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WRC - Finland: Time to put you out of your misery... it was six-time 1000 Lakes winner Markku Alen who was on his mobile telephone outside Volkswagen earlier.
WRC - Finland: Evans finishes his SS4 run and drops 1.7s to Kubica. Just three seconds separates those to in the battle for third in WRC2 - Paddon and Ketomaa still to come.
WRC - Finland: Paddon and Ketomaa are finished on SS4 - it's a bad run (figuratively speaking) for the former. He slips behind Evans now overall, while Ketomaa's R5 storms to a time 5.3s quicker than Kubica.
WRC - Finland: Next up is the second Himos stage. That's 8.32km in length - another 5.1-mile stage. That'll kick off in about half an hour...can anyone make this rally their own?
WRC - Finland: Latvala-watch: He's struggling. Timing has his SS4 run at 6m54.8s. That's 2m27.1s off the Hirvonen benchmark, and leaves him 10m behind after four stages.
Breaking news
WRC - Finland: Quick aside, Pirelli confirmed back in the WRC next year. Hankook coming as well, to make four tyre manufacturers in 2014 (DMACK and Michelin already here).
WRC - Finland: Five minutes to stage start. A 'two-lapper', essentially, of this morning's Himos opener. No JML, who has retired from day one.
Breaking news
WRC - Finland: Here's that news on Pirelli and Hankook joining the WRC from next season.
WRC - Finland: We're underway for SS5. Prokop comes through first...so something's happened to Tahko.
WRC - Finland: Ah, a problem with the live timing service means we're having a spot of trouble giving you times. But, we've had three cars through - Prokop, Andersson and Nikara. No sign of Tahko.
WRC - Finland: Times! Nikara is 3.2s quicker than Prokop, and Anderssen half-spins his way through, a further two seconds back.
WRC - Finland: The two Citroens come through slower than Nikara, with Meeke another 2.7s quicker than Sordo.
WRC - Finland: Ostberg was part of that particular quarter and is now quickest, 5m24.9s the time to beat. Hanninen comes through 0.1s slower than Meeke.
WRC - Finland: That closes the gap between Meeke and a top five position to 1.5s, and puts him a full 20s ahead of Sordo. What chance, we wonder, of this being a regular sight next season?
WRC - Finland: Mikkelsen leads the next quartet over the line. "I really wanted to be in that group before!" Conditions not great in Finland, it's not fast from the VW man - 7th fastest. Novikov, Neuville and Ogier to come.
WRC - Finland: And we have Tahko! "We lost the throttle I think. I don't know what's wrong."
WRC - Finland: Novikov completes the stage in 5m29.1s to go fifth, briefly. He's bumped back to seventh as Neuville's strong form continues with the fifth fastest time - and puts an additional 0.9s on Ogier, who knocks the Ford man back too.
WRC - Finland: Ogier has also lost out to Ostberg now, and could drop back to fourth overall now. Hirvonen needs to beat 5m28.0s to take the outright lead of this rally. What does he manage...
WRC - Finland: A nightmare for Hirvonen! He complains about the amount of water on the stage and loses 16s on Ostberg, dropping to fifth overall. Drama in Finland.
Checkered flag
WRC - Finland - SS5 results: 1 Ostberg; 2 Nikara +1.3s; 3 Meeke +2.2s; 4 Hanninen +2.3s; 5 Neuville +3.1s.
Overall: 1 Neuville; 2 Ostberg +2.0s; 3 Ogier +2.5s; 4 Hanninen +11.6s; 5 Hirvonen +12.9s.
Overall: 1 Neuville; 2 Ostberg +2.0s; 3 Ogier +2.5s; 4 Hanninen +11.6s; 5 Hirvonen +12.9s.
WRC - Finland: How that's shaken out is a somewhat unlikely top three for the stage with Ostberg leading Nikara and Meeke.
In terms of the rally, Ogier drops to third, and it's a Ford 1-2. Hanninen an impressive fourth, too, with Meeke just 0.2s behind Hirvonen in the battle for fifth.
In terms of the rally, Ogier drops to third, and it's a Ford 1-2. Hanninen an impressive fourth, too, with Meeke just 0.2s behind Hirvonen in the battle for fifth.
Breaking news
While the WRC received a good bit of FIA news today, F1 did not. Russia has missed the deadline to submit its application to the FIA to hold a Formula 1 race in 2014.
You can read that story here.
You can read that story here.
WRC - Finland: Not a good run in WRC2 for Evans, more than 10s slower than Kubica, and the Pole jumps into the podium places.
Breaking news
Far afield from the Finnish woodlands, the new Asian Le Mans Series kicks off this weekend in South Korea. 11 cars are entered, but the series boss reckons that will grow over the remainder of the season.
WRC - Finland: This has turned into a very, very strong stage for Robert Kubica. Paddon comes through 8.7s down and the Citroen man is into second overall!
WRC - Finland: WRC2 leader Ketomaa comes through and loses five seconds to Kubica. There's 19.5s between them now, so Kubica is certainly not out of the fight against the R5 Fiesta.
WRC - Finland: SS6 is the short, 2km blast around the Killeri Super Special Stage. That'll get underway about 20:30 local time - 6.30pm in the UK.
WRC - Finland: SS6 is approaching. Are we going to see any final twists after an entertaining opening day of Rally Finland?
WRC - Finland: The Super Special begins. Prokop is the benchmark with 1m35.7s, 2.2s quicker than Tahko.
WRC - Finland: Nikara and Andersson are up now; and guess who are next? It's Meeke vs. Sordo. That's a mental fight as much as anything else.
WRC - Finland: Nikara beats Andersson by 0.5s, completing the stage in 1m32.9s.
WRC - Finland: And Sordo wins the battle of the DS3s. 1m32.6s for the struggling Spanird, Meeke 0.6s back and slots into third.
WRC - Finland: Despite that defeat, it's been a very impressive debut so far for Meeke. He's waxing lyrical about the DS3.
WRC - Finland: Ostberg vs. Hanninen now...and the latter wins the battle of the Fords. But only with a time of 1m34.2s - 1.5s quicker than the Norweigan, but only good enough for fifth. That could cost Ostberg, who was second overall after SS5.
WRC - Finland: Mikkelsen and Kubica, and the VW goes comfortably top of the times for SS6 with an impressive 1m30.4s. An equally impressive run from the WRC2 star, whose 1m34.6s outpaces Ostberg.
WRC - Finland: That run does cost Ostberg. Neuville comes through with a rapid 1m28.8s. The other M-Sport Ford of Novikov is also below the 1m30s mark - 1m29.4s
WRC - Finland: Hirvonen's SS6 effort is 1m29.7s; Ogier's 1m31.5s. Neuville in control now.
Checkered flag
WRC - Finland - SS6: 1 Neuville; 2 Novikov +0.6s; 3 Hirvonen +0.9s; 4 Mikkelsen + 1.6s; 5 Ogier +2.7s.
Overall: 1 Neuville; 2 Ogier +5.2s; 3 Ostberg +8.9s; 4 Hirvonen +13.8s; 5 Hanninen +17.0s.
Overall: 1 Neuville; 2 Ogier +5.2s; 3 Ostberg +8.9s; 4 Hirvonen +13.8s; 5 Hanninen +17.0s.
WRC - Finland: A quality effort from Neuville on the opening day - though we've barely completed a quarter of the running. So far, though, the Belgian has coped admirably with difficult conditions.
His consistency has earned him the lead - pace on the Super Special cemented it. The M-Sport Fords look good, with Ostberg just shy of Ogier in third.
His consistency has earned him the lead - pace on the Super Special cemented it. The M-Sport Fords look good, with Ostberg just shy of Ogier in third.
Breaking news
WRC - Finland: That is that for AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live's opening day in Finland. A thoroughly entertaining nine-or-so hours of sparring, wouldn't you agree?
Remember, tomorrow's running starts at 06:48 GMT (07:48 in Britain). We'll leave you with the report of the second trio of today's stages. Thanks for your company, and see you in the morning.
Thierry Neuville leads after opening day
By: Scott Mitchell, David Evans, Mark Glendenning, Sam Tremayne, Matt Beer, Jamie O'Leary, Kevin Turner
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