WRC Italy
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Paddon more than triples his gap to Ostberg, setting an 8m56.7s to go fastest.
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Interesting words from Ostberg at stage end. Pushing on to challenge Paddon for fourth place is taking a back seat to his potential future with Citroen, proving he can bring his car home in one piece.
"Its difficult to push halfway. I did it yesterday but you need to be really committed today. I have to get to the end," he says.
"I'm not willing to take the risks. Then it's like this. You have to really put energy in the car to load the front to have precision between the rocks, and I didn't do that.
"[It's] not a team order, it's something the team wants including myself. We need to be at the end. It's important for me and for myself. That means it needs to be a half-push, and that's not nice in Sardinia."
"Its difficult to push halfway. I did it yesterday but you need to be really committed today. I have to get to the end," he says.
"I'm not willing to take the risks. Then it's like this. You have to really put energy in the car to load the front to have precision between the rocks, and I didn't do that.
"[It's] not a team order, it's something the team wants including myself. We need to be at the end. It's important for me and for myself. That means it needs to be a half-push, and that's not nice in Sardinia."
Ostberg is fastest so far at stage end, but Paddon is quicker in the splits. Ostberg sets a 9m03.7s, 3.3s up on team-mate Breen.
David Evans
So, here we go. Tyre-wise, let’s be honest, we’re only interested in what’s beneath two cars. Both Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville are running with worn soft tyres. Neither has a fresh, brand new boot to play with.
And both, predictably, are up for the fight.
Neuville, following that trademark cap adjustment, simply told Autosprt: “We can do this.”
Before another question could be added he’d started to walk towards the car and with a grin and a wink he was gone.
It was the same for his television interview, Julian Porter told Autosport: “He’s really up for it. The confidence is all there, he walked off halfway through our third question, job done…”
Team principal Michel Nandan was equally forthright in his assessment of the what he wanted from the morning.
“I told him to stay on the road and to stay ahead of Ogier,” Nandan told Autosport. “No pressure.”
Asked how he felt, he laughed and replied: “Me? I’m fine. I’m not in the car!”
At the other end of the service park, the mood was similarly upbeat.
Ogier wasn’t overly loquacious, telling us simply: “I’m going to push.”
Team principal Malcolm Wilson offered a bit more: “We’re going for it, no doubt about that.”
As both cars left, the sense of anticipation was huge, a deep breath was taken from the boys in light and dark blue.
“It’s just like Jordan in 2011 this one, eh?” said Wilson.
Remember that one? Then M-Sport driver Jari-Matti Latvala had his half-second advantage overturned through the Baptism Site powerstage. But the one who won was current M-Sport driver Sebastien Ogier.
And both, predictably, are up for the fight.
Neuville, following that trademark cap adjustment, simply told Autosprt: “We can do this.”
Before another question could be added he’d started to walk towards the car and with a grin and a wink he was gone.
It was the same for his television interview, Julian Porter told Autosport: “He’s really up for it. The confidence is all there, he walked off halfway through our third question, job done…”
Team principal Michel Nandan was equally forthright in his assessment of the what he wanted from the morning.
“I told him to stay on the road and to stay ahead of Ogier,” Nandan told Autosport. “No pressure.”
Asked how he felt, he laughed and replied: “Me? I’m fine. I’m not in the car!”
At the other end of the service park, the mood was similarly upbeat.
Ogier wasn’t overly loquacious, telling us simply: “I’m going to push.”
Team principal Malcolm Wilson offered a bit more: “We’re going for it, no doubt about that.”
As both cars left, the sense of anticipation was huge, a deep breath was taken from the boys in light and dark blue.
“It’s just like Jordan in 2011 this one, eh?” said Wilson.
Remember that one? Then M-Sport driver Jari-Matti Latvala had his half-second advantage overturned through the Baptism Site powerstage. But the one who won was current M-Sport driver Sebastien Ogier.
Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville will be heading into this stage shortly. We're set for an epic showdown, a straight fight between two title rivals for dominance. DAVID EVANS spoke to both of them at service this morning.
Breen has arrived at stage end, a 9m07.0s putting him 5.3s faster than Evans.
Stopwatch
Initial split times are in for our fourth position battle. Paddon's quickest so far, 3.5s up on Ostberg at the second split.
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"It's quite a loose stage, quite narrow in places as well. Not great to be first, but just driving through now this morning," says Evans.
Stone walls line narrow farm tracks the drivers blast through at high speed. Narrow it is, twisty it isn't.
Stone walls line narrow farm tracks the drivers blast through at high speed. Narrow it is, twisty it isn't.
Evans finishes this stage, setting a benchmark time of 9m12.3s.
Breen is 2.8s up on Evans at our fourth split. Ostberg behind is now on his way, only 2.1s behind Paddon in their battle for fourth position.
Craig Breen resumes his rally in sixth position. He's 1m09.7s behind his Citroen team-mate Mads Ostberg, so again will be looking to keep it clean and bring his C3 home in one piece.
Green flag
Evans sets off, but with over 3 minutes deficit to Martin Prokop in 10th, he's not got a whole lot to aim for today unfortunately.
Information
Back at Cala Flumini, Elfyn Evans is about to kick our Sunday off. Before he does, we caught up with Seb Marshall, co-driver to Hayden Paddon, to give us a feel for what our drivers should expect here.
SS17/19 Cala Flumini (8.73 miles)
Both of these stages are a carbon copy of last year, which makes it easier from the side of the recce. This stage is quite narrow, it twists and turns through some fields – but you’re between the walls and you can tend to get a bit of tunnel vision.
The one thing you don’t want to do is clip one of these walls… we did that last year. We came through a flat corner over a crest and the wall was sticking out by just a couple of inches at the apex. The margins are so fine there, we clipped it and that was enough to cannon us across the road and into the wall on the other side. After that there’s a quick section on tarmac. It’s quite a nice stage, but I’d imagine this one will clean quite a bit.
SS17/19 Cala Flumini (8.73 miles)
Both of these stages are a carbon copy of last year, which makes it easier from the side of the recce. This stage is quite narrow, it twists and turns through some fields – but you’re between the walls and you can tend to get a bit of tunnel vision.
The one thing you don’t want to do is clip one of these walls… we did that last year. We came through a flat corner over a crest and the wall was sticking out by just a couple of inches at the apex. The margins are so fine there, we clipped it and that was enough to cannon us across the road and into the wall on the other side. After that there’s a quick section on tarmac. It’s quite a nice stage, but I’d imagine this one will clean quite a bit.
Autosport
Anyway, in more serious matters, a quick recap of news since last night. In case you missed it, we lost third placed Jari-Mati Latvala after he'd completed Saturday's stages due to a drained battery. Check our news report for full details. 
They're not quite as sweet sounding as our current generation WRC cars, but they're close. Time for Yamaha to consider a rally programme, perhaps?
A panorama of Alghero harbour
David Evans
Actually, before we get back to rallying, more seaside pictures - the panoramic shot shows how close service really is to the fishermen and their fishing boats. The other shot shows a brace of lovely Yamaha 250 outboard motors generating 500bhp between them. They sounded fabulous when the bloke fired them up, almost as much as the less powerful World Rally Cars being tended next door.
David Evans
Maybe these pics need to come with some sort of warning… would these be a PG or a 12 or something? Anyway, the one thing looks pretty scary and wouldn’t be gracing my supper plate any time soon. But the impressive thing is the length of sword on a Swordfish - in fact, the whole thing’s pretty impressive with some of them growing to three metres. And, what’s more, they can swim at up to 60mph (obviously this one’s swimming days are over) and like Mackerel and Squid.
That’s enough fish-ness. Back to rallying.
That’s enough fish-ness. Back to rallying.
As we wait for our first cars to line up and depart from Cala Flumini's start line, a quick segue to the service park in Alghero, where DAVID EVANS has been getting to know some rather fishy-seeming locals.
Buongiorno a tutti! Welcome to Sunday on Rally Italy. Four stages remain and only 3.9 seconds separate our title protagonists Sebastien Ogier and Thierry Neuville. We can't wait to see how this battle plays out.
Autosport
That's everything from us at Autosport Live today! It's been a cracking day's action on Rally Italy, and we can't wait to see how this trio of battles over first, third and fifth places play out.
For now, here's a summary of everything that's happened this afternoon. We'll be back with more Live coverage at 7:30am (BST) on Sunday. Arrivederci!
For now, here's a summary of everything that's happened this afternoon. We'll be back with more Live coverage at 7:30am (BST) on Sunday. Arrivederci!
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Now Loubet's clocked a time, here's how WRC2 looks after Saturday's stages.
WRC2 classification after SS16 (Monte Lerno 2)
1. Kopecky 3h12m58.3s
2. Ciamin +3m09.4s
3. Veiby +3m37.2s
4. Loubet +5m50.8s
5. Andolfi +6m29.1s
WRC2 classification after SS16 (Monte Lerno 2)
1. Kopecky 3h12m58.3s
2. Ciamin +3m09.4s
3. Veiby +3m37.2s
4. Loubet +5m50.8s
5. Andolfi +6m29.1s
It had been a close battle between Katsuta and Veiby for third place too. They were separated by only 2.3s heading into Monte Lerno.
This promotes Ole Christian Veiby to third place in WRC2, who also sets the quickest time in his class too. He had steering problems while leading yesterday afternoon, which cost him several minutes.
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We've got a podium position change in our support category, WRC2. Toyota junior driver Takamoto Katsuta has lost over three minutes between splits one and two, the same section where Mikkelsen had stopped.
Mikkelsen meanwhile also resumed and completed Monte Lerno, 1m58.2s slower than stage winner Thierry Neuville.
Tanak confirms a tyre had delaminated and he stopped to change it. It was a soft tyre, so wear was to blame, not contact with a stone or rock.
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No position changes in Monte Lerno, but we're set up for a thrilling finale Sunday morning with such close gaps.
Classification after SS16 (Monte Lerno 2)
1. Ogier 3h02m16.9s
2. Neuville +3.9s
3. Latvala +48.9s
4. Lappi +54.2s
5. Paddon +2m01.8s
6. Ostberg +2m03.9s
7. Breen +3m13.6s
Classification after SS16 (Monte Lerno 2)
1. Ogier 3h02m16.9s
2. Neuville +3.9s
3. Latvala +48.9s
4. Lappi +54.2s
5. Paddon +2m01.8s
6. Ostberg +2m03.9s
7. Breen +3m13.6s
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"It's tight. It was fun this afternoon in the car," says Ogier.
"The second stage I didn't manage to find a good rhythm, but in this one, I tried to push. I knew I was much too slow in here this morning, so I had to push."
"The second stage I didn't manage to find a good rhythm, but in this one, I tried to push. I knew I was much too slow in here this morning, so I had to push."
Ogier arrives with a 17m49.5s. 0.4s down on Neuville.
Crash
Tanak has stopped on stage before resuming, while Mikkelsen has also stopped, with causes for both still unknown.
Ogier is 0.3s slower than Neuville with one split remaining. What can he produce in this final section?
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"My tyres were more worn as I did the whole loop with only four tyres, but I tried," says Neuville.
"I tried to manage a bit, but there's only a couple of stones I really avoided. I tried to go for it."
"I tried to manage a bit, but there's only a couple of stones I really avoided. I tried to go for it."
Stopwatch
Neuville is here. 17m49.1s. Fastest.
Latvala retired from Rally Mexico earlier this season with an alternator fault, something which might require him to stay on power as much as possible. Hopefully not a repeat of that dreaded Toyota reliability that's cost them so many points this year.
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Something's not right though. Latvala's car is revving rather a lot. He shoos away TV crews and pulls away from time control at full speed. This is all rather strange.
Stopwatch
Latvala's gone quicker though, 3.7s faster than Lappi here!
Stopwatch
Lappi finishes with a 17m53.4s, fastest so far.
"It's tough competition on this level. We have the same car, same team, so I need to be satisfied," he says, referring to his duel for third place with Jari-Matti Latvala.
Asked if he expects team orders to be deployed tomorrow, ending any chance of a podium finish, he replies, "No, I think Tommi lets us fight. We need to keep in mind the manufactuer points so no crazy things. But I don't believe there will be team orders."
"It's tough competition on this level. We have the same car, same team, so I need to be satisfied," he says, referring to his duel for third place with Jari-Matti Latvala.
Asked if he expects team orders to be deployed tomorrow, ending any chance of a podium finish, he replies, "No, I think Tommi lets us fight. We need to keep in mind the manufactuer points so no crazy things. But I don't believe there will be team orders."
At split three, Neuville's advantage over Ogier extends to 0.3s.
Latvala was quickest through splits two and three, but it's Neuville setting the pace in split four. Latvala's still 1.0s up on Lappi so far, which is what he'll really care about.
By: Matt Beer
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