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WRC - Argentina: Neuville reports a spin on that stage after a muddier than expected watersplash, but it only costs him 10s, he reckons.
Stopwatch
WRC - Argentina: Mikkelsen comes through quickest so far. Doesn't look like he'll take more than a few seconds out of Meeke's advantage, and he's being realistic.
"We'll try to keep some pressure on, but he's too far ahead unless anything happens."
"We'll try to keep some pressure on, but he's too far ahead unless anything happens."
WRC - Argentina: Now the splits turn again and Latvala is a couple of seconds faster than Ogier, so has the world champion made a small mistake?
WRC - Argentina: And between splits four and five, the VW pair set exactly the same time to the tenth of a second.
WRC - Argentina: Bit of a scare for Kubica on that stage as his Ford gets tipped up on two wheels briefly when surprised by a rut. But he got it back on the ground and continued intact.
WRC - Argentina: Meeke loses 16s to Mikkelsen but remains 2m34s ahead. The Citroen man says it's amazing how much more settled he is on the second run through a stage like this as his experience base builds.
Crash
WRC - Argentina: Ogier arrives at the end of the stage with damage on the front left of his VW and a puncture!
Quote
WRC - Argentina: Ogier says the tyre blew about 1.5km from the end of the stage.
He had a puncture on this stage in 2013 too, but says this is very different.
"Twelve months ago I knew what happened: I hit a rock. This time, nothing. Just on the straight, the tyre went. It must be a problem with the manufacturing."
He had a puncture on this stage in 2013 too, but says this is very different.
"Twelve months ago I knew what happened: I hit a rock. This time, nothing. Just on the straight, the tyre went. It must be a problem with the manufacturing."
WRC - Argentina: Ogier also reveals that he had a quick spin at the stage's watersplash.
Stopwatch
WRC - Argentina: Latvala comes through and wins the stage by three seconds over Ogier, taking his lead up to 24s.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Still counting down to the start of the first IndyCar race on the IMS road course, but in the meantime we've just seen Luiz Razia win an entertaining Indy Lights battle. It is the maiden series win for the Brazilian, who had to withstand sustained pressure from Brit Jack Harvey to secure the victory.
Quote
WRC - Argentina: Latvala says he had two incidents of his own on the stage.
"Five kilometres into the stage, I spun. The car stuck into the corner too much. We lost maybe 5-6s over there.
"Then coming onto one of the bridges, I stalled the engine.
"It was not relaxed driving, this was a hard stage for me."
"Five kilometres into the stage, I spun. The car stuck into the corner too much. We lost maybe 5-6s over there.
"Then coming onto one of the bridges, I stalled the engine.
"It was not relaxed driving, this was a hard stage for me."
Breaking news
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Here's the full story of Razia and Harvey's battle in that great Indy Lights race:
Indianapolis Indy Lights race two report
Indianapolis Indy Lights race two report
Checkered flag
WRC - Argentina - SS8 results:
Stage:
1 Latvala 22m30.8s
2 Mikkelsen +2.7s
3 Ogier +3.0s
4 Ostberg +13.3s
5 Hirvonen +13.9s
6 Neuville +18.7s
Leaderboard:
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +24.2s
3 Meeke +2m49.5s
4 Mikkelsen +5m23.5s
5 Kubica +6m07.1s
6 Evans +6m27.6s
Stage:
1 Latvala 22m30.8s
2 Mikkelsen +2.7s
3 Ogier +3.0s
4 Ostberg +13.3s
5 Hirvonen +13.9s
6 Neuville +18.7s
Leaderboard:
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +24.2s
3 Meeke +2m49.5s
4 Mikkelsen +5m23.5s
5 Kubica +6m07.1s
6 Evans +6m27.6s
WRC - Argentina: Ogier has parked after the stage and is having a thorough inspection of his VW to make sure the tyre delamination didn't cause any other issues.
WRC - Argentina: Not long until the next stage. The second pass of Amboy is about a quarter of an hour away, and it's another 40kms.
Elfyn Evans
WRC - Argentina: Slightly overshadowed by this incredibly tense VW battle for the lead is the M-Sport battle for fifth, although to an extent that one's taking place in slow motion as both Kubica and Evans know they have to reach the finish above all else. They're now 20s apart, with Kubica edging away.
Evans enjoyed the faster stages this morning, but the Welshman remains deeply frustrated in his desire to drive faster.
"I'm here to do a job," he said.
In an effort to cheer him up, AUTOSPORT's David Evans offered the following analogy: "My editor told me to write words here, whether I want to draw pictures or not is irrelevant."
That did the trick. Cheered him up no end.
WRC - Argentina: Just a couple of minutes before battle resumes on Amboy.
The surface – especially on the stages around Santa Rosa de Calamuchita – demands a much more aggressive style of driving. The cars have a tendency to bog down in the sand (Ogier: "It kills the speed....") and carrying more speed into the corner is the way to overcome this. But, it's a fine line...
And when you're battling flat-out for victory against someone in the same car...
The surface – especially on the stages around Santa Rosa de Calamuchita – demands a much more aggressive style of driving. The cars have a tendency to bog down in the sand (Ogier: "It kills the speed....") and carrying more speed into the corner is the way to overcome this. But, it's a fine line...
And when you're battling flat-out for victory against someone in the same car...
WRC - Argentina: Delay at the start of this stage. No information back as to why yet, but drivers are still waiting to go in.
Green flag
WRC - Argentina: The stage is now beginning 13 minutes late. Seems the delay was due to one of the course cars breaking a wheel! It's rough...
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Not long now until the first Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course IndyCar race begins.
Here's the top of the grid lines up:
1 Sebastian Saavedra
2 Jack Hawksworth
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay
4 Simon Pagenaud
5 Will Power
6 Scott Dixon
7 Sebastien Bourdais
8 Juan Pablo Montoya
9 Tony Kanaan
10 Helio Castroneves
Yes, that's right, a Saavedra/Hawksworth front row...
Here's how that happened:
Indianapolis IndyCar qualifying report
Here's the top of the grid lines up:
1 Sebastian Saavedra
2 Jack Hawksworth
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay
4 Simon Pagenaud
5 Will Power
6 Scott Dixon
7 Sebastien Bourdais
8 Juan Pablo Montoya
9 Tony Kanaan
10 Helio Castroneves
Yes, that's right, a Saavedra/Hawksworth front row...
Here's how that happened:
Indianapolis IndyCar qualifying report
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The points table is a little more as expected...
Championship standings after three of 18 rounds:
1 Will Power 125
2 Ryan Hunter-Reay 107
3 Simon Pagenaud 92
4 Scott Dixon 87
5 Mike Conway 82
6 Marco Andretti 73
(50 points for a win plus bonuses)
Full 2014 season statistics on FORIX
Championship standings after three of 18 rounds:
1 Will Power 125
2 Ryan Hunter-Reay 107
3 Simon Pagenaud 92
4 Scott Dixon 87
5 Mike Conway 82
6 Marco Andretti 73
(50 points for a win plus bonuses)
Full 2014 season statistics on FORIX
Breaking news
WRC - Argentina: News from Hyundai is that Sordo is now out for the weekend after an inspection of his car.
After all that pushing to ensure he got a seat for Argentina, Sordo's rally barely even got going due to the technical problems he had early on both days.
After all that pushing to ensure he got a seat for Argentina, Sordo's rally barely even got going due to the technical problems he had early on both days.
Indy
IndyCar - Indianapolis: A lot of Brickyard history in one image: three-time Indy 500 winners Helio Castroneves and Johnny Rutherford and four-time winner Rick Mears at the launch of Castroneves' special Pennzoil Indy livery yesterday.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The cars are lined up on the dummy grid, and we're about five minutes away from the command to start engines.
The sun is out - in stark contrast to yesterday - and it looks like an encouragingly strong crowd of Indianapolis natives have turned up to to get a taste of road course racing. There aren't all that many people in the stand along the main straight, but the grandstand at both the first and final corners and the spectator mounds at Turns 4/5 and 7 are absolutely packed. IndyCar and IMS will be very pleased indeed.
The sun is out - in stark contrast to yesterday - and it looks like an encouragingly strong crowd of Indianapolis natives have turned up to to get a taste of road course racing. There aren't all that many people in the stand along the main straight, but the grandstand at both the first and final corners and the spectator mounds at Turns 4/5 and 7 are absolutely packed. IndyCar and IMS will be very pleased indeed.
WRC - Argentina: Early splits on SS9 suggest Ogier is trimming a couple of seconds out of Latvala's lead.
Long way to go yet though and remember how many twists there were on the previous stage.
Long way to go yet though and remember how many twists there were on the previous stage.
WRC - Argentina: Hirvonen is through in 22m48.6s to open the second run of Amboy.
He reports that the level of fog is "not so bad", with one section where there was a lot, some with none at all, and some with an amount "that's fine, it doesn't really disturb you at all."
He reports that the level of fog is "not so bad", with one section where there was a lot, some with none at all, and some with an amount "that's fine, it doesn't really disturb you at all."
WRC - Argentina: Kris Meeke has tempered his pace notes for this stage after bank-slapping moment this morning.
"We had six-left over crest and the car went a lot more over than I thought and just touched the bank on the outside, that sent the car back into the road. We've changed that note to a four..."
"We had six-left over crest and the car went a lot more over than I thought and just touched the bank on the outside, that sent the car back into the road. We've changed that note to a four..."
WRC - Argentina: Ostberg gets to the end of the stage and is in pain. He said he hurt his right hand a lot when there was a big kick-back in the steering.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Mari Hulman-George gives the command to start engines.
WRC - Argentina Split three, Ogier and Latvala identical time. Latvala remains +2.6s to the Frenchman.
WRC - Argentina: Mikkelsen completes the stage and is only fourth fastest so far.
Quote
WRC - Argentina: "I took it very carefully," says Mikkelsen. "It's so rough in there and I'm in the middle of nowhere [in the order] now. I tried to manage the risk."
WRC - Argentina Latvala takes two seconds out in split four. Just 0.6s between the two Polos.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The cars are just completing their second installation lap, and are forming up for the standing start.
WRC - Argentina: Hirvonen remains fastest on the stage so far. He was back up to 13th in the overall standings as this one began.
WRC - Argentina: Whopping split from Latvala, 4.2s in the lead!
Crash
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Huge shunt at the start. Saavedra stalls on pole, and most of the field manages to get around before Munoz hits him and bounces to the outside, and moments later Aleshin runs straight into the back of him. Further back, Montoya appears to have stalled as well.
All drivers are already out of their cars and appear to be OK. That's good news for Saavedra and Aleshin in particular - that was a huge hit.
All drivers are already out of their cars and appear to be OK. That's good news for Saavedra and Aleshin in particular - that was a huge hit.
WRC - Argentina: Kubica treads carefully through that one too and is absolutely delighted to have reached the end of a second full day of rallying without any problems.
Hopefully he hasn't jinxed himself there with the superspecial still to come.
Hopefully he hasn't jinxed himself there with the superspecial still to come.
Quote
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Saavedra: "We followed the [start protocol for the car, and as soon as we released the clutch it went from 11,000rpm to zero."
By: Matt Beer, David Evans, Mark Glendenning, Dan Cross, Marcus Simmons, Peter Mills, Scott Mitchell
Published:
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