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Malhao is our final stage of the day and Evans should be making his way into it at 17:05. That's in three minutes, if you don't know what time it is at the moment (buy a watch, eh?).
Quote
Hirvonen doesn't sound too confident of clawing back the 20.8s deficit to Ogier.
"The tyres are completely gone," he said at the finish of SS12. "He (Ogier) is just running away and I can't do anything about it."
"The tyres are completely gone," he said at the finish of SS12. "He (Ogier) is just running away and I can't do anything about it."
Checkered flag
SS 12 results: 1 Ogier 23m00.6s; 2 Hirvonen +11,0s; 3 Latvala +17.7s; 4 Evans +18.1s; 5 Ostberg +25.6s; 6 Sordo +4.1s.
Overall: 1 Ogier 2h49m50.6s; 2 Hirvonen +20.8s; 3 Ostberg +1m11.4s; 4 Sordo +1m35.0s; 5 Neuville +3m53.5s; 6 Solberg +4m02.7s.
Overall: 1 Ogier 2h49m50.6s; 2 Hirvonen +20.8s; 3 Ostberg +1m11.4s; 4 Sordo +1m35.0s; 5 Neuville +3m53.5s; 6 Solberg +4m02.7s.
Stopwatch
...and here comes the reigning champion, with a time of 23m00.6s to go quickest!
"It's difficult," said Ogier. "Not so muddy like this morning. We pushed a little bit more at the end."
And Hirvonen is 11 slower!
"It's difficult," said Ogier. "Not so muddy like this morning. We pushed a little bit more at the end."
And Hirvonen is 11 slower!
Ostberg slots into third place with 23m26.2s. That'll surely be fourth once Ogier arrives...
Team-mate Sordo had less of a torrid time and arrives at the finish 12.0s slower than Latvala's best.
Neuville lost 2m07.5s in total with his issue.
Crash
And he's arrived at the finish. Looks like a broken suspension on the Hyundai I20, which has subsequently shredded a rear tyre.
"I hit something," he says. "I can drive, everything is still working."
Er, how?!!
"I hit something," he says. "I can drive, everything is still working."
Er, how?!!
The Belgian appears to be trundling towards the finish. He was running in fifth overall before this mishap (whatever that might be).
All eyes on Neuville, who lost 22.6 by the fifth split. Possible puncture?
Times for SS12 so far: 1 Latvala 23m18.3s; 2 Evans +0.4s; 3 Hanninen 21.9s; 4 Prokop +53.3s.
Frontrunners are now all in the stage. Neuville appears to be going well and is 1.5s quicker than Ogier at the second split.
Latvala is through in 23m18.3s. Sounds like he's ruing his tyre decision this afternoon:
"It's so damp on the ground and the temperature is not high enough for these (hard) tyres."
"It's so damp on the ground and the temperature is not high enough for these (hard) tyres."
Away from social media, Evans completes the stage in 23m18.7s.
Twitter
The official WRC Twitter account has just posted a picture of Tanak's damaged Fiesta RS WRC and it doesn't make for pleasant viewing:
"Great photo of Tanak's Fiesta RS WRC after his off this morning!! @rallydeportugal #WRC pic.twitter.com/ucE2UVMhXK"
"Great photo of Tanak's Fiesta RS WRC after his off this morning!! @rallydeportugal #WRC pic.twitter.com/ucE2UVMhXK"
Neuville is quickest of all at the first split as he begins to make his way through SS11. Still waiting for our first finisher to arrive (Evans).
Latvala, meanwhile, looks poised to beat whatever Evans will do as the Finn is a good 2.4s quicker through splits two and three.
Al-Qassimi and Hanninen are struggling to keep up with the pace through this test - the former is 20.5s behind Evans at the second split, the latter 9.0s.
Latvala is 0.1s and 2.4s up on Evans at the first and second split respectively.
Lights out
Santana de Serra is up and running. It's a long stage - the longest of the event, no less - so it'll be a while before drivers reach the finish line.
To give you a rough idea how long it will be, Ogier completed it this morning in 23m10.2s, ahead Hirvonen and Ostberg.
To give you a rough idea how long it will be, Ogier completed it this morning in 23m10.2s, ahead Hirvonen and Ostberg.
We've just been fiddling with our abacus and we reckon that 200th stage win means the VW Polo R has won 65% of all the stages it has competed in since its debut last year. Impressive stuff.
Next up is the 31.90km Santana de Serra stage, which is being tackled in the opposite direction this year. It gets underway at 15:55.
Checkered flag
SS11 results: 1 Ogier 12m04.7s; 2 Hirvonen +7.4s; 3 Neuville +8.2s; 4 Ostberg +10.9s; 5 Sordo +12.9s; 6 Solberg +18.0s.
Overall: 1 Ogier 2h26m50s; 2 Hirvonen +9.8s; 3 Ostberg +45.8s; 4 Sordo +1m05.3s; 5 Neuville +1m28.3s; 6 Solberg +3m18.9s.
Overall: 1 Ogier 2h26m50s; 2 Hirvonen +9.8s; 3 Ostberg +45.8s; 4 Sordo +1m05.3s; 5 Neuville +1m28.3s; 6 Solberg +3m18.9s.
Not that Hirvonen will be celebrating, as he finishes Santa Clara 7.4s behind Ogier.
Which also means the Polo R WRC has notched up 200 stage wins since its return!
Stopwatch
Rally leader Ogier arrives at the finish after flying - not literally, of course - through the stage. His time: 12m04.7s!
Was going on the soft tyre a good idea?
"We're going to see at the end of the loop..." says the reigning champion.
Was going on the soft tyre a good idea?
"We're going to see at the end of the loop..." says the reigning champion.
And here comes Ostberg who is very much in contention for a podium finish this weekend. The Norweigan's time is 2.7s slower than Neuville's.
Team-mate Sordo isn't as quick, setting a time of 12m17.6s.
Stopwatch
Neuville crosses the finish in his Hyundai i20 and does so in 12m12.9s to set a new benchmark time.
Stopwatch
Solberg goes quickest with a time of 12m22.7s.
The VW driver crosses the finish in a rather slow time of 13m08.2s. The problem?
"Power steering! I lost it in the stage - I'm not entering the 'Strong Man Competition'!"
"Power steering! I lost it in the stage - I'm not entering the 'Strong Man Competition'!"
Engine-related issue for Mikkelsen? He lost 26.8s at the final split.
Eighth place Prokop arrives at the finish in 12m37.5s. He's running on the hard compound tyre this afternoon while those ahead of him are running on the softer option.
Mikkelsen, Solberg and Neuville are up on Evans's first split time... but here comes Hanninen, with a puncture! That's his third of the weekend.
The Finn is about 6s slower than Evans! He says he began to suffer a deflation 10km into the stage and incurred a slow puncture. His time: 12m30.5s.
And here comes Latvala, who was slightly slower than Evans at the final split...
Hanninen and Mikkelsen are now in the stage, while Evans arrives at the end in 12m24.5s.
bus
As reported by AUTOSPORT, the manufacturers and the WRC Promoter are meeting to try solve the current impasse. And this is where they're meeting.
Right now, right at this moment - the future of the WRC is being discussed upstairs in this bus.
Latvala is 0.8s up on Evans's time at the first split.
Ogier was quickest on this test this morning, beating Hirvonen by 0.2s with his time of 12m23.0s.
By: Dan Cross, David Evans, Scott Mitchell, Charles Bradley
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