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WRC Rally Germany
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Tanak pulls a little bit of time back but loses 1.7s to Ogier. His rally lead is down to 10.6s.
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Here's Ogier's verdict: "I didn't expect such a dirty rally. It's low grip. Not so easy. We'll try to do better in the long one."
Poor first split from Tanak - he's 2.6s off Ogier there - that's a notable chunk of his 12s rally lead gone already.
Ogier is only fourth quickest so far, but that's 2s better than Neuville and they're now 17s apart for second and third.
"I just struggled a little bit with the handling, especially in the tight corners," says Neuville. "I have no grip. It's getting very dirty in there too."
This is where Neuville's title bid started to go horribly wrong last year, remember.
Ogier is 1.8s faster than Neuville at the split.
Neuville is only fifth fastest on the stage so far, and that mean the Latvala/Sordo gang is actually catching him - he's just 7.9s ahead of the Toyota now for third.
A muted split time from Neuville, is he settling for third (and if so, is that really wise?) or are conditions getting mucky for those further down the start order?
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"How much did we drop?" asks Evans. "OK, that's surprising... The stage felt OK but it seemed to be very, very slippery."
It's a slow time from Evans - only sixth fastest so far and 4.8s down on pacesetter Latvala - he loses fourth to the Toyota and is now only 0.2s ahead of Sordo for fifth.
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"OK, it's alright, it's quite slippy in some places, I didn't feel that the grip was the greatest in some places, there was loose stones and gravel, but it's OK, it's a start," says Latvala.
Evans is 1.6s slower than Latvala at the split - a chance for the Toyota to reclaim fourth here?
The title rivals - Neuville and Ogier - are now onto the stage...
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Latvala now nips in a tenth faster than Sordo, so inches the gap between them overall up to 4s.
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"I didn't drive very well in some hairpins," admits Sordo. "In some places I think I'll have lost time. But it's OK, I'm happy."
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Germany is the scene of Sordo's only WRC win and is supposed to be one of the rallies where he shines. Yesterday was very muted - sixth is not what Hyundai's asphalt ace is here for. But he starts today well with the fastest time so far, 0.7s up on Breen.
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"It was quite tricky, to be honest, not easy to find a rhythm," reports Lappi. "Let's see how the long one goes."
Lappi is 2.6s slower than Breen. That could drop him off the fourth-place fight a touch, and it's also allowed Breen to close to within 12.6s.
There's only 5s covering Evans in fourth to Lappi in seventh starting this stage, and Lappi's first split isn't great compared to Sordo behind him.
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Storming time from Breen, he's 3.6s faster than Mikkelsen so is now 4.6s clear of the Hyundai in their fight for eighth.
"I was wide at one junction and a little bit raggedy and messy so I'm pleased with that," says Breen.
"I was wide at one junction and a little bit raggedy and messy so I'm pleased with that," says Breen.
David Evans
Speaking of Mikkelsen's new driving style...
“I tried it for the first time yesterday afternoon,” he told Autosport.
“My style is usually to brake later into the corner and then hold the brake a little bit into the corner – trail braking.
But this doesn’t work so well with this car, the car responds much better to straight-line braking; off the brakes and turn in.
"This is what I’m doing now. I’m having to tell myself before every corner to do this, so it is interrupting the rhythm a little bit – it’s not easy to change something I’ve been doing for 10 years overnight.
“This is a short-term fix for this event, hopefully we can work something out with the team to make the car work for me a little bit more in the future.”
“I tried it for the first time yesterday afternoon,” he told Autosport.
“My style is usually to brake later into the corner and then hold the brake a little bit into the corner – trail braking.
But this doesn’t work so well with this car, the car responds much better to straight-line braking; off the brakes and turn in.
"This is what I’m doing now. I’m having to tell myself before every corner to do this, so it is interrupting the rhythm a little bit – it’s not easy to change something I’ve been doing for 10 years overnight.
“This is a short-term fix for this event, hopefully we can work something out with the team to make the car work for me a little bit more in the future.”
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"I'm still struggling in the junctions with this new style," says Mikkelsen. "I find it easier to do it in third or fourth gear, but I'm still doing my old style a bit."
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Mikkelsen comes in fastest so far by 0.6s over Ostberg, but expect Breen to beat that.
Strong start to the morning from Breen, he's 1.9s faster than Mikkelsen at the split.
That means Suninen still carries an advantage of 4.3s over Ostberg in their fight for 10th.
Suninen has had a quick spin on the stage, braking too late and shooting backwards down an escape road, but he gathers it up so quickly he completes the stage only 2.4s slower than Ostberg.
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After yesterday's problems, Ostberg reports that the car is working well again but says the "conditions are quite tricky, quite a lot of unseen gravel on the road".
Eighth-place battlers Mikkelsen and Breen are onto the stage now too. Breen had a one-second advantage over the Hyundai going into today.
Ostberg has only taken a tenth of a second out of Suninen at the stage's split point.
Suninen is also onto the stage. M-Sport's junior driver is still building his asphalt experience and was generally the slowest of the top class yesterday, but he's ahead of Ostberg thanks to the Citroen's power loss. Ostberg has a 6.7s gap to close to get back into the points.
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Jourdan Serderidis in his old-spec Citroen started the stage off, now we're awaiting Ostberg on the startline.
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Our stage guides this weekend come from experienced M-Sport co-driver Stuart Loudon, who's had a short-notice call-up to join WRC2 runner Gus Greensmith after his regular co-driver Craig Parry was injured in their big testing crash last week.
SS8 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.
SS8 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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For the second rally in a row, and the second Rally Germany in a row, Ott Tanak is in charge.
He has a 12-second lead over Sebastien Ogier and 27s over Thierry Neuville - the championship leaders unable to keep up with the championship outsider yesterday.
There's absolutely nothing to split Elfyn Evans, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi in fourth to seventh, Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen are fighting frantically for eighth, and Mads Ostberg is trying to reclaim 10th from Teemu Suninen after problems yesterday.
We still have all 11 factory World Rally Cars within a minute and a half and running fairly smoothly. But how long will that last on a rally where the weekend stages have often transformed everything?
He has a 12-second lead over Sebastien Ogier and 27s over Thierry Neuville - the championship leaders unable to keep up with the championship outsider yesterday.
There's absolutely nothing to split Elfyn Evans, Jari-Matti Latvala, Dani Sordo and Esapekka Lappi in fourth to seventh, Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen are fighting frantically for eighth, and Mads Ostberg is trying to reclaim 10th from Teemu Suninen after problems yesterday.
We still have all 11 factory World Rally Cars within a minute and a half and running fairly smoothly. But how long will that last on a rally where the weekend stages have often transformed everything?
Welcome back to our live coverage of Rally Germany - it's time for the awesome military range stages of Panzerplatte.
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Join us for day two of Rally Germany with Autosport Live tomorrow from 7:45am UK time.
By: Matt Beer
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