WRC Rally Germany
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One more stage to finish the morning, M-Sport WRC2 co-driver Loudon explains what to expect:
SS11 Romerstrasse (7.63 miles)
This is a pretty quick one without many junctions and not even that many corners. You can't believe the difference in reading notes for a stage like this one compared with seven-and-a-bit miles of somewhere like the twisty section of Panzerplatte. The drivers must think the co-drivers have lost their voices… there simply aren't the number of notes to get through because the roads aren't as technical.
One of the problems with these kind of quick stages is that it's really tricky to make time up on a rival. Without the junctions to be brave for, you tend to find you're all carrying the same sort of speed.
SS11 Romerstrasse (7.63 miles)
This is a pretty quick one without many junctions and not even that many corners. You can't believe the difference in reading notes for a stage like this one compared with seven-and-a-bit miles of somewhere like the twisty section of Panzerplatte. The drivers must think the co-drivers have lost their voices… there simply aren't the number of notes to get through because the roads aren't as technical.
One of the problems with these kind of quick stages is that it's really tricky to make time up on a rival. Without the junctions to be brave for, you tend to find you're all carrying the same sort of speed.
David Evans
While Hyundai remains embroiled in the fight for the World Rally Championship, the Korean firm can celebrate one crown already thanks to Hayden Paddon.
Overnight (in European time) the Kiwi secured his fourth New Zealand Championship win. Only tackling half the WRC season, Paddon is driving an i20 AP4+ developed by his own team in association with Hyundai NZ and victory on every round he’s started means he’s unbeatable with one round to run.
Talking after the finish of the Hyundai New Zealand Goldrush Rally of Coromandel he said: “It’s great to wrap it up early, but it’s been a pretty difficult day with the turbo hose keep blowing off. But this is a good result for the team and good for Hyundai."
Information
SS10 summary:
* Ogier nibbles a little bit out of Tanak's lead, which is now 12.5s
* Sordo and Latvala close right in on Neuville for third
* Lappi wins the stage and jumps to sixth
* Evans spins and falls to seventh
* Ogier nibbles a little bit out of Tanak's lead, which is now 12.5s
* Sordo and Latvala close right in on Neuville for third
* Lappi wins the stage and jumps to sixth
* Evans spins and falls to seventh
Information
SS10 results
Leading stage times
1 Lappi 8m28.4s
2 Latvala +1.3s
3 Ogier +2.4s
4 Breen +3.1s
= Tanak +3.1s
6 Sordo +4.4s
7 Suninen +5.2s
8 Osbterg +6.5s
9 Neuville +7.4s
10 Evans +7.9s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +12.5s
3 Neuville +37.9s
4 Sordo +40.3s
5 Latvala +40.7s
6 Lappi +50.0s
7 Evans +52.3s
8 Breen +1m01.3s
9 Mikkelsen +1m20.1s
10 Suninen +1m40.3s
11 Ostberg +1m49.0s
Leading stage times
1 Lappi 8m28.4s
2 Latvala +1.3s
3 Ogier +2.4s
4 Breen +3.1s
= Tanak +3.1s
6 Sordo +4.4s
7 Suninen +5.2s
8 Osbterg +6.5s
9 Neuville +7.4s
10 Evans +7.9s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +12.5s
3 Neuville +37.9s
4 Sordo +40.3s
5 Latvala +40.7s
6 Lappi +50.0s
7 Evans +52.3s
8 Breen +1m01.3s
9 Mikkelsen +1m20.1s
10 Suninen +1m40.3s
11 Ostberg +1m49.0s
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"Everything is OK, we had quite a lot of wrong information," says Tanak, who is unhappy with the amount of differences on the stage since the recce.
But Ogier, there's one Toyota you're very slightly quicker than and it's the rally leader - Tanak comes in 0.7s slower so his overall lead is now 12.5s.
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"It's all Toyota in front, I honestly had a really good stage and cannot do any more. I'm on the limit and pushing very hard," says Ogier as he sees Lappi and Latvala's stage times.
And at the final split, Ogier is 0.6s faster than Tanak.
Ogier comes in third fastest behind Lappi and Latvala, which means he's now 25.4s ahead of Neuville for second.
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"I have no idea, I really pushed hard in this stage," says Neuville. "There must be something that is not working properly."
Latest split comparison for Tanak and Ogier: Ogier is 0.4s faster.
Neuville is only seventh quickest as he continues to grapple with the not-ideal differential he's had to run since yesterday's problems.
He's now only 2.4s ahead of Sordo and 2.8s ahead of Latvala - his third place is hugely under threat.
He's now only 2.4s ahead of Sordo and 2.8s ahead of Latvala - his third place is hugely under threat.
Crash
Evans explains that his time loss was just to a spin: "I just touched the throttle and it went round like a Mk2 Escort".
Mk2 Escorts are fun, but you'd rather than a Fiesta WRC for this sort of event.
Mk2 Escorts are fun, but you'd rather than a Fiesta WRC for this sort of event.
Ogier is adding another 3s to his gap back to title rival Neuville on the splits so far.
On the last stage our maths proved incompetent, so we're quadruple checking we can see, read and count before typing this: Ogier is faster than Tanak at split one. Only by 0.6s, but he's trimming some time back on the rally leader.
Evans is through and he's only seventh fastest, and that drops him behind Lappi too. So in three stages today he's gone from fourth to seventh overall.
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Here are Latvala's thoughts: "It's a very interesting fight and really, really good. Also Esapekka is now charging, so he's getting closer."
And Latvala is nearly 4s faster than Neuville on the splits too.
All the time it was Sordo closing on Neuville for third, that wasn't too bad for Hyundai - it could swap them back with some shuffling tomorrow. A Toyota passing Hyundai's title contender is not so good, if it happens...
All the time it was Sordo closing on Neuville for third, that wasn't too bad for Hyundai - it could swap them back with some shuffling tomorrow. A Toyota passing Hyundai's title contender is not so good, if it happens...
Latvala finishes the stage second-fastest to team-mate Lappi, and doesn't quite take fourth back from Sordo but he very nearly does - he's closed to within 0.4s of the Hyundai.
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"It's like yesterday, on this type of stage I have a lot of understeer," says Sordo. "I don't have grip in the front."
Sordo completes the stage, and he's only third fastest behind Lappi and Breen. That brings Lappi back to within 9s of him after the Toyota was being left behind earlier.
Evans's slow splits mean Sordo won't lose out to the Ford, but he might come back under pressure from Latvala for the fourth he'd just taken on the last stage.
Evans's slow splits mean Sordo won't lose out to the Ford, but he might come back under pressure from Latvala for the fourth he'd just taken on the last stage.
Title rivals Neuville and Ogier are on the road now.
Latvala is 1.7s up on Sordo at the latest split. Sordo had been 3.5s of the Toyota in fourth after winning Panzerplatte.
Slow start to the stage from Evans, he's lost 4s to Latvala by the first split.
Sordo's latest split is 3s off the pace Lappi and Breen are setting. It's Latvala and Evans we'll really need to compare him to, though.
Latvala's first split time is in, and he's taken a second back off fourth-placed Sordo after losing a position to him on the last stage.
Stopwatch
Breen is through and fastest so far, but Lappi remains a couple of tenths quicker than him on the splits.
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Mikkelsen is trying to totally revamp his driving style this weekend. Frankly, it doesn't sound like fun: "I'm trying different timing on the braking and turning, and nothing seems to work so far."
Sordo was the pacesetter on the last stage but on this one he's a second and a half slower than Lappi and Breen at split one. That could be good news for Latvala and Evans, the men he's jumped this morning.
Mikkelsen is third of the three factory WRC cars in so far, and Suninen has now closed to within 20s of him.
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Suninen says there are "a lot of things where I should improve and can be faster" after that stage. Asked to be more specific on where he can find time, he replies "in the corners. On the straights I cannot be much faster".
Cheeky. But also probably accurate.
Cheeky. But also probably accurate.
Better start to this stage from Lappi, who seemed to be falling away from the fourth-place battle and towards Breen earlier in the morning. He's a tenth faster than Breen at split one.
Suninen completes the stage 1.3s faster than Ostberg, so is now 8.7s ahead of the Citroen for 10th.
Stopwatch
Breen is continuing to show strong pace - 2s quicker than anyone else so far at split one.
Ostberg said he had a "much better feeling" on that stage, though he still has plenty of understeer. A bit less dirt on the road is helping.
The split times suggest Suninen will be inching a bit further away from Ostberg on this stage rather than the Citroen catching him for 10th.
Other than Ostberg trying to hunt down Suninen and Mikkelsen trying to completely change his driving style to make the Hyundai work, the early part of the running order is a pretty quiet pack.
It's from Breen onwards when things hot up - he's been flying this morning and is catching Lappi for seventh, with a shot at getting into the Sordo/Latvala/Evans battle for fourth after that.
It's from Breen onwards when things hot up - he's been flying this morning and is catching Lappi for seventh, with a shot at getting into the Sordo/Latvala/Evans battle for fourth after that.
Green flag
Ostberg is the first of the factory WRC cars onto this stage. He hasn't had a particularly happy morning and is now 7.4s away from M-Sport's third driver Suninen in his pursuit of 10th.
Information
After the brutal hinkelsteins, broken concrete and cuts of Baumholder, this is a simpler stage, as described by WRC2 driver Greensmith's co-driver Loudon:
SS10 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.
SS10 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.
Welcome back, after that post-Panzerplatte pause, the crews are about to begin SS10.
By: Matt Beer
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