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Elfyn Evans is the first man to complete the stage, and lays down a marker of 18m31.5s.
This stage remember includes the infamous Micky's Jump. Ostberg is usually spectacular over the WRC's biggest crests, but engaged in such a heated battle he may refrain from maximum take-off just this once...
After the first split, Paddon is 0.8s up on Ostberg which would be enough to take fifth position away from the Norwegian. The gap is currently 0.2s in Ostberg's favour.
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Stephane Lefebvre meanwhile, who was leading WRC2 prior to SS11, is still yet to make it out of the stage.
The split times are sadly quite patchy once again, but we will do our best to update you on how the drivers are getting on. Remember they have no split times inside the car so have no idea how quickly they are going until they see their final stage time.
There are three intriguing battles for position to keep an eye on. Paddon and Ostberg are fighting over fifth; Lappi and Latvala want third and Neuville and Ogier are squabbling over the rally lead.
Elfyn Evans, Craig Breen and Hayden Paddon are all already in SS12 Monte Lerno.
Lefebvre has dropped at least six minutes. It's unclear whether he is able to continue.
Crash
In WRC2, class leader Stephane Lefebvre has stopped in between the first and second splits. This hands the lead to Skoda's Jan Kopecky.
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Before we turn our attentions to Monte Lerno, here is the overall classification after SS11:
1 Ogier 2h00m29.8s
2 Neuville +19.5s
3 Latvala +49s
4 Lappi +55s
5 Ostberg +1m17s
6 Paddon +1m17.2s
7 Breen +1m56.8s
1 Ogier 2h00m29.8s
2 Neuville +19.5s
3 Latvala +49s
4 Lappi +55s
5 Ostberg +1m17s
6 Paddon +1m17.2s
7 Breen +1m56.8s
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"A good run, a good stage with really nice conditions," says Ogier. "It will be much rougher this afternoon."
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Sebastien Ogier has finished the stage now too. He extends his overall lead by 1.8s to 19.5s.
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"As long as we are faster than Ogier it's OK," says Neuville. Asked how much he would risk for the win, he replies: "Not so much. Yesterday we fought hard to get a good road position but today we are back on our own rhythm."
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Thierry Neuville is through and has obliterated Latvala's time by 5.8s! However, despite being slower at the opening splits, Ogier is taking time out of Neuville in here.
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"I was not confident in the morning, I started too slow so I knew I had to improve," says Latvala. "There are a lot of rocks in the road so in the second pass this is going to be very hard for the cars."
Latvala's time is the new stage best as well, 1.3s better than Paddon's effort.
Lappi's caution has cost him dearly. Latvala sets a time 5.1s quicker than his team-mate to extend his gap to 6s overall.
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"I don't care, I'm still here!" Lappi says when asked about Latvala. "There were so many loose rocks, there were so many. They are being dragged into the road by the cars in front you have to be so careful. I avoided at least five!"
Lappi is in! He sets a time of 16m51.6s which is 3.8s slower than Paddon.
Unfortunately the split times have stopped filtering through, so we may have to wait for the final stage times to monitor the battle between Lappi and Latvala and then Neuville versus Ogier.
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"It was a bad stage" admits Ostberg. "I didn't have a good feeling with the car, we had quite a lot of understeer. I knew I was losing time."
With the next stage very similar in character, Ostberg may well find himself sixth heading to first service.
With the next stage very similar in character, Ostberg may well find himself sixth heading to first service.
Ostberg has completed the stage in a time that's 5.3s slower than Paddon. His hold on fifth place is now down to just 0.2s!
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"We were just driving to the conditions," Paddon says when asked if he was pushing. "You can feel the road cleaning so the guys behind will go faster but for sure the focus is on what Mads does."
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Hayden Paddon meanwhile is through and what a time! His 16m47.8s is 8.6s faster than Breen's effort, and looks like it could be good enough to overhaul Breen's team-mate Ostberg for fifth too.
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We said Breen had got through Monti di Ala unscathed, but we may have been wrong.
"We had a quite a big impact in there on the front right which we need to check out, it could be something with the damper," he says.
"We had a quite a big impact in there on the front right which we need to check out, it could be something with the damper," he says.
Towards the start of the stage, Latvala is plotting his revenge. He is ahead of Lappi in the early splits.
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Craig Breen is through unscathed, and takes 4.8s off Evans' time in here.
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This stage looks like it could be quite challenging.
"The grip is really quite low," reveals Evans. "It's a funny surface now as it's damp underneath with a crusting on top which is quite tricky."
"The grip is really quite low," reveals Evans. "It's a funny surface now as it's damp underneath with a crusting on top which is quite tricky."
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Evans meanwhile has completed the stage and sets a benchmark time of 17m01.4s.
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After the second split, Paddon is 3.4s faster than Ostberg. At this rate he could be set to take fifth place away from the Citroen driver.
Craig Breen is currently 4.2s up on Elfyn Evans, but Hayden Paddon is going even quicker behind them.
Mads Ostberg and Hayden Paddon is the first battle to keep an eye on. Ostberg currently holds an advantage of just over 5s in fifth place.
David Evans
“This is a missed opportunity for us,” said Mikkelsen, who led the event through the morning. “We had some gearbox problems in the first [Friday afternoon] stage, but then it was OK going into the next one. We came to a hairpin and it wasn’t right, we had a small spin and the car was then jammed in reverse. I couldn’t take another gear so we stopped there.”
An overnight gearbox change has rectified his i20 Coupe WRC for the second day.
The process of getting Tanak back on the road wasn’t nearly as straightforward – with the team using every minute of the three-hour Rally 2 allowance to re-prep the car. Having removed the engine to replace damaged engine mounts, when they came to put the motor back under the bonnet they discovered the Estonian’s ninth-stage nosedive had shortened the car by a millimetre or two. The Yaris WRC equivalent of a square peg was persuaded into a round hole 15 minutes before the car was due into parc ferme.
An overnight gearbox change has rectified his i20 Coupe WRC for the second day.
The process of getting Tanak back on the road wasn’t nearly as straightforward – with the team using every minute of the three-hour Rally 2 allowance to re-prep the car. Having removed the engine to replace damaged engine mounts, when they came to put the motor back under the bonnet they discovered the Estonian’s ninth-stage nosedive had shortened the car by a millimetre or two. The Yaris WRC equivalent of a square peg was persuaded into a round hole 15 minutes before the car was due into parc ferme.
While we wait for more split times, let's indulge in some further insight from our man in the service park DAVID EVANS, who was speaking to Andreas Mikkelsen this morning.
Craig Breen is 2.2s ahead of Evans through the first split, but it's a long stage so that gap could easily change.
Evans meanwhile is still languishing down the order after losing 13 minutes on Friday.
No split times are through yet, but both Elfyn Evans and Craig Breen are in the stage. Breen is seventh overall, 30s behind sixth placed Hayden Paddon.
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As we will be quickly moving onto Monte Lerno after this test, here is a preview of the following stage once again from Jari-Matti Latvala.
SS12 Monte Lerno (18.08 miles)
We start this stage after just 600 metres of road section from Monte di Ala – don’t forget this used to be one really long stage. I remember from last year we had a problem in these two stages because there was no chance to cool the brakes. I lost the brakes at the end of the first stage, but then there was no road section to get any air flow at all. We are in a hurry, but we do normally have time to bleed the brakes.
Because it’s quite the same road, the nature of the start of this stage is very similar to the end of the first one.
Once we’re into Monte Lerno, it’s a little bit more in the forest, it’s not quite so much in the open. Of course a lot of this stage is about the Micky’s Jump, this is the famous one where some people have flown for a long way. There’s a short new section before the jump, but when you come for lift-off then you have to be careful – you kind of pop over the top. I’ll come in fourth gear for this place. Fourth gear… not the fifth gear!
SS12 Monte Lerno (18.08 miles)
We start this stage after just 600 metres of road section from Monte di Ala – don’t forget this used to be one really long stage. I remember from last year we had a problem in these two stages because there was no chance to cool the brakes. I lost the brakes at the end of the first stage, but then there was no road section to get any air flow at all. We are in a hurry, but we do normally have time to bleed the brakes.
Because it’s quite the same road, the nature of the start of this stage is very similar to the end of the first one.
Once we’re into Monte Lerno, it’s a little bit more in the forest, it’s not quite so much in the open. Of course a lot of this stage is about the Micky’s Jump, this is the famous one where some people have flown for a long way. There’s a short new section before the jump, but when you come for lift-off then you have to be careful – you kind of pop over the top. I’ll come in fourth gear for this place. Fourth gear… not the fifth gear!
Green flag
Five minutes later than expected, Evans has now set off into Monti di Ala.
There appears to be a small delay at the start of this stage, Evans is waiting patiently on the start line.
By: Matt Beer
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