Live text
WRC Italy
Live Standings
presented by
Stopped
Summary
Live Text
Sort by
Neuville is in with a time of 19:41.5s. His mid-stage time loss was from a spin, and standing water played its part.
"Really tough. Too much standing water, so I had so much water on the lines," said Neuville.
"The road will get more muddy, I don't know. I had a spin and had to reverse."
"You start doing small mistakes."
"Really tough. Too much standing water, so I had so much water on the lines," said Neuville.
"The road will get more muddy, I don't know. I had a spin and had to reverse."
"You start doing small mistakes."
We've got a damage report on that brief delay for Mikkelsen - he's 11.8s slower than Ogier after second split.
Speaking of Tanak, he's 9.4s up on Neuville after that third split, 6.1s off Ogier's blistering time. Could it be a problem for Neuville, or just a poor time? We'll find out at stage end shortly.
Mikkelsen runs wide at a slow uphill left, his Hyundai i20 becoming bogged down and stuck for a few seconds. He's on his way, but that will allow Tanak, Ogier & co to capitalise.
It's a mega third split from Sebastien Ogier! He's gained 15.5 seconds on Neuville so far this stage, and he's still got 4.56 miles of competitive stage to make up even more time!
Stopwatch
As Esapekka Lappi goes on his merry way, our first comparative split times are in. Ogier is 4s up on Neuville at 9.9km, while Tanak is 1.5s down on Neuville after 4.9km.
Meanwhile, Ott Tanak has kicked off his afternoon, heading into the Tula stage moments ago. He sits third, only 2.4s behind Neuville ahead, though title rival Ogier is only 6.6s behind in fifth place.
Standing water is already having a noticeable impact. Both Neuville and Ogier are somewhat wide at an early left hairpin, splashing through puddles while trying to get their respective cars turned in. Ogier then runs a little wide at a slow right corner moments later.
Reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier is on his way. He's only 0.1s behind M-Sport team-mate Teemu Suninen and 9s off second-placed Neuville, his title rival. How high can he climb this afternoon, if at all?
Green flag
Thierry Neuville has entered stage six, kicking off this afternoon's action first on the road once more.
David Evans
The teams are clearly banking on a return to normal Sardinian service in terms of weekend weather. The afternoon tyre choice is largely the same as the morning, with all drivers taking a predominantly soft package for the four stages.
Further rain is forecast through the afternoon and it has been falling steadily through lunchtime in some places.
Rally leader Andreas Mikkelsen and his Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville along with Toyota men Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi have taken six softs; all three M-Sport drivers have five softs – Jari-Matti Latvala has five softs and one hard and Citroen pair, Craig Breen and Mads Ostberg, and Hayden Paddon have four softs and two hards.
The rain is expected to fade through the afternoon with sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high-20s expected on Saturday and Sunday.
Toyota’s Tom Fowler explained the thinking: “We prefer to play the cards immediately. You don’t know what’s going to come later in the rally, so if you have good cards then you put them on the table now.”
Asked if he would save a set of softs for Sunday, Fowler replied: “It’s too early to think about what we’ll be doing on Sunday.”
Further rain is forecast through the afternoon and it has been falling steadily through lunchtime in some places.
Rally leader Andreas Mikkelsen and his Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville along with Toyota men Ott Tanak and Esapekka Lappi have taken six softs; all three M-Sport drivers have five softs – Jari-Matti Latvala has five softs and one hard and Citroen pair, Craig Breen and Mads Ostberg, and Hayden Paddon have four softs and two hards.
The rain is expected to fade through the afternoon with sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high-20s expected on Saturday and Sunday.
Toyota’s Tom Fowler explained the thinking: “We prefer to play the cards immediately. You don’t know what’s going to come later in the rally, so if you have good cards then you put them on the table now.”
Asked if he would save a set of softs for Sunday, Fowler replied: “It’s too early to think about what we’ll be doing on Sunday.”
Despite the pitter-patter of rain falling in Tula, it might not stay wet all afternoon. So what does that curveball do to tyre selections for our crews? David Evans did the rounds at service to find out.
Twitter
What about the weather? I'm not a meteorologist, but it will be difficult, to paraphrase double world champion Marcus Gronholm. WRC's in-house crews captured the scene at stage six a few minutes ago.
Information
What can we expect from the next 13.66 miles of competitive action? Here's Hayden Paddon's co-driver Seb Marshall with insight on the upcoming Tula test.
SS2/6 Tula (13.66 miles)
This really is not an easy way into Rally Italy… this is one of the trickiest stages of the whole event.
It’s a bit longer this year and it really is a stage of two halves, the first bit is up in the windmills and that’s a bit of a maze really, loads of junctions and not a lot of flow.
Then the final section of six miles downhill, extended a bit from last year and relentlessly twisty. It’s Corsica on gravel: narrow, twisty, short straights, technical, lots under the trees where it could be still damp. For 22km, I’ve got 35 pages of notes, which is unheard of for a gravel rally.
SS2/6 Tula (13.66 miles)
This really is not an easy way into Rally Italy… this is one of the trickiest stages of the whole event.
It’s a bit longer this year and it really is a stage of two halves, the first bit is up in the windmills and that’s a bit of a maze really, loads of junctions and not a lot of flow.
Then the final section of six miles downhill, extended a bit from last year and relentlessly twisty. It’s Corsica on gravel: narrow, twisty, short straights, technical, lots under the trees where it could be still damp. For 22km, I’ve got 35 pages of notes, which is unheard of for a gravel rally.
Welcome back rally fans! Stage six of Rally Italy, a re-run of this morning's Tula test, kicks off in approximately 15 minutes time. Andreas Mikkelsen leads from Hyundai team-mate Thierry Neuville by 14s, with Toyota's Ott Tanak a further 2.4s behind.
The cars are into service with just over two hours until the start of SS6, a repeat of this morning's first stage. We will be back with more comprehensive coverage then, but we will try and bring you as much as we can from the service park.
Twitter
Information
Overall classification after SS5:
1. Mikkelsen 48m31s
2. Neuville +14s
3. Tanak +16.4s
4. Suninen +22.9s
5. Ogier +23s
6. Latvala +26s
7. Ostberg +28.6s
8. Paddon +36.4s
9. Breen +39s
10. Lappi +41.3s
1. Mikkelsen 48m31s
2. Neuville +14s
3. Tanak +16.4s
4. Suninen +22.9s
5. Ogier +23s
6. Latvala +26s
7. Ostberg +28.6s
8. Paddon +36.4s
9. Breen +39s
10. Lappi +41.3s
So it's a stage win for Neuville in SS5, but it's still his Hyundai team-mate Mikkelsen that leads the event.
Quote
"We were hoping for a bit more sun. It's difficult at the moment. The weather is very changeable which is making it tricky," says Paddon.
Stopwatch
Hayden Paddon once more is the final WRC driver to complete SS5. His time of 8m23.5s is 10.7s off his team-mate Neuville who wins the final stage of the morning.
Quote
"My time is not so bad compared to the guys around me on the road," says Ostberg. "We made a mistake with the tyre choice on the last stage but this stage was fine, anyone with knowledge can see that the stage is getting slower so I'm not too worried about our time."
Ostberg slips behind Latvala overall, dropping to 7th place.
Stopwatch
Mads Ostberg has reached the end of SS5. He sets a time of 8m20.7s, 0.6s slower than Suninen and 7.9s shy of Neuville's time.
Quote
"It's been a good morning. We still need to improve in the slow sections but it was fine," Suninen says. "Not sure I can change my driving style in a half hour service, but we will try and improve!"
Suninen stops the clocks in 8m20.1s. He drops 7.3s to Neuville but crucially 4.3s to Ogier who he is battling with overall. He is now just 0.1s ahead of his team-mate.
Quote
"A couple of big jumps kind of threw me off in a few places, but it was ok," says Breen. "Our tyre choice has cost us putting hards on in the rain, so we have to learn from that."
Craig Breen is safely through Friday morning in Sardinia. He sets a time of 8m23.8s in SS5, 11s down on Neuville.
Quote
"I had more confidence in here, but the conditions are not very typical Sardinia," Latvala explains. "You don't know what to expect, but our road position is no help whatsoever. It looks better to be at the front."
Latvala sets a time of 8m17.9s in SS5, 5.1s off Neuville's pace. He drops 2.1s to Ogier who lies ahead of him on the leaderboard.
Latvala is the next driver to come through, and is looking good in this stage, just 0.9s behind Ogier at the splits.
Quote
"To be honest the car hasn't been driving too bad, it's just difficult when you don't have much to fight for," says Evans. "Let's get to service, see if everything's ok and go again this afternoon."
Speaking of which, Elfyn Evans is through and is 12.3s slower. His time: 8m25.1s.
If the stage is beginning to cut up and become muddy, we could be looking at a stage win for Neuville in here.
Quote
"It was very muddy at the beginning of the stage so we lost time there, but Thierry did a very good stage," said Mikkelsen. "Things are working very well at the moment so let's keep things going like this.!
His lead now stands at exactly 14s.
Mikkelsen is now through, and drops 4.2s to Neuville with a time of 8m17s. He slots in third fastest.
Quote
"It's not easy," says Lappi. "I think we can try and improve the set-up of the car. I'm struggling and I don't know why to be honest. Let's see what we can do this afternoon."
The Finn has been driving conservatively this morning after picking up a slow puncture in SS3.
By: Matt Beer
Published:
Lap:
