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That wraps up our coverage of Saturday's leg of the Tour de Corse. Make sure you join us for the Powerstage decider tomorrow just before 1100hrs. Ciao for now.
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Camilli is in, slowest so far and 22.3s down on Neuville.
"It was OK, nothing special," says Camilli. "We wanted to finish this day so we didn't push too hard."
"It was OK, nothing special," says Camilli. "We wanted to finish this day so we didn't push too hard."
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As soon as Tanak takes third, Craig Breen pops in and snatches it away. He's 4s slower than Neuville. Could the drying stage be the reason for the rapid time.
"It was hairy," says Breen. "It's been a very good day. I'm gutted we caught the rain shower in the last stage as I think we could have had a really good time in there."
"It was hairy," says Breen. "It's been a very good day. I'm gutted we caught the rain shower in the last stage as I think we could have had a really good time in there."
Stopwatch
Sordo is in, second quickest and he's 2s behind Neuville. Great time from Sordo on all hard tyres. With rain, that should have been a disadvantage.
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Latvala is in, 15.5s down on Neuville. but he's only 2.5s slower than Ogier and another 2.3s further back from Mikkelsen.
"We went very soft with the car," says Latvala. "It was probably too soft."
"We went very soft with the car," says Latvala. "It was probably too soft."
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With 10 minutes to go until our next stage gets underway, here's a guide to the stage with pro co-driver Stuart Loudon.
SS6/8 Novella – Pietralba (19.13 miles)
"This stage starts from the middle of some kind of scrubland and runs straight up to the village of Novella and over the Col de la Croix.
"The surface on the road up isn’t too bad, but the descent’s another story: it’s narrower, bumpier and generally a bit more tricky. It stays like that all the way to finish. Bumpy, narrow, tricky it might be, but it’s still an absolute classic – like all the roads on this incredible rally!"
SS6/8 Novella – Pietralba (19.13 miles)
"This stage starts from the middle of some kind of scrubland and runs straight up to the village of Novella and over the Col de la Croix.
"The surface on the road up isn’t too bad, but the descent’s another story: it’s narrower, bumpier and generally a bit more tricky. It stays like that all the way to finish. Bumpy, narrow, tricky it might be, but it’s still an absolute classic – like all the roads on this incredible rally!"
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Ostberg says it's getting wet quickly in the stage and the wipers have been on for 10kms. That's not good for Breen.
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Ostberg is through the stage end and he's over a minute slower than Ogier.
Abbring and Sarrazin, both in Hyundai R5s, have reportedly stopped on the stage.
Abbring and Sarrazin, both in Hyundai R5s, have reportedly stopped on the stage.
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Breen started this stage 16.9s behind Latvala and on a similar pace in terms of time. But any chance of making any inroads into that gap could be stopped by rain.
He's 0.3s down on Latvala at the last split.
He's 0.3s down on Latvala at the last split.
The real battle to watch in this one is between second place man Thierry Neuville and third placed Andreas Mikkelsen.
Just over five seconds splits the duo with Mikkelsen quicker through both stages this morning.
Just over five seconds splits the duo with Mikkelsen quicker through both stages this morning.
This test is over 30 miles, so split comparisons will be sporadic through this one.
Ogier had trouble in the first sector on this stage this morning, will he struggle again with a rogue hairpin?
Ogier had trouble in the first sector on this stage this morning, will he struggle again with a rogue hairpin?
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Sad news for the debuting Hyundai i20 R5 in the hands of Kevin Abbring and friend of Race Centre Live Seb Marshall. They've clipped a bank and suffered a puncture.
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Mikkelsen is in and beats Ogier by 0.3s. Good time by the Norwegian and he's happy, we think.
"Did he have a puncture or something? That was really difficult to know when to push, for me that's the most difficult stage of the rally, I think that was OK but I don't know. The most tiring stage I've ever done."
"Did he have a puncture or something? That was really difficult to know when to push, for me that's the most difficult stage of the rally, I think that was OK but I don't know. The most tiring stage I've ever done."
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Ogier doesn't claim any major problems, maybe just a bit cautious.
"I had a bad start, I was too cautious," said Ogier. "I didn't want to take more risks as it's a bad stage for punctures. At the moment there's no need to push."
"I had a bad start, I was too cautious," said Ogier. "I didn't want to take more risks as it's a bad stage for punctures. At the moment there's no need to push."
Stopwatch
Ogier reaches stage end, his time is 35m53.8s.
Neuville is 3.9s down on Ogier at the final split. Doesn't look like he's going to be fastest through this one despite his rapid first split time.
Paddon's struggle continues as he's 26.4s down on Ogier at the last spilt.
With Meeke's time loss, he could move out of the top 15. Neuville is set to inherit second.
With Meeke's time loss, he could move out of the top 15. Neuville is set to inherit second.
Through the final split, Mikkelsen is 12.5s slower than Ogier. That's a fair chunk for Ogier to take and it looks like another exemplary performance from the Frenchman.
It seems Meeke is underway but Craig Breen has passed him. That means the Northern Irishman has lost at least two minutes.
Mikkelsen continues to drop time to Ogier, 1.8s down at the second split.
The third VW - drivien by Jari-Matti Latvala - is 0.6s down at the first split.
The Finn was complaining of confidence issues earlier, and that the car was 'washing out' in the faster corners. Hopefully that will be rectified for this leg.
The third VW - drivien by Jari-Matti Latvala - is 0.6s down at the first split.
The Finn was complaining of confidence issues earlier, and that the car was 'washing out' in the faster corners. Hopefully that will be rectified for this leg.
Annoyingly we don't have a first split time for Paddon, but Neuville's drops in and he's 1.1s down on Ogier. He trailed the Frenchman by 17.5s overall before this stage.
Those faster notes don't seem to have caused Ogier any trouble just yet, he's safely through the second split. There's certainly a feeling that he's ready to assert his dominance this weekend. Only time will tell.
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Five minutes to go until we're back in business, and here's Scottish co-driver Stuart Loudon's description of the stage that rounds off the morning:
SS2 Plage du Liamone-Sarolla Carcopino (18.09 miles)
We head north of Ajaccio for the second stage, but the road’s pretty similar.
The first section of stage was used last year – it’s a really quick uphill section on the way to quite a famous hairpin in Casaligione. This hairpin’s one of those really tight ones that you have to be so precise with the handbrake to avoid using reverse.
From there the road gets wider, but a bit more twisty on the way to Pont de Furcina before it changes back to a narrow and bumpy on the ascent to another hairpin in Calcatoggio, which is probably around halfway through.
From there on it’s more of the same: wide, narrow, twisty, fast, slow, bumpy, less bumpy… all the way to the finish.
Both stages in this loop are absolutely epic, but require a real rhythm if you’re going to stand any chance of making them flow.
SS2 Plage du Liamone-Sarolla Carcopino (18.09 miles)
We head north of Ajaccio for the second stage, but the road’s pretty similar.
The first section of stage was used last year – it’s a really quick uphill section on the way to quite a famous hairpin in Casaligione. This hairpin’s one of those really tight ones that you have to be so precise with the handbrake to avoid using reverse.
From there the road gets wider, but a bit more twisty on the way to Pont de Furcina before it changes back to a narrow and bumpy on the ascent to another hairpin in Calcatoggio, which is probably around halfway through.
From there on it’s more of the same: wide, narrow, twisty, fast, slow, bumpy, less bumpy… all the way to the finish.
Both stages in this loop are absolutely epic, but require a real rhythm if you’re going to stand any chance of making them flow.
By: Matt Beer
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