for fourth
* Evans loses two minutes when he gets beached on a snow bank
* Meeke second quickest as he tries to make up ground after going off on the previous stage
Checkered flag
SS8 results:
Stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 10m01.1s
2 Meeke +0.8s
3 Neuville +3.5s
4 Ogier +4.1s
5 Tanak +4.8s
6 Latvala +6.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +2.9s
3 Mikkelsen +11.5s
4 Ostberg +27.1s
5 Neuville +32.2s
6 Tanak +1m14.5s
7 Paddon +1m44.2s
8 Prokop +1m53.4s
9 Solberg +2m12.7s
10 Protasov +2m13.9s
Stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 10m01.1s
2 Meeke +0.8s
3 Neuville +3.5s
4 Ogier +4.1s
5 Tanak +4.8s
6 Latvala +6.0s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +2.9s
3 Mikkelsen +11.5s
4 Ostberg +27.1s
5 Neuville +32.2s
6 Tanak +1m14.5s
7 Paddon +1m44.2s
8 Prokop +1m53.4s
9 Solberg +2m12.7s
10 Protasov +2m13.9s
Quote
Paddon passes Kubica on the stage, saying he lost a bit of time in the process even though "Robert pulled over reasonably quickly".
Now Kubica makes it to the finish.
"It's how it is, we cannot do anything about it. I'm just carrying on trying to finish the day," he says, after losing another 2m17s.
Now Kubica makes it to the finish.
"It's how it is, we cannot do anything about it. I'm just carrying on trying to finish the day," he says, after losing another 2m17s.
Next in will be Kubica. No split times from the RK Ford so can't tell yet how much he's struggling after that differential problem on the last stage.
A reasonable fifth-fastest time from Tanak puts him sixth overall now. That's three places gained in two stages thanks to the problems for Meeke, Evans and Kubica ahead of him.
Quote
Meeke says he didn't have any issues with the spectator.
"I saw some snowballs being fired across the road, but I can handle snowballs," he says.
It didn't stop him being second fastest, just 0.8s off Mikkelsen as he starts his recovery drive.
"I saw some snowballs being fired across the road, but I can handle snowballs," he says.
It didn't stop him being second fastest, just 0.8s off Mikkelsen as he starts his recovery drive.
Breaking news
Prokop also reports "a drunk guy in the road" as he reaches the end of the stage.
Definitely not what you need on a competitive WRC stage, hopefully he can be swiftly contained.
Definitely not what you need on a competitive WRC stage, hopefully he can be swiftly contained.
Ostberg put some of his time loss down to the actions of a costumed spectator late on the stage.
His delay plus an excellent second-fastest time from Neuville means the Citroen is now only 5s ahead of the Hyundai for fourth.
His delay plus an excellent second-fastest time from Neuville means the Citroen is now only 5s ahead of the Hyundai for fourth.
Crash
Evans makes it to the end of the stage, but he's lost nearly two minutes.
"I couldn't get stopped for a narrow junction and put it on the handbrake hoping we could just bounce off the snow bank, but we got beached," he explains.
"I couldn't get stopped for a narrow junction and put it on the handbrake hoping we could just bounce off the snow bank, but we got beached," he explains.
Crash
Seems that Evans has gone into a snow bank. He had been holding sixth.
Breaking news
Neuville is through safely, but further back in the order Evans's M-Sport Ford has stopped on the stage.
That surge from Mikkelsen has really blown apart the third-place fight too - Ostberg is 12s slower than the VW and has gone from 3s behind to 15s adrift.
Latvala had no specific problems on that stage, incidentally, and said his feeling was actually pretty good. He's not too fussed at the slight loss of time to Ogier.
Mikkelsen is quite amused by his pace on that one. He confesses the snow banks did take some abuse there.
Mikkelsen is quite amused by his pace on that one. He confesses the snow banks did take some abuse there.
Stopwatch
Very rapid stuff from Mikkelsen - he reaches the finish 4s faster than Ogier and 6s quicker than Latvala.
At lunchtime the three VWs were covered by 19s, now it's down to just 11s.
At lunchtime the three VWs were covered by 19s, now it's down to just 11s.
Mikkelsen is the fastest of the VW trio on the splits at the moment.
Latvala was up on Ogier initially, but he comes through now 1.9s slower than Ogier at the stage finish, so the Frenchman's lead grows to 2.9s again.
Latvala was up on Ogier initially, but he comes through now 1.9s slower than Ogier at the stage finish, so the Frenchman's lead grows to 2.9s again.
Stopwatch
Ogier completes Rojden, and says the lack of windscreen wipers wasn't great, but it was still manageable. His time is a 10m05.2s and Latvala is a little slower at the final split.
"It's snowing, but still we can see enough," says Ogier.
"It's snowing, but still we can see enough," says Ogier.
Rain
Lovely quick-fire itinerary for this afternoon, just three minutes until the 11.6 miles of Rojden.
It's snowing more too, Ogier could probably do with some windscreen wipers.
In WRC2, following crews report that Tidemand has stuffed his Ford into a snowbank. He's got going again now.
It's snowing more too, Ogier could probably do with some windscreen wipers.
In WRC2, following crews report that Tidemand has stuffed his Ford into a snowbank. He's got going again now.
Breaking news
SS7 summary:
* Ogier damages his windscreen as bonnet flies up before the stage after he failed to secure it properly while trying in vain to fix wipers
* Latvala slashes Ogier's outright lead to just 1.0s
* Meeke goes off into a snowbank and loses three minutes
* Kubica loses two minutes with a differential problem
* Ostberg bites back at Mikkelsen in the battle for third
* Ogier damages his windscreen as bonnet flies up before the stage after he failed to secure it properly while trying in vain to fix wipers
* Latvala slashes Ogier's outright lead to just 1.0s
* Meeke goes off into a snowbank and loses three minutes
* Kubica loses two minutes with a differential problem
* Ostberg bites back at Mikkelsen in the battle for third
Last night WRC2 driver Tidemand was leading overall, but he's just lost five minutes at the first split so his hopes of getting back ahead of Jari Ketomaa for the class lead are now pretty bleak too.
Checkered flag
SS7 results:
Stage times:
1 Latvala 11m04.3s
2 Ostberg +1.1s
3 Mikkelsen +2.2s
4 Ogier +2.3s
5 Neuville +3.0s
6 Evans +5.6s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.0s
3 Mikkelsen +15.6s
4 Ostberg +19.1s
5 Neuville +32.8s
6 Evans +1m06.4s
7 Tanak +1m13.8s
8 Prokop +1m35.4s
9 Paddon +1m42.1s
10 Protasov +1m52.1s
Stage times:
1 Latvala 11m04.3s
2 Ostberg +1.1s
3 Mikkelsen +2.2s
4 Ogier +2.3s
5 Neuville +3.0s
6 Evans +5.6s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.0s
3 Mikkelsen +15.6s
4 Ostberg +19.1s
5 Neuville +32.8s
6 Evans +1m06.4s
7 Tanak +1m13.8s
8 Prokop +1m35.4s
9 Paddon +1m42.1s
10 Protasov +1m52.1s
Meeke and Kubica's delays are going to elevate Paddon and Protasov into the points. It would've been Paddon and Solberg, but Henning lost out to the flying Protasov on that stage.
Abbring has come through safely too in his short-notice Hyundai debut, but he's running among the WRC2 pack at present.
Abbring has come through safely too in his short-notice Hyundai debut, but he's running among the WRC2 pack at present.
Breaking news
Robert Kubica
Kubica reports that it's the differential at fault.
"We have huge noise and front-wheel-drive, so we are just cruising to hopefully finish the day, but it will be a big challenge."
He's going to drop to about 20th (somewhere near Meeke, basically) for now but two-wheel-drive all afternoon is going to hurt with two full-length stages and a superspecial to go.
Breaking news
Kubica reaches the finish, and he's lost just over two minutes. No damage or snow on the car, is it mechanical drama?
Tanak loses 4s to Evans in the M-Sport battle, saying he made "a little mistake". They're now 7s apart, in the Welshman's favour, in their fight for what is now sixth.
And Kubica definitely won't be part of that as the next split shows him 1m33s off the pace on the stage.
And Kubica definitely won't be part of that as the next split shows him 1m33s off the pace on the stage.
Breaking news
Possibly trouble for Kubica too - his first split time is 28s off the pace.
We jinxed him by predicting he was about to move into sixth overall, didn't we?
We jinxed him by predicting he was about to move into sixth overall, didn't we?
Quote
No stage win for Protasov this time, but eighth quickest isn't bad either.
"Every time is better, better, better!" he declares.
"Every time is better, better, better!" he declares.
Crash
Meeke reports that he went into a snow bank after struggling to get the car turned in on the ruts. It was on this stage this morning that he had a high-speed spin.
"I like the stage, I just made a stupid mistake," he reports.
He's dropped 2m56s and that's going to plunge him from sixth overall to about 20th.
"I like the stage, I just made a stupid mistake," he reports.
He's dropped 2m56s and that's going to plunge him from sixth overall to about 20th.
Crash
Meeke has made it to the stage end, not much damage to the Citroen but a fair amount of snow in it.
Breaking news
Big problems for Meeke, as more splits come in he's lost three minutes and Solberg has passed him on the stage.
Even more unlikely than Protasov being fastest on the last stage, which did turn out to be true and was a great effort.
Stopwatch
The timing system is currently suggesting that Henning Solberg is fastest by 6m26s on the splits. This is very, very, very unlikely to be true.
Evans is 5.6s off the pace and continues to learn cautiously.
It's quite a while before Kubica starts this stage, but he's the man to watch compared to Evans. The Pole has closed to within 1.7s of Evans for seventh overall (and Meeke's problem might elevate both too) so is on the cusp of being top Ford driver.
It's quite a while before Kubica starts this stage, but he's the man to watch compared to Evans. The Pole has closed to within 1.7s of Evans for seventh overall (and Meeke's problem might elevate both too) so is on the cusp of being top Ford driver.
Thierry Neuville
Very, very close stage so far - Neuville is only fifth quickest, but he's still within 3s of being fastest.
There was a degree of frustration around the Hyundai camp at lunchtime, reports DAVID EVANS, with Thierry Neuville shrugging: "It is what it is… I could go maybe a couple of seconds quicker, but we could also spend more time in the ditch."
His team-mate Hayden Paddon has been lumbered (can you be 'lumbered' with a factory World Rally Car...?) with Dani Sordo’s transmission set-up for Mexico and Argentina – the central and southern American events are paired with this one. The Kiwi’s having to throw the car at corners to get the i20 WRC working.
And Kevin Abbring is discovering just how quickly everything arrives in a World Rally Car – it sounds like it's more of a two-way conversation on most of the stages as he calls pace note changes to Sebastian Marshall.
Breaking news
Could be another problem or incident for Meeke - his first split is 19s off the pace.
Mikkelsen is second quickest, 2.2s behind Latvala and a tenth faster than Ogier, and now Ostberg takes 1.1s out of his countryman and gets the third place battle going again.
Quote
Latvala with a bit of sympathy for Ogier, a bit of satisfaction at his own performance and some snow/mud/ruts/ice insight:
"I'm a bit lucky that he's having a problem with the wipers, that's not very nice, but I've had two good stages after midday.
"It's not easy, because it's a soft condition now. You have ice, you have gravel in some places, but at the side of the ruts there's a lot of snow and it will be difficult to make time if you're going off the line."
"I'm a bit lucky that he's having a problem with the wipers, that's not very nice, but I've had two good stages after midday.
"It's not easy, because it's a soft condition now. You have ice, you have gravel in some places, but at the side of the ruts there's a lot of snow and it will be difficult to make time if you're going off the line."
Stopwatch
Not quite a change of lead, but Latvala gets Ogier's advantage down to precisely one second!
Crash
Ogier explains that the bonnet flew up and smacked the windscreen on the road section heading to the stage as he'd forgotten to fix it down properly after his abortive efforts to fix the wipers.
"No wipers, but on this stage it was no problem, I could see OK. I made another mistake and I broke the windscreen. We did our best once again."
Apologies for predicting he'd be tetchy, his mood about all those dramas was pretty sanguine.
"No wipers, but on this stage it was no problem, I could see OK. I made another mistake and I broke the windscreen. We did our best once again."
Apologies for predicting he'd be tetchy, his mood about all those dramas was pretty sanguine.
Stopwatch
Ogier is in, with an 11m06.6s time, and there's damage to the VW's windscreen and bonnet.
Stopwatch
Latvala is continuing to make gains - 1.1s up at the middle split and now 2.3s up at the final one. There's a chance of a lead change here...
By: Jamie Klein, AUTOSPORT staff
Published:
Lap:
