WRC Rally Germany
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But speaking of Neuville, he might be set for a better afternoon...
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Sordo seems happy on the splits, fastest of all so far by seven tenths. He's just 1.8s behind Hyundai team-mate Neuville for fourth and 1.9s behind third-placed Latvala.
Lappi finishes the stage third fastest behind Breen and Suninen, so his gap back to Breen is down to 8.6s.
Sordo is onto the stage now. This morning his set-up worked well for Panzerplatte and he charged to fourth, but lost ground when the rally returned to the more traditional stages and finished the loop back in fifth.
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"Nice," says Breen. "I made a little change in service, just trying to go like the clappers and see what we can do."
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Breen completes the stage fastest so far by 1.1s over Suninen, and at the split he's 2.5s quicker than Lappi - who was 11s up the road in sixth going onto this one.
Now into the pretty massive podium battle. Breen is fastest so far on the splits and won the final stage before service earlier. Though he's only seventh, third is a not-inconceivable 19s ahead...
Mikkelsen completes the stage 2.1s slower than Suninen, so that gap is nibbled down to 15.7s.
Though Suninen seemed very underwhelmed by that time, it may well bring him closer still to the struggling Mikkelsen in eighth ahead. That gap was down to 17.8s by the end of the morning, and he's had another 1.5s out of the Hyundai at the split.
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"It was OK, nothing special," says Suninen.
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Suninen comes in 2.4s faster than Ostberg, so that gap is back up to 9s in their fight for ninth.
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This afternoon it's Suninen looking better initially - he's 1.6s faster on the split.
Ostberg is aware that probably wasn't his best drive.
"It felt a little bit better but I had a little bit less grip in the car. The time is slightly better [than this morning] but it's still a bad time. It felt faster than the time shows."
Ostberg is aware that probably wasn't his best drive.
"It felt a little bit better but I had a little bit less grip in the car. The time is slightly better [than this morning] but it's still a bad time. It felt faster than the time shows."
Suninen is onto the stage too. For most of the morning he was pulling away from Ostberg, but the Norwegian's stronger end to the first loop got that gap back down to 6.6s.
David Evans
In service, Ostberg admitted he still had work to do as he continues to get used to this Citroen on asphalt.
"Sometimes my engineer and I can't agree, but we are going in the same direction now," Ostberg said.
"Basically this is 'gravel Mads' trying to meet the Tarmac guys somewhere in the middle. I like to drive the car from the front and we're changing the chassis balance to make that happen."
Ostberg's team-mate Craig Breen drove a soft C3 WRC brilliantly to win the final stage of the loop.
"It's so much about the compromise," he told Autosport. "I got it wrong yesterday, I went with a softer car to give me confidence while everybody else had a racing car. Today we've stuck with the soft to make it work in Panzerplatte and it's gone better and better."
"Sometimes my engineer and I can't agree, but we are going in the same direction now," Ostberg said.
"Basically this is 'gravel Mads' trying to meet the Tarmac guys somewhere in the middle. I like to drive the car from the front and we're changing the chassis balance to make that happen."
Ostberg's team-mate Craig Breen drove a soft C3 WRC brilliantly to win the final stage of the loop.
"It's so much about the compromise," he told Autosport. "I got it wrong yesterday, I went with a softer car to give me confidence while everybody else had a racing car. Today we've stuck with the soft to make it work in Panzerplatte and it's gone better and better."
First of the fully-fledged WRC runners onto the stage is Ostberg. Evans's retirement has moved him up to 10th, and after a muted start to the morning he began catching Suninen ahead on the previous stage.
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The first of the Panzerplatte stages is the short version. But shorter doesn't necessarily mean sweeter.
Our stage guide this weekend is M-Sport co-driver Stuart Loudon, who's been called up to join WRC2 ace Gus Greensmith this weekend after his usual partner Craig Parry was injured in a testing crash.
SS12 Arena Panzerplatte (5.85 miles)
This is one heck of a way to start the weekend and a cracking warm-up for the main Panzerplatte test which follows. This Arena stage is basically corner after corner after junction after corner.
It’s a superb place to come and watch the cars, you see so much action as a spectator. But when you’re competing you’re looking to get into a rhythm quickly.
Our stage guide this weekend is M-Sport co-driver Stuart Loudon, who's been called up to join WRC2 ace Gus Greensmith this weekend after his usual partner Craig Parry was injured in a testing crash.
SS12 Arena Panzerplatte (5.85 miles)
This is one heck of a way to start the weekend and a cracking warm-up for the main Panzerplatte test which follows. This Arena stage is basically corner after corner after junction after corner.
It’s a superb place to come and watch the cars, you see so much action as a spectator. But when you’re competing you’re looking to get into a rhythm quickly.
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David Evans
Once again lunchtime service was packed with drivers looking to change the balance of their cars before the afternoon loop. The combination of the Baumholder military roads with the country lanes through Saarland is the rallying equivalent of a square peg and a round hole. What works for one is a long way from what's needed on the other.
Shortening the whole technical debate down, the broken concrete and constant grip changes on the tank tracks need a soft car giving traction and progression while the faster, smoother sweeping lanes need the precision delivered by a stiffer set-up.
Shortening the whole technical debate down, the broken concrete and constant grip changes on the tank tracks need a soft car giving traction and progression while the faster, smoother sweeping lanes need the precision delivered by a stiffer set-up.
Welcome back, time for more rallying, more Panzerplatte, and more World Rally Championship title battle.
Autosport
Here's the report from the morning's action, we'll see you back here for more live coverage from 2pm UK time: 
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SS11 summary:
* Neuville loses third place to Latvala
* Tanak brings lead up to 14.7s
* Evans crashes out of seventh
* Breen fastest and closes back towards podium battle
* Neuville loses third place to Latvala
* Tanak brings lead up to 14.7s
* Evans crashes out of seventh
* Breen fastest and closes back towards podium battle
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SS11 results
Leading stage times
1 Breen 6m03.3s
2 Lappi +0.3s
3 Tanak +0.5s
= Ostberg +0.5s
5 Latvala +1.6s
6 Ogier +2.1s
7 Suninen +2.6s
8 Sordo +3.9s
9 Neuville +4.5s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +14.1s
3 Latvala +41.8s
4 Neuville +41.9s
5 Sordo +43.7s
6 Lappi +49.8s
7 Breen +1m00.8s
8 Mikkelsen +1m24.6s
9 Suninen +1m42.6s
10 Ostberg +1m49.0s
Leading stage times
1 Breen 6m03.3s
2 Lappi +0.3s
3 Tanak +0.5s
= Ostberg +0.5s
5 Latvala +1.6s
6 Ogier +2.1s
7 Suninen +2.6s
8 Sordo +3.9s
9 Neuville +4.5s
Overall leaderboard
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +14.1s
3 Latvala +41.8s
4 Neuville +41.9s
5 Sordo +43.7s
6 Lappi +49.8s
7 Breen +1m00.8s
8 Mikkelsen +1m24.6s
9 Suninen +1m42.6s
10 Ostberg +1m49.0s
Tanak completes the stage third fastest, adding 1.6s to his lead over Ogier and ending the morning loop with a 14.1s advantage.
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"I try but at the top of the times it's always a Toyota," says Ogier. "It's difficult. I'm really pushing, every stage I do a perfect stage. It looks almost impossible. I'll keep pushing as much as I can without being stupid."
He emphasises that the Toyotas "are looking very strong. There's something working well under the bonnet".
He emphasises that the Toyotas "are looking very strong. There's something working well under the bonnet".
Ogier comes in only fifth fastest so far, but extends his cushion over Neuville to 27.7s.
Tanak is 1.5s up on Ogier at the latest split.
Tanak is 1.5s up on Ogier at the latest split.
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"There's no chance for us to resist against their speed," says Neuville. "I'm really pushing hard. Even if the settings are not perfect, I'm trying my best. On this stage, which I didn't do last year, I'm really on the edge."
There's now just 8s from Latvala in third to Lappi in seventh, Neuville is very vulnerable if his struggles continue.
Neuville has lost third! He falls 0.1s behind Latvala and drops to fourth overall!
Rally leader Tanak is onto the stage as well, and is 0.6s faster than pursuer Ogier at the first split.
Meanwhile, Evans looks like he's having a good crack at trying to fix his Ford and get going again.
While we were watching Evans going off, the pack of cars he was battling with has come through and Latvala has reclaimed fourth place from Sordo. with a stage time 2.3s quicker. They're both getting closer to Neuville too, but the championship leader looks like he'll hold on for now.
Evans had slipped back from fourth to seventh this morning but was still on the cusp of the podium battle before that accident. It wasn't the most violent crash, but it looks like there was enough of an impact while bouncing over the rough stage to break some suspension.
Yep, terrible news for Evans: he's the first WRC casualty of the weekend and has now parked, looks like his day is over.
Crash
Evans has gone off the road - looks like he's trying to rejoin but other camera shots suggest there might be too much damage to the suspension.
The struggling Mikkelsen loses another couple of seconds to Suninen, so the gap from ninth to 10th is now 17.8s.
That does look like it might have been a bit of a breakthrough stage for Ostberg, he's still fastest of anyone on the splits even with everyone up to Lappi now on the road.
Ostberg's taken 2.1s off Suninen, so the gap to 10th is back down to 6.6s.
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"The times have stopped being horrible," says Ostberg as he finishes that one. Let's see how that compares to the rest.
Stopwatch
This is a bit better for Ostberg so far - after a morning of losing time to 10th-placed Suninen ahead, he's taken 1.9s back on this stage by the final split.
Serderidis's old-spec WRC Citroen has kicked us off, then we'll have Ostberg on the stage soon to start the main runners.
By: Matt Beer
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