WRC Rally Germany
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SS14 results
Leading stage times
1 Ogier 8m31.8s
2 Lappi +2.3s
= Latvala +2.3s
4 Sordo +3.1s
5 Breen +3.5s
6 Tanak +3.7s
7 Suninen +6.1s
8 Neuville +6.5s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Sordo +42.2s
3 Latvala +46.5s
4 Neuville +52.3s
5 Lappi +1m00.4s
6 Breen +1m09.0s
7 Mikkelsen +1m49.2s
8 Ogier +1m52.7s
9 Suninen +1m57.7s
10 Ostberg +2m15.0s
Leading stage times
1 Ogier 8m31.8s
2 Lappi +2.3s
= Latvala +2.3s
4 Sordo +3.1s
5 Breen +3.5s
6 Tanak +3.7s
7 Suninen +6.1s
8 Neuville +6.5s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Sordo +42.2s
3 Latvala +46.5s
4 Neuville +52.3s
5 Lappi +1m00.4s
6 Breen +1m09.0s
7 Mikkelsen +1m49.2s
8 Ogier +1m52.7s
9 Suninen +1m57.7s
10 Ostberg +2m15.0s
Oh, Tanak cruised through the stage and still has a huge lead. He declared it's not the time to push now and frankly we agree with him.
Autosport
How is M-Sport feeling after Ogier's title blow? Bullish and determined, that's how: 
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Ogier is relatively sanguine about what could be a big blow to his title hopes today:
"Unfortunately we'll get not so much out of this rally, but what can you do in this moment? It's just frustrating that our efforts won't get anything because we were doing a good job."
"Unfortunately we'll get not so much out of this rally, but what can you do in this moment? It's just frustrating that our efforts won't get anything because we were doing a good job."
Stopwatch
Ogier is fastest by 2.3s over Lappi and Latvala, which takes him easily past Suninen and to within 3.5s of Mikkelsen for seventh.
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A pretty underwhelming sixth fastest so far for Neuville, he's now 5.8s behind third-placed Latvala.
"I had a very good stage, but I think we are a little bit too stiff with the springs and we must lose traction," says Neuville. "At the speed I'm driving, we should be on the pace."
"I had a very good stage, but I think we are a little bit too stiff with the springs and we must lose traction," says Neuville. "At the speed I'm driving, we should be on the pace."
Stopwatch
Insane pace from Ogier - now 10s faster than anyone else at the latest split! That's so quick it looks like it could be a rogue time...
So with Suninen cleared, Ogier is now chasing Mikkelsen - and by split two he's taken 3.7s off the Hyundai in the pursuit of seventh.
That means Latvala trims 0.8s from the gap to Sordo in second ahead, it's down to 4.3s.
Stopwatch
Latvala comes in equal quickest with Lappi!
Ogier is 1.5s faster than Suninen at split one, so that's one place gained already.
Neuville is a couple of seconds slower than both Sordo and Latvala on the splits so doesn't look like he'll be making up any ground from fourth just yet.
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Sordo is massively up for this.
"I pushed like hell. I can't do more. I need to fight. It was better than this morning," he declares at the stage end.
"I pushed like hell. I can't do more. I need to fight. It was better than this morning," he declares at the stage end.
Ogier has started the stage. The comeback charge begins.
Sordo finishes the stage second fastest so far, 0.8s behind Lappi.
That should be OK for him, main rival Latvala is only 0.2s faster at the splits.
That should be OK for him, main rival Latvala is only 0.2s faster at the splits.
Neuville is onto the stage. What's he going to do now? Settle for fourth knowing that Ogier is a long way behind? Or go for it, try to get into second and really cause points pain to Ogier?
Autosport Live generally votes for hard-charging action-packed strategies at all times.
Autosport Live generally votes for hard-charging action-packed strategies at all times.
Sordo is tailing off very slightly - Latvala is 0.2s faster than him at split two.
Latvala is slower than Sordo at split one - by 0.6s. Good start for the Hyundai man.
Stopwatch
A strong end to that stage from Lappi - he ends up 1.2s faster than Breen and builds the gap between them back up to 8.6s.
Sordo is on the same pace as Lappi and Breen at split two. He's 5.1s ahead of Latvala for second going into this stage, and we'll get Latvala's first split very soon.
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Even though the battle he's in is only for fifth, Breen has had such a rough run lately he's delighted just to be fighting for something after so many rallies with early delays and miserable running order spots.
"I'm enjoying it. It's just class to be in the middle of something," he says.
"I'm enjoying it. It's just class to be in the middle of something," he says.
Sordo is fastest of anyone so far at split one. Earlier today he flew on the Panzerplatte stages then struggled back here in the vineyards. Having got up to second, he really doesn't want that pattern to be repeated.
The advantage swings back to Breen at the final split, where he's 0.7s quicker than Lappi.
Breen has been closing on Lappi today and that gap was down to 7.4s going into the stage. They're very even here, though - Breen was 0.2s faster at split one, Lappi is 0.1s faster at split two.
Mikkelsen is slowest of the WRC runners at the stage end and his gap over Suninen for seventh is down to 8.5s. Expect Ogier to get involved around here too.
Breen and Lappi are onto the stage now. They're battling for fifth, having briefly looked like they might get involved in the podium fight before the Sordo/Latvala/Neuville gang picked up their pace again.
Suninen increases his gap over Ostberg to 17.2s and he's 1.7s faster than Mikkelsen at the final split.
Ostberg declares the stage "very slippery, and there's not really a line for me". He thinks there's so much dirt on the stage from the morning running of it that he's actually in road-sweeping mode even though this is an asphalt rally.
Suninen's day started with a battle to stay ahead of Ostberg, who'd been slowed by a loss of power on Friday but was expected to recover today. That resurgence never happened, so since then Suninen has been closing on Mikkelsen - and it looks like that gap will be down to single figures by the end of this stage.
Once he's cleared Suninen, Ogier's next target will be Mikkelsen - who is another 11s ahead.
Given that Mikkelsen is trying to re-teach himself how to drive this weekend, that shouldn't be too hard to Ogier to overturn either.
But then, however, it gets a lot harder - with sixth-placed Breen another 35s up the road and only five stages left in the entire rally.
Given that Mikkelsen is trying to re-teach himself how to drive this weekend, that shouldn't be too hard to Ogier to overturn either.
But then, however, it gets a lot harder - with sixth-placed Breen another 35s up the road and only five stages left in the entire rally.
Suninen is next in and is up to eighth but is just 1.1s ahead of Ogier. Given the enormous experience disparity between the two M-Sport drivers and the fact that Ogier needs a lot of points, expect those positions to change very quickly.
Green flag
Ostberg is the first of the works WRC runners onto the stage. Technically he's now chasing Ogier for ninth. Realistically, expect Ogier to quickly scoot off back towards the frontrunners.
Information
We're back, and it's time for the Ogier comeback to begin. WRC2 co-driver Loudon explains the Freisen stage that's just beginning:
SS14 Freisen (9.18 miles)
We’re into the lanes on this stage. This one hasn’t really changed in the last few years and the configuration is identical to last season. It’s generally quite quick, but with some narrower places where the foliage at the side of the road has made it seem even more tricky.
SS14 Freisen (9.18 miles)
We’re into the lanes on this stage. This one hasn’t really changed in the last few years and the configuration is identical to last season. It’s generally quite quick, but with some narrower places where the foliage at the side of the road has made it seem even more tricky.
We've got a gap of nearly an hour until the next stage now, so we'll take a break but bring you any updates that come in while the cars are heading to Freisen.
Ironically Tanak just revealed that he had a puncture of his own on the short Panzerplatte stage, but it didn't have any impact on his time. He also said he started to get distracted when he realised he was much closer to Ogier on the road than he should've been on the last one.
What a blow to Ogier's title hopes. Already 21 points behind Neuville going into this rally, he's now looking set to be substantially outscored by his championship rival here - and Tanak is going to close right in too.
Information
SS13 results
Leading stage times
1 Sordo 21m55.4s
2 Tanak +0.2s
3 Neuville +5.4s
4 Latvala +5.7s
5 Breen +6.9s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Sordo +42.8s
3 Latvala +47.9s
4 Neuville +49.5s
5 Lappi +1m01.8s
6 Breen +1m09.2s
7 Mikkelsen +1m44.3s
8 Suninen +1m55.3s
9 Ogier +1m56.4s
10 Ostberg +2m11.4s
Leading stage times
1 Sordo 21m55.4s
2 Tanak +0.2s
3 Neuville +5.4s
4 Latvala +5.7s
5 Breen +6.9s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Sordo +42.8s
3 Latvala +47.9s
4 Neuville +49.5s
5 Lappi +1m01.8s
6 Breen +1m09.2s
7 Mikkelsen +1m44.3s
8 Suninen +1m55.3s
9 Ogier +1m56.4s
10 Ostberg +2m11.4s
Sordo does win the stage, by just 0.2s over Tanak - whose outright lead now stands at a massive 42.8s.
Quote
So, what happened to Ogier?
"Puncture. Same line like always. Here we know it's always going to be a lottery with the rocks."
"Puncture. Same line like always. Here we know it's always going to be a lottery with the rocks."
Ogier is in, he's lost 1m43s and that will drop him to ninth - ahead of Ostberg, just behind Suninen.
By: Matt Beer
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