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IndyCar - Indianapolis: The rain has stopped, and the cars tiptoe out onto what is still a very wet track.
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WRC - Argentina: Latvala is absolutely bursting with excitement after that stage - and he puts it all down to co-driver Miikka Antilla and ex-boss Malcolm Wilson.
"I had a really good feeling with Miikka on this stage, he did an absolutely perfect job. I really enjoyed the driving and that's when these things happen.
"Malcolm Wilson used to say to me 'Jari-Matti, you have to enjoy driving' and he was right."
"I had a really good feeling with Miikka on this stage, he did an absolutely perfect job. I really enjoyed the driving and that's when these things happen.
"Malcolm Wilson used to say to me 'Jari-Matti, you have to enjoy driving' and he was right."
Stopwatch
WRC - Argentina: Sure enough Latvala is 18s faster than Ogier! That puts the Finn into the overnight lead by 17.5s.
WRC - Argentina: Ogier finishes the stage, but immediately hops out to check for damage. Turns out it's just that road conditions are poor, and he expects Latvala to move back ahead.
"My rear tyre was moving a lot, but it was just that the grip was terrible for me. I expect to lose a lot of time here."
There's a national rally after the WRC field and that will have disturbed the lines on the stage again since this morning.
"My rear tyre was moving a lot, but it was just that the grip was terrible for me. I expect to lose a lot of time here."
There's a national rally after the WRC field and that will have disturbed the lines on the stage again since this morning.
WRC - Argentina: And more drama on Ascochinga, with Mikkelsen stopped on the tracking system. That VW one-two-three looks to be in jeopardy.
With problems for Mikkelsen and Neuville, Meeke will potentially move into a podium spot.
With problems for Mikkelsen and Neuville, Meeke will potentially move into a podium spot.
WRC - Argentina: And now Sordo has stopped as well, with engine problems bringing his day to an end.
After that turbo connection issue earlier, he'd showed decent pace on the last stage.
After that turbo connection issue earlier, he'd showed decent pace on the last stage.
WRC - Argentina: That's the second problem for a Hyundai today, with Sordo having already lost 12 minutes on the opening loop.
Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan told us what happened with the Spaniard's car: "The problem was the connection between the turbo and the intercooler pipe. We have changed all of the parts for this afternoon. This is not a problem we have ever had before, but this is why we are here – to find and fix problems like this."
Hyundai team principal Michel Nandan told us what happened with the Spaniard's car: "The problem was the connection between the turbo and the intercooler pipe. We have changed all of the parts for this afternoon. This is not a problem we have ever had before, but this is why we are here – to find and fix problems like this."
WRC - Argentina: Neuville has now had to park his Hyundai on the stage and is out of day one. He had been running fourth.
Red flag
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Red flag for track conditions - there are a few patches of standing water. The rain appears to have already slowed down, so hopefully the delay will be a short one.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: It's absolutely pouring as the green flag waves for the Fast Six.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: A manic session ends with Hawksworth, Power, Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Saavedra and Pagenaud progressing to the Fast Six.
Bourdais, Montoya, Kanaan, Castroneves, Hinchcliffe and Rahal are all finished for the day.
Bourdais, Montoya, Kanaan, Castroneves, Hinchcliffe and Rahal are all finished for the day.
WRC - Argentina: Neuville appears to have let Evans past on the stage as he struggles with a technical problem.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The real impact of the changes of conditions is evident on the stopwatch - the cars are lapping 15s slower than they were when qualifying began.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Hunter-Reay is the first to be caught out by the conditions. The Andretti driver wobbles onto the grass, but gathers it up again and presses on.
WRC - Argentina: Possible problems for Hyundai, with reports from SS5 that Neuville is running slowly.
WRC - Argentina: Ascochinga is firmly up and running, and Mikkelsen is the man setting the pace so far on the opening splits.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The rain in the Indianapolis area appears to be localised entirely above the race track - clearer skies are visible on the horizon in almost every direction.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Following that change, the 12 drivers heading out for the second phase are: Pagenaud, Power, Hinchcliffe, Castroneves, Saavedra, Hunter-Reay, Montoya, Bourdais, Dixon, Kanaan, Hawksworth and Rahal.
Breaking news
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Ooooh, high drama. Mikhail Aleshin has been given a penalty for qualifying interference and been docked his two fastest laps. That bundles him out of the top 12, and hands Graham Rahal a ticket to the second qualifying phase.
It's raining.
It's raining.
Crash
Hirvonen
WRC - Argentina: Mikko Hirvonen has explained the SS2 shunt that ruined his Rally Argentina this morning. The Finn spoke to AUTOSPORT soon after arriving back in service in Villa Carlos Paz and admitted he was to blame.
"I missed the corner," he said. "I didn't miss a note, I missed the corner completely. I saw a right coming and thought that was the flat-out corner, but we had already been through that corner. We were then coming to a place where you had to be breaking hard for a slow left.
"I was at least 60km/h too fast and I knew straight away there was no chance. Somehow I got confused. As soon as I knew I thought: 'Fucking hell, I missed the corner... this is not going to end well.'"
The impact with the wall damaged the front and rear right corners of the Fiesta. The M-Sport team is working on the car in an effort to return Hirvonen to the stages tomorrow.
"This kind of mistake can happen," Hirvonen added. "I have to move on from this. It's such a shame for this rally – points and a good result would have been really useful."
Checkered flag
WRC - Argentina: The frontrunners have all made it safely through the Santa Catalina stage, with the main change being Kubica coming back at Evans, Prokop dropping back and Sordo's repaired Hyundai being back on the pace.
SS4 times:
1 Ogier 18m10.0s
2 Latvala +3.8s
3 Mikkelsen +5.2s
4 Neuville +7.6s
5 Meeke +9.0s
6 Sordo +15.6s
7 Kubica +35.2s
8 Evans +40.4s
Overall:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +20.4s
4 Neuville +36.7s
5 Meeke +48.2s
6 Evans +2m52.5s
7 Kubica +3m00.9s
8 Prokop +3m07.8s
SS4 times:
1 Ogier 18m10.0s
2 Latvala +3.8s
3 Mikkelsen +5.2s
4 Neuville +7.6s
5 Meeke +9.0s
6 Sordo +15.6s
7 Kubica +35.2s
8 Evans +40.4s
Overall:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +20.4s
4 Neuville +36.7s
5 Meeke +48.2s
6 Evans +2m52.5s
7 Kubica +3m00.9s
8 Prokop +3m07.8s
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The second group is done, and Montoya, Bourdais, Aleshin, Dixon, Kanaan and Hawksworth will all progress to phase two. That's an especially good result from the two rookies Aleshin and Hawksworth, and it's also the first time that Montoya has topped a session since his IndyCar return.
Those on the outside looking in: Rahal, Sato, Wilson, Plowman, Servia and Conway. Rahal appeared to make the same mistake as Newgarden did earlier - he was quickest with two minutes to go, and then got shuffled out of the top six when others improved on their final runs.
Those on the outside looking in: Rahal, Sato, Wilson, Plowman, Servia and Conway. Rahal appeared to make the same mistake as Newgarden did earlier - he was quickest with two minutes to go, and then got shuffled out of the top six when others improved on their final runs.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Group 2 is preparing to head out. Drivers in this group: Scott Dixon, Sebastien Bourdais, Mikhail Aleshin, Graham Rahal, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Justin Wilson, Jack Hawksworth, Ryan Briscoe, Takuma Sato, Oriol Servia, Martin Plowman and Mike Conway.
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IndyCar - Indianapolis: Marco Andretti: "I'm not happy. We went out early because we were worried about rain, and the track got better later on."
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The flag is out for the first group.
Progressing to the next phase will be Pagenaud, Power, Hinchcliffe, Castroneves, Saavedra and Hunter-Reay.
That means that Andretti, Newgarden, Huertas, Munoz, Montagny and Kimball are done for the day. Newgarden in particular will be disappointed; he appeared to have the speed but didn't time his run properly.
Progressing to the next phase will be Pagenaud, Power, Hinchcliffe, Castroneves, Saavedra and Hunter-Reay.
That means that Andretti, Newgarden, Huertas, Munoz, Montagny and Kimball are done for the day. Newgarden in particular will be disappointed; he appeared to have the speed but didn't time his run properly.
WRC - Argentina: Third going into the afternoon, Andreas Mikkelsen ruled himself out of a fight for the win.
"Of course I always want to win," he said, "but I need the experience. I would love another podium finish, but it's the finish that's the most important thing for me."
The steering on Mikkelsen's Polo was changed at lunchtime service after the Norwegian was left with only 30 per cent assistance for 12 miles on Ascochinga.
"Of course I always want to win," he said, "but I need the experience. I would love another podium finish, but it's the finish that's the most important thing for me."
The steering on Mikkelsen's Polo was changed at lunchtime service after the Norwegian was left with only 30 per cent assistance for 12 miles on Ascochinga.
IndyCar - Indianapolis: The track was dry when the cars first ventured out; if that changes then things could get very interesting indeed.
Power currently leads the times. Six of this group will progress to the next round.
Power currently leads the times. Six of this group will progress to the next round.
WRC - Argentina: Remember it was on the following long Ascochinga stage where Latvala was able to outpace Ogier earlier on, so there are more twists to come yet.
Green flag
IndyCar - Indianapolis: Green flag for the first qualifying group, which consists of Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Jame Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti, Charlie Kimball, Helio Castroneves, Carlos Munoz, Josef Newgarden, Sebastian Saavedra, Franck Montagny and Carlos Huertas.
Stopwatch
WRC - Argentina: The first two VWs complete the stage and Ogier is fastest by 3.8s - which means he retakes the rally lead by half a second.
Matthew Brabham
IndyCar - Indianapolis: IndyCar qualifying will kick off shortly, and we've just finished watching a close battle for pole for the Lights race that is coming up later this afternoon.
Matthew Brabham came out on top to claim the first pole of his Lights career, but it was a hard-fought thing: the top four were all covered by 0.15s.
Indianapolis Indy Lights qualifying report
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WRC - Argentina: Sebastien Ogier is ready to take a more committed approach to the second run at Santa Catalina.
The Frenchman admitted he was surprised at the speed the VW Polo R WRC could carry across the rain-affected roads.
"It's no problem for the car," he said, "the suspension and the car are fantastic. You can go flat.
"This morning we were not quite there because we were having a look at the road a little bit."
Latvala echoed his team-mate's sentiments. The Finn had pushed on a little bit in the recce, and damaged the sump guard on his Golf recce car.
The Frenchman admitted he was surprised at the speed the VW Polo R WRC could carry across the rain-affected roads.
"It's no problem for the car," he said, "the suspension and the car are fantastic. You can go flat.
"This morning we were not quite there because we were having a look at the road a little bit."
Latvala echoed his team-mate's sentiments. The Finn had pushed on a little bit in the recce, and damaged the sump guard on his Golf recce car.
WRC - Argentina: The first cars are onto the Santa Catalina stage, which is gentle in length terms - at 27kms compared to the 52kms of Ascochinga that follows - but is regarded as the toughest surface of the weekend.
The road is tough, tricky, rocky and rutted. Following major storm damage a few weeks ago, this stage is reckoned to have fared the worst.
The road is tough, tricky, rocky and rutted. Following major storm damage a few weeks ago, this stage is reckoned to have fared the worst.
Crash
European F3 - Pau: Ed Jones was showing no ill-effects in the paddock from his hefty qualifying shunt. "When I was sitting in the car it was really painful," said the Anglo-Emirati. "I was going to wait for them to help me out, but once the shock wore off I was OK. I've hurt my back a bit, and I'll be a bit stiff tomorrow, but I'll be fine."
Crash
European F3 - Pau: Another major event this weekend is the European Formula 3 meeting on the streets of Pau in France.
Felix Serralles may have clambered out unscathed from his shunt exiting the Foch chicane in qualifying, but the owner of the house whose wall lay behind the tyres looked pretty animated for a couple of minutes.
His wife and kids were also looking on, more concerned for their property than the Puerto Rican's welfare.
Felix Serralles may have clambered out unscathed from his shunt exiting the Foch chicane in qualifying, but the owner of the house whose wall lay behind the tyres looked pretty animated for a couple of minutes.
His wife and kids were also looking on, more concerned for their property than the Puerto Rican's welfare.
WRC - Argentina: From what we've seen during the service break, Hirvonen and WRC2 contender Ott Tanak's shunts on SS2 earlier were particularly nasty. Both crews are thankfully OK, though.
WRC - Argentina: Here's a reminder of how the field stands after today's first loop, during which Mads Ostberg and Mikko Hirvonen crashed out:
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +3.3s
3 Mikkelsen +18.5s
4 Neuville +32.4s
5 Meeke +42.5s
6 Prokop +2m10.9s
7 Evans +2m15.4s
8 Kubica +2m29.0s
Rally Argentina Friday morning report
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +3.3s
3 Mikkelsen +18.5s
4 Neuville +32.4s
5 Meeke +42.5s
6 Prokop +2m10.9s
7 Evans +2m15.4s
8 Kubica +2m29.0s
Rally Argentina Friday morning report
Jari-Matti Latvala
Welcome back to AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live, we've got two more Rally Argentina stages and qualifying for IndyCar's inaugural Indianapolis road course event coming up over the next two-ish hours.
While the Indy marshals head out to retrieve the Russian's Schmidt Dallara-Honda, AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live is going to wind down for the next few hours until the second loop of Rally Argentina stages and IndyCar qualifying.
We'll keep popping the odd update in here from the Argentina service park and beyond, and we'll be back in full flow from 6.30pm UK time.
We'll keep popping the odd update in here from the Argentina service park and beyond, and we'll be back in full flow from 6.30pm UK time.
Checkered flag
IndyCar - Indianapolis: And there it is. Pagenaud holds onto the top spot ahead of Hawksworth, while Hinchcliffe made a late improvement to finish up P3. Power and Carlos Munoz complete the top five.
By: Matt Beer, David Evans, Mark Glendenning, Dan Cross, Marcus Simmons, Peter Mills, Scott Mitchell
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