WRC Germany, GP2 Spa, IndyCar Pocono
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WRC - Germany: Back on SS3, Lefebvre ends up a few seconds slower than ideal, and falls just outside the overall top 10 thanks in part to Ostberg and Tanak picking up pace.
GP2 - Spa: And there it is we have some noise at Spa. The majority of the field are on their install laps.
WRC - Germany: Ooooooh! Latvala is 0.4s slower than Ogier on SS4 so he still leads, but only by 0.1s!
GP2 - Spa: Track temperature is 29 degrees at the moment but as you will probably know that can change very quickly at Spa. Not a cloud in the sky at the moment though, perfect weather to blast around this beautiful circuit.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: "On this stage I felt a bit more happy with the set-up," says Ogier as he finishes SS4 with an 8m06.9s time that is likely to bring him back past Latvala for the rally lead.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Ogier is looking good to retake the lead on this one, he's a full 3s quicker than Latvala at the first split.
Latvala regains a bit of ground on the next section, gapping the gap down to 1.9s. But that would still cost him the rally lead as his advantage over Ogier was just half a second.
Latvala regains a bit of ground on the next section, gapping the gap down to 1.9s. But that would still cost him the rally lead as his advantage over Ogier was just half a second.
Twitter
WRC - Germany: And R-GT class latest from Tuthill Porsche:
"Francois [Delecour] had a spin in sector 1, lost half a minute. Plenty of beer in the hotel if we need it."
"Francois [Delecour] had a spin in sector 1, lost half a minute. Plenty of beer in the hotel if we need it."
GP2 - Spa: Formula Renault 3.5 championship leader Oliver Rowland also returns to GP2 this weekend.
He had a strong run with MP Motorsport at Silverstone, where he picked up points, and will be hoping he can put in another good performance here at Spa, where he clinched a win in FR3.5 this year.
He had a strong run with MP Motorsport at Silverstone, where he picked up points, and will be hoping he can put in another good performance here at Spa, where he clinched a win in FR3.5 this year.
Lights out
WRC - Germany: Ogier, Latvala and Ostberg are onto SS4.
Back on SS3, Lefebvre's near the end and looks good for holding on to a top 10 place.
Back on SS3, Lefebvre's near the end and looks good for holding on to a top 10 place.
WRC - Germany: We'll find out very soon about Meeke as the next stage is just about to begin already.
Right now Paul Nagle is busily engaged helping Kris sort the car, but yesterday he talked us through this weekend's stages:
SS4 Mittelmosel (8.49 miles)
Some of this stage was used in 2011 and some of it was used in 2007, so it's new to Kris and I – we have new notes for this one.
But it's more of the same that we had in the last stage; lots of hairpins.
These tight corners will bring the average speed down for the stages, but when you're between those hairpins, trust me, we're really not hanging around.
It's flat-out down some of the tightest, narrowest and bumpiest Tarmac stages of the season. A real challenge.
Right now Paul Nagle is busily engaged helping Kris sort the car, but yesterday he talked us through this weekend's stages:
SS4 Mittelmosel (8.49 miles)
Some of this stage was used in 2011 and some of it was used in 2007, so it's new to Kris and I – we have new notes for this one.
But it's more of the same that we had in the last stage; lots of hairpins.
These tight corners will bring the average speed down for the stages, but when you're between those hairpins, trust me, we're really not hanging around.
It's flat-out down some of the tightest, narrowest and bumpiest Tarmac stages of the season. A real challenge.
GP2 - Spa: Vandoorne will be hoping he can return to winning ways this weekend.
ART team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita picked up his maiden win in Hungary while Williams F1 development driver Alex Lynn claimed his second win of the season in the feature race after a great strategy call by his DAMS team.
ART team-mate Nobuharu Matsushita picked up his maiden win in Hungary while Williams F1 development driver Alex Lynn claimed his second win of the season in the feature race after a great strategy call by his DAMS team.
WRC - Germany: We're going to hold off on a full rundown until the flying Lefebvre, who was among those affected by the horse delay earlier, comes in, but for the now the lead pack overall looks like this:
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +12.2s
4 Meeke +17.7s
5 Neuville +25.6s
6 Sordo +28.2s
7 Evans +31.9s
8 Paddon +36.8s
But will Meeke even make it onto the next stage with that damage he just sustained...?
1 Latvala
2 Ogier +0.5s
3 Mikkelsen +12.2s
4 Meeke +17.7s
5 Neuville +25.6s
6 Sordo +28.2s
7 Evans +31.9s
8 Paddon +36.8s
But will Meeke even make it onto the next stage with that damage he just sustained...?
WRC - Germany: Evans lost a bit of time and ground to the Hyundais on that stage as he had to reset his M-Sport Ford's handbrake system, a problem that's happened a few times to the new car this year.
GP2 - Spa: This is of course championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne's home race and from what we've seen around the circuit so far he is quite a popular guy, understandably.
Stoffel Vandoorne
GP2 - Spa: Bonjour and welcome to live coverage of the opening GP2 practice session of the weekend here at, what is for the moment, a sunny Spa-Francorchamps.
WRC - Germany: Meeke isn't sure if that's just a broken wheel he can easily change or if there's further suspension damage. He's still within 5.5s of Mikkelsen for third overall!
Crash
WRC - Germany: Trouble for Meeke, although he's only lost 2s to the leading VWs, he's smacked a rear wheel hard near the end of that stage and there's damage.
WRC - Germany: Mikkelsen isn't able to keep up with lead-jousting VW team-mates Latvala and Ogier at that pace, he loses a couple more seconds on that stage and is now just over 10s behind. But he's still clear of the rest of the pack.
WRC - Germany: Despite overhauling his champion team-mate for the rally lead, Latvala's not totally happy with how he's driving still, ruing a few mistakes under braking.
Half a second between Latvala and Ogier, on a rally (its home rally) that VW has still never won (because its drivers keep shunting here). This is going to be fun.
Half a second between Latvala and Ogier, on a rally (its home rally) that VW has still never won (because its drivers keep shunting here). This is going to be fun.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Latvala takes the lead! He's 2.3s faster at the stage end and hits the front by 0.5s.
Quote
WRC - Germany: Better for Ogier heading into the second half, with Latvala's advantage at split three down to 0.5s.
Ogier is at the finish, so that's one shunt-free vineyard stage ticked off for the champion.
"So it's close, eh?" says Ogier. "Last year I went off on this one and I thought I drove well but on some corners I didn't have the perfect speed, a little too cautious. Nothing too bad.
"I'm not driving perfectly. A good drive, for sure - no mistakes, no big dramas - but I'm looking for perfection."
Ogier is at the finish, so that's one shunt-free vineyard stage ticked off for the champion.
"So it's close, eh?" says Ogier. "Last year I went off on this one and I thought I drove well but on some corners I didn't have the perfect speed, a little too cautious. Nothing too bad.
"I'm not driving perfectly. A good drive, for sure - no mistakes, no big dramas - but I'm looking for perfection."
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: And now Latvala is effectively in the lead, he's 1.9s faster than Ogier at split two so leading the rally by a tenth!
Still just over half the stage to go.
Still just over half the stage to go.
Stopwatch
WRC - Germany: Superb start from Latvala, he's 1.4s up on Ogier at the first split of this longer stage.
He went into it 1.8s behind his team-mate, so this bodes well...
He went into it 1.8s behind his team-mate, so this bodes well...
Lights out
WRC - Germany: Both Ogier and Latvala have begun Moselland.
WRC - Germany: DAVID EVANS: Sebastien Ogier will be glad to see the back of Friday: the first vineyard stage of the event, Moselland, was where he had the first of his two big shunts 12 months ago.
One stage later comes Mittelmosel, the scene of the steering-damaging accident that ruled him out of the event 24 months ago.
One stage later comes Mittelmosel, the scene of the steering-damaging accident that ruled him out of the event 24 months ago.
WRC - Germany: Meanwhile, back at the front, we're into the vineyards.
Here's the stage description for SS3, which is about to begin, from Meeke's co-driver Nagle:
SS3 Moselland (14.44 miles)
This is our first taste of the vineyards and this is where the job of the co-driver steps up a notch.
It’s hairpin after hairpin in here, but in the middle of that there are loads of hidden junctions and corners on or just over crests.
All the work for this stage is done in the recce – you have to be so focused on those two practice runs to get everything absolutely spot on.
Much of this stage is the same as last year, except for around five kilometres (three miles) which is new.
Here's the stage description for SS3, which is about to begin, from Meeke's co-driver Nagle:
SS3 Moselland (14.44 miles)
This is our first taste of the vineyards and this is where the job of the co-driver steps up a notch.
It’s hairpin after hairpin in here, but in the middle of that there are loads of hidden junctions and corners on or just over crests.
All the work for this stage is done in the recce – you have to be so focused on those two practice runs to get everything absolutely spot on.
Much of this stage is the same as last year, except for around five kilometres (three miles) which is new.
WRC - Germany: After championship leader Lappi's exit, WRC2 is still led by a factory Skoda driver in Kopecky, who is 8s clear of local favourite Kremer - driving another of the new Fabias entered by Raimund Baumschlager's team.
Craig Breen is third in the works Peugeot now, but it'll be a while before we can get a truly accurate WRC2 picture this weekend as it's a big field and the likes of title contender Yuriy Protasov and 2011 Monte Carlo Rally winner Bryan Bouffier are quite late in the start order.
Craig Breen is third in the works Peugeot now, but it'll be a while before we can get a truly accurate WRC2 picture this weekend as it's a big field and the likes of title contender Yuriy Protasov and 2011 Monte Carlo Rally winner Bryan Bouffier are quite late in the start order.
Breaking news
WRC - Germany: One World Rally Car we haven't forgotten this morning, it's just not here: Ford privateer Lorenzo Bertelli won't be able to follow up his breakthrough Finland performance just yet as he was taken ill during the recce so is sitting the weekend out.
Crash
WRC - Germany: Bit of an upset in WRC2 - Esapekka Lappi has been the man to beat of late but he's stopped on SS2 and following drivers are reporting that he's crashed his Skoda.
He had been running third behind fellow Fabia men Jan Kopecky and Armin Kremer.
He had been running third behind fellow Fabia men Jan Kopecky and Armin Kremer.
WRC - Germany: We've got the R-GT cars here this weekend too, part of the FIA's push to encourage more sportscars to go rallying (a push spectators and AUTOSPORT and anyone who likes 911s going sideways is keen on).
There are only two entries, but that doesn't matter too much as they're both Tuthill Porsches and one's driven by four-time WRC rally winner Francois Delecour and the other by 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and factory Porsche LMP1 driver Romain Dumas.
All of which is cool.
But we do need them to keep running as there are only two of them, and Dumas is complaining of a potential diff problem and Delecour just lost 40s going off the road and collecting some German scenery, which means his car no longer looks quite like this:
There are only two entries, but that doesn't matter too much as they're both Tuthill Porsches and one's driven by four-time WRC rally winner Francois Delecour and the other by 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and factory Porsche LMP1 driver Romain Dumas.
All of which is cool.
But we do need them to keep running as there are only two of them, and Dumas is complaining of a potential diff problem and Delecour just lost 40s going off the road and collecting some German scenery, which means his car no longer looks quite like this:
Francois Delecour, Tuthill Porsche, WRC Germany 2015
Breaking news
WRC - Germany - SS2 summary:
* Ogier is slightly quicker than Latvala to increase his lead to 1.8s
* Frustrated Latvala rues understeer
* Mikkelsen falls away from his team-mates in third
* Evans jumps up to fifth behind Meeke
* Top-class debutant Lefebvre still shining in eighth
* Ogier is slightly quicker than Latvala to increase his lead to 1.8s
* Frustrated Latvala rues understeer
* Mikkelsen falls away from his team-mates in third
* Evans jumps up to fifth behind Meeke
* Top-class debutant Lefebvre still shining in eighth
Checkered flag
WRC - Germany - SS2 results:
Stage times:
1 Ogier 9m33.1s
2 Latvala +0.4s
3 Mikkelsen +5.9s
4 Meeke +8.2s
5 Evans +8.9s
6 Neuville +10.9s
7 Kubica +11.7s
8 Lefebvre +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.8s
3 Mikkelsen +9.5s
4 Meeke +14.5s
5 Evans +19.0s
6 Neuville +19.7s
7 Sordo +20.7s
8 Lefebvre +24.9s
9 Paddon +25.6s
10 Ostberg +27.1s
Stage times:
1 Ogier 9m33.1s
2 Latvala +0.4s
3 Mikkelsen +5.9s
4 Meeke +8.2s
5 Evans +8.9s
6 Neuville +10.9s
7 Kubica +11.7s
8 Lefebvre +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.8s
3 Mikkelsen +9.5s
4 Meeke +14.5s
5 Evans +19.0s
6 Neuville +19.7s
7 Sordo +20.7s
8 Lefebvre +24.9s
9 Paddon +25.6s
10 Ostberg +27.1s
WRC - Germany: Lefebvre continues to show great form on his World Rally Car debut, he's eighth quickest on the stage and that brings him ahead of Paddon for eighth overall.
Breaking news
V8 Supercars - Eastern Creek: We've had more news through on the injuries James Courtney sustained in the freak incident in the V8s pitlane earlier today.
He was struck by a piece of pitlane equipment sent flying by the downdraft from a helicopter taking part in a display.
The 2010 champion and ex-jaguar Formula 1 tester has sustained two fractured ribs and a pneumothorax. Here's the full updated story:
Courtney hurt in freak pit incident
He was struck by a piece of pitlane equipment sent flying by the downdraft from a helicopter taking part in a display.
The 2010 champion and ex-jaguar Formula 1 tester has sustained two fractured ribs and a pneumothorax. Here's the full updated story:
Courtney hurt in freak pit incident
James Courtney
WRC - Germany: While Abbring and Melicharek won't trouble the frontrunners too much, Lefebvre might. So we can't do a definitive top 10 order after SS2 just yet, but so far it looks like this:
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.8s
3 Mikkelsen +9.5s
4 Meeke +14.5s
5 Evans +19.0s
6 Neuville +19.7s
7 Sordo +20.7s
8 Paddon +25.6s
9 Ostberg +27.1s
10 Prokop +32.4s
And after his SS1 spill, Tanak is back within 0.3s of nipping ahead of Prokop.
Poor Kubica is currently 55th and last of the cars through SS1 so far with his five-minute penalty.
1 Ogier
2 Latvala +1.8s
3 Mikkelsen +9.5s
4 Meeke +14.5s
5 Evans +19.0s
6 Neuville +19.7s
7 Sordo +20.7s
8 Paddon +25.6s
9 Ostberg +27.1s
10 Prokop +32.4s
And after his SS1 spill, Tanak is back within 0.3s of nipping ahead of Prokop.
Poor Kubica is currently 55th and last of the cars through SS1 so far with his five-minute penalty.
WRC - Germany: There will be three more WRC runners to come when the stage resumes. Yes, three, not two. Or one. AUTOSPORT Live has been a bit rubbish at forgetting extra World Rally Cars this morning.
So as well as Hyundai's extra man Abbring and Citroen protege Lefebvre making his top-class debut, there's also a 15th World Rally Car in the form of Slovakian privateer Jaroslav Melicharek in a Melico-entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
He made three appearances as team-mate to Martin Prokop last year, and kept things sensible to finish an impressive eighth in Monte Carlo. Don't expect anything similar in his first WRC outing of 2015, he's a fair way off the pace so far.
But here's a look at his car anyway:
So as well as Hyundai's extra man Abbring and Citroen protege Lefebvre making his top-class debut, there's also a 15th World Rally Car in the form of Slovakian privateer Jaroslav Melicharek in a Melico-entered Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
He made three appearances as team-mate to Martin Prokop last year, and kept things sensible to finish an impressive eighth in Monte Carlo. Don't expect anything similar in his first WRC outing of 2015, he's a fair way off the pace so far.
But here's a look at his car anyway:
Jaroslav Melicharek, Melico Ford, WRC Germany 2015
Breaking news
WRC - Germany: From afar it might seem like there's a lot of hanging around on a World Rally Championship event given the gaps between stages, but more than not every minute of those is taken up with a road section journey for the drivers as they get from one stage to the next.
That means that a delay such as the one caused by stray horses on SS1 can take time to recoup. Hyundai's fourth man Abbring had to wait 16 minutes on the SS1 startline while the horses were rounded up and there won't be a chance to catch that 16-minute gap in the running order up until the midday break.
So Kubica (who is way down the order with a five-minute penalty for an engine change last night) has just come through, but now there's a long wait for spectators before Abbring appears.
That means that a delay such as the one caused by stray horses on SS1 can take time to recoup. Hyundai's fourth man Abbring had to wait 16 minutes on the SS1 startline while the horses were rounded up and there won't be a chance to catch that 16-minute gap in the running order up until the midday break.
So Kubica (who is way down the order with a five-minute penalty for an engine change last night) has just come through, but now there's a long wait for spectators before Abbring appears.
WRC - Germany: Part of the problem for that group losing a little time is the worsening road conditions.
With every car ahead cutting to the inside of a corner, more dirt and gravel gets dragged on and that hampers the likes of Paddon who are finding a much dirtier road than those onto the stage earlier.
With every car ahead cutting to the inside of a corner, more dirt and gravel gets dragged on and that hampers the likes of Paddon who are finding a much dirtier road than those onto the stage earlier.
WRC - Germany: Meeke, Evans and Neuville have stepped up a gear on this stage, their pace is a few seconds better than Paddon and Sordo, while the delayed Tanak is running at a similar speed to the latter pair too.
WRC - Germany: Neuville feels a set-up change has helped for this stage, but it doesn't quite show in his time. He loses a couple of seconds to Meeke in the chase for fourth overall, and is jumped by Evans in the overall order too.
We'll need the next two Hyundais of Sordo and Paddon to come in to see precisely where Meeke/Evans/Neuville slot in overall.
We'll need the next two Hyundais of Sordo and Paddon to come in to see precisely where Meeke/Evans/Neuville slot in overall.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Jack Benyon, Scott Mitchell, Mark Glendenning
Published:
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