WRC Rally Finland
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"I went off, I made a mistake," says Neuville. "There was a pace note that was a bit too optimistic, I was thinking about correcting it and I didn't hear the next note."
Stopwatch
Neuville completes the stage in 4m01.8s. That certainly won't be fastest, how bad are things going to be?
Neuville did clip a tree in that spin. The car looks like it's at a reasonable speed but not quite right.
As an early sign of what Neuville's lost, Ogier is 14.3s faster than him at the first split.
The championship leader has got going again, that should only cost him a couple of seconds but has he picked up damage? Even if he has, not many miles to go till he can get to service.
Crash
Neuville spins!
Green flag
Neuville has got Aanekoski up and running.
Information
Latvala is describing the stages for us today, and has so far escaped the curse that often befalls the volunteer for that duty. Here's his wisdom about SS5:
SS5 Aanekoski (4.79 miles)
There are only two stages this year that are on the traditional wide roads and this is one of them. Unlike the last stage, this won't cut up at all – it's a good strong surface. But it is going to be slippery, there's lots of loose gravel here.
From the recce, one junction really stays in my mind on this stage. The place is a long left hand corner which is going uphill. There are some concrete stones put on the inside of the corner by the organisers to stop us cutting, so you have to really concentrate, the corner is coming, coming, coming and then it suddenly turns junction right – but the road goes straight ahead. I am sure some people will overshoot this place. I have caution bad braking in my notes and I must stand on the brakes as soon as the long left stops. It's going to be an exciting place.
SS5 Aanekoski (4.79 miles)
There are only two stages this year that are on the traditional wide roads and this is one of them. Unlike the last stage, this won't cut up at all – it's a good strong surface. But it is going to be slippery, there's lots of loose gravel here.
From the recce, one junction really stays in my mind on this stage. The place is a long left hand corner which is going uphill. There are some concrete stones put on the inside of the corner by the organisers to stop us cutting, so you have to really concentrate, the corner is coming, coming, coming and then it suddenly turns junction right – but the road goes straight ahead. I am sure some people will overshoot this place. I have caution bad braking in my notes and I must stand on the brakes as soon as the long left stops. It's going to be an exciting place.
Autosport
But now this is the prediction that's coming true: Ostberg's declaration that Citroen is back - 
Autosport
Ogier's other prediction was that Toyota was going to dominate again - and for much of the morning that one looked right as well: 
Autosport
But maybe that's Ogier's prediction that Neuville wasn't going to handle running first on the road well coming true: 
Autosport
Neuville's declaration that he was going to look at Ogier and the points situation is precisely what's happening, though surely he would prefer to be higher than eighth: 
Not long now until the morning's final stage, and things are very tightly poised - but also kind of reflecting what everyone predicted might happen on this rally.
Information
SS4 summary:
* Ostberg goes quickest and vaults into lead!
* Tanak is just 0.5s behind in second
* Mikkelsen crashes and loses three minutes
* Latvala inches closer to Tanak too
* Ogier continues to pull away from Neuville in seventh and eighth
* Ostberg goes quickest and vaults into lead!
* Tanak is just 0.5s behind in second
* Mikkelsen crashes and loses three minutes
* Latvala inches closer to Tanak too
* Ogier continues to pull away from Neuville in seventh and eighth
Information
SS4 results:
Leading SS4 times:
1 Ostberg 5m49.1s
2 Latvala +3.2s
3 Tanak +4.8s
4 Suninen +5.2s
5 Paddon +5.5s
6 Breen +6.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ostberg
2 Tanak +0.5s
3 Latvala +9.5s
4 Suninen +12.4s
5 Paddon +14.4s
6 Evans +22.6s
7 Ogier +25.5s
8 Neuville +37.7s
9 Lappi +46.1s
10 Breen +50.2s
Leading SS4 times:
1 Ostberg 5m49.1s
2 Latvala +3.2s
3 Tanak +4.8s
4 Suninen +5.2s
5 Paddon +5.5s
6 Breen +6.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Ostberg
2 Tanak +0.5s
3 Latvala +9.5s
4 Suninen +12.4s
5 Paddon +14.4s
6 Evans +22.6s
7 Ogier +25.5s
8 Neuville +37.7s
9 Lappi +46.1s
10 Breen +50.2s
Quote
Paddon summarises that as: "Not too bad. Probably a little bit slow to wake up this morning".
Suninen and Paddon are the last of the main contenders through, and they go fourth and fifth fastest - which neatly keeps them fourth and fifth overall.
Quote
Told he's won the stage, Ostberg replies: "Yeah? OK..."
His time is a 5m49.1s and he reveals he initially "thought it was a 59s and so I was 'BEEP!'" (nice of him to censor himself).
Now he realises quite how good the time is and that he's just moved into the lead of the WRC's finest rally for a team that was in such a state here 12 months ago, and he absolutely beams.
His time is a 5m49.1s and he reveals he initially "thought it was a 59s and so I was 'BEEP!'" (nice of him to censor himself).
Now he realises quite how good the time is and that he's just moved into the lead of the WRC's finest rally for a team that was in such a state here 12 months ago, and he absolutely beams.
So the lead pack is now 1 Ostberg; 2 Tanak +0.5s; 3 Latvala +9.0s
Huge time from Ostberg! He goes fastest by 3.2s over Latvala and 4.8s over Tanak and takes the rally lead!
The delayed Breen is third-fastest on the stage so far. Recovery drive progress: now 5.1s behind Lappi and 13.5s behind Neuville. And up to at least 10th thanks to Mikkelsen going off.
Stopwatch
Ostberg is now on the stage - and he's 1.4s faster than leader Tanak at the first split!
Quote
Latvala comes in fastest so far by 1.6s over Tanak, which closes him to within 9s of the rally lead.
"It was quite OK," says Latvala of his stage. "In one place I didn't quite have the line and in one place I braked too early. I think I'm going at Ott's pace."
"It was quite OK," says Latvala of his stage. "In one place I didn't quite have the line and in one place I braked too early. I think I'm going at Ott's pace."
Crash
Mikkelsen's Hyundai is very battered. The in-car replay stopped as the car went into the ditch - the state of the car looks like it went over.
"I missed a pace note, I think it was my mistake, I just heard wrong," Mikkelsen admits.
As for the car: "It feels a bit strange, but it's hard to see with the broken glass."
"I missed a pace note, I think it was my mistake, I just heard wrong," Mikkelsen admits.
As for the car: "It feels a bit strange, but it's hard to see with the broken glass."
Latvala is again setting the pace on the splits, not by a lot but he's 0.2s up on rally-leading Toyota team-mate Tanak so far.
Beginning this one Latvala was third overall, 10.6s from Tanak and 6.3s behind Ostberg in second.
Beginning this one Latvala was third overall, 10.6s from Tanak and 6.3s behind Ostberg in second.
Mikkelsen has lost nearly three minutes with that incident.
Meanwhile Lappi is in and third-fastest. He's adrift of the lead group after stalling on today's opener, but that time pulls him to within 8.4s of Neuville in the battle for what's likely to be eighth or higher after Mikkelsen's shunt.
OK that looks better for Mikkelsen, belts back on and he's accelerating away. Looks like he's back up to speed but there's going to be a hefty time loss here.
Replays show Mikkelsen spinning backwards off the road. He's back on course but has stopped and is undoing his belts. His day might be over.
Crash
Looks like Mikkelsen might have been off, in-car footage shows spectators helping him and there's foliage hanging off the side of the Hyundai.
Mikkelsen was running only eighth so far, hinting that the i20 still wasn't great on these roads.
Crash
Hyundai reports Mikkelsen has stopped on the stage.
Quote
"We do our best," says Tanak. "We have to fight the guys who are driving in the 'second league' behind."
Remember the men chasing Tanak for the rally lead - Ostberg and Latvala - are ninth and seventh on the road today, so haven't started the stage yet.
Stopwatch
Speaking of Tanak, he comes in fastest so far by 4.7s over Ogier, so is now 25.6s ahead of the world champion overall.
Quote
"We do what we can but obviously it will be difficult to fight with the guys starting behind," says Ogier. "The only guy doing an amazing job is Ott. His time on stage two was unbelievable."
Ogier finishes the stage 3.9s faster than Neuville, so they're now 12.2s apart.
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Neuville is already at the stage finish, with a time of 6m02.5s.
"We are doing our best, but the conditions are very loose and I can't do more, to be honest," he says. "I try, but the car is not behaving as it should.
"We know it's a difficult event for us so we keep focused on our main goal, which is to stay close to Seb and try to beat him by the end of the weekend."
"We are doing our best, but the conditions are very loose and I can't do more, to be honest," he says. "I try, but the car is not behaving as it should.
"We know it's a difficult event for us so we keep focused on our main goal, which is to stay close to Seb and try to beat him by the end of the weekend."
Stopwatch
Following the pattern of the morning so far, Ogier puts another 1.8s on his gap to Neuville (they're seventh and ninth overall right now) at split one, then Tanak breezes through and beats both. It's Tanak, Ogier +2.2s, Neuville +4.0s so far.
Again our first focus will be on how title rivals Neuville and Ogier fare, then it'll be rally leader Tanak - whose main rivals Ostberg and Latvala are a few cars further down the start pack.
By: Matt Beer
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