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WRC Rally of Portugal
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Breen, Paddon and Meeke are the latest drivers onto the stage. With Latvala in trouble and last-stage pacesetter Neuville a bit delayed, they're the trio now looming in Tanak's metaphorical mirrors in this brilliant lead battle.
That delay for Neuville might be that he'll have had to pass Latvala's slowing car on the stage.
Latvala's troubles are increasing, by split two he's nearly three minutes off the pace.
And now potentially trouble for Neuville too - he's 14.7s off Ogier at the second split.
Rally leader Tanak's position is a bit more comfortable with Latvala in trouble as he was only a tenth ahead starting this stage, but he's 2.7s off pacesetter Neuville at split one.
It's Paddon and the Citroens that Tanak really has to watch as they're now his closest rivals for the overall lead.
It's Paddon and the Citroens that Tanak really has to watch as they're now his closest rivals for the overall lead.
Crash
Reports from TV crews on the stage that Latvala - who has spent pretty much all day either in the lead or within a few tenths of a second of it - is carrying damage on his car.
Stopwatch
Meanwhile Neuville comes through 2.2s faster than Ogier at that point.
Neuville keeps setting fast times then finding himself still eighth on the overall leaderboard. That's how ridiculously close this is.
Neuville keeps setting fast times then finding himself still eighth on the overall leaderboard. That's how ridiculously close this is.
Crash
Trouble for Latvala - or a rogue split... But it seems like trouble. He's nearly two minutes off Ogier's pace at split one.
Information
And we're already onto SS7. Last year Paddon crashed and set a forest on fire here. This year his new co-driver Marshall is hoping that doesn't happen. Here's his stage guide:
SS7 Ponte de Lima (17.06 miles)
This is pretty much an exact reverse from last year. It's a very technical stage, but the grip is quite consistent all the way through. There are a couple of Tarmac sections in the middle which break the flow of the gravel and there are parts where it can tend to get quite rocky – Hayden will attest to this from last year!
Bizarrely enough, when the organisers have had the roads repaired after the winter, some of the corners have been fixed with asphalt underneath the gravel. In a few places, Hayden and I stopped and I got out and kicked the gravel away to find good, hard asphalt underneath. It's not a lot of corners, but it could make a difference in the ones that are there. Certainly, it's noticeable.
SS7 Ponte de Lima (17.06 miles)
This is pretty much an exact reverse from last year. It's a very technical stage, but the grip is quite consistent all the way through. There are a couple of Tarmac sections in the middle which break the flow of the gravel and there are parts where it can tend to get quite rocky – Hayden will attest to this from last year!
Bizarrely enough, when the organisers have had the roads repaired after the winter, some of the corners have been fixed with asphalt underneath the gravel. In a few places, Hayden and I stopped and I got out and kicked the gravel away to find good, hard asphalt underneath. It's not a lot of corners, but it could make a difference in the ones that are there. Certainly, it's noticeable.
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SS6 summary:
* Tanak takes rally lead by a tiny 0.1s over Latvala
* Meeke decides to preserve his tyres and falls from first to fifth
* Neuville is fastest but stays eighth overall
* Lappi struggles with power loss from holed intercooler and falls to 11th
* Tanak takes rally lead by a tiny 0.1s over Latvala
* Meeke decides to preserve his tyres and falls from first to fifth
* Neuville is fastest but stays eighth overall
* Lappi struggles with power loss from holed intercooler and falls to 11th
Information
SS6 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m25.0s
2 Evans +0.4s
3 Tanak +2.0s
4 Sordo +2.2s
5 Paddon +2.4s
= Ogier +2.4s
7 Latvala +3.2s
8 Breen +6.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Latvala +0.1s
3 Paddon +3.7s
4 Breen +4.8s
5 Meeke +6.2s
6 Sordo +8.2s
= Ogier +8.2s
8 Neuville +8.9s
9 Evans +15.6s
10 Hanninen +42.0s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 10m25.0s
2 Evans +0.4s
3 Tanak +2.0s
4 Sordo +2.2s
5 Paddon +2.4s
= Ogier +2.4s
7 Latvala +3.2s
8 Breen +6.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Latvala +0.1s
3 Paddon +3.7s
4 Breen +4.8s
5 Meeke +6.2s
6 Sordo +8.2s
= Ogier +8.2s
8 Neuville +8.9s
9 Evans +15.6s
10 Hanninen +42.0s
Crash
Lappi is in trouble: "I got a hole in the intercooler on the last one and I tried to block it, but... We are lacking power now."
That drops him behind Toyota team-mate Hanninen into 11th overall.
That drops him behind Toyota team-mate Hanninen into 11th overall.
Crash
For the third time today, Lefebvre has a puncture. The previous two were a consequence of rolling this morning, this one is a bit less dramatic.
He started this stage a distant 26th overall as a consequence of his messy morning.
He started this stage a distant 26th overall as a consequence of his messy morning.
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Ostberg is pretty downcast. He's only 16th overall after his puncture on the last stage and being three minutes outside the points means he's not hugely up for the rutted roads that this stage now features.
"It's not fun to drive on this stage if you're not competing. Conditions are horrible. I love to compete. I don't love where I am now."
"It's not fun to drive on this stage if you're not competing. Conditions are horrible. I love to compete. I don't love where I am now."
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"I took it easy because I got a slow puncture at the end of the last stage and I've really got to manage my tyres because the next stage is long and cruel on the tyres. I played a bit of a game here," says Meeke.
That's quite a gamble given the amount of time and positions he's lost but he'll look very wise if he shoots through SS7 with golden rubber and his rivals fade.
That's quite a gamble given the amount of time and positions he's lost but he'll look very wise if he shoots through SS7 with golden rubber and his rivals fade.
Meeke is a not very fast 9.5s off the pace at the stage finish, and that means he tumbles from his brief rally lead to fifth place behind Tanak, Latvala, Paddon and Breen!
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"Not too bad!" says Paddon. "We took a small compromise on the tyre with the balance of the car for this stage and hopefully we've now got some good tyres for the big one."
Paddon is 'only' fifth fastest, which is only 2.4s off Neuville's benchmark.
That brings Paddon ahead of Breen into a provisional third and puts him back within 3.7s of new rally leader Tanak - who will surely stay in that position given Meeke's lack of pace here.
That brings Paddon ahead of Breen into a provisional third and puts him back within 3.7s of new rally leader Tanak - who will surely stay in that position given Meeke's lack of pace here.
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Here's Breen's verdict:
"I had to put the two hards on the front for that one and it took a really long time for them to come in," he explains. "Not very good."
"I had to put the two hards on the front for that one and it took a really long time for them to come in," he explains. "Not very good."
Worse for Meeke - he's a hefty 5.8s off the pace at split two.
Breen is in and slowest so far - 6.2s down on Neuville.
That means he falls 4.8s adrift of provisional leader Tanak, but remains third for now subject to Paddon and Meeke's pace.
That means he falls 4.8s adrift of provisional leader Tanak, but remains third for now subject to Paddon and Meeke's pace.
Paddon isn't on such electrifying pace here, he's only fourth fastest at split two behind Evans, Neuville and Tanak.
Strong time from Evans, who's on the way back up after a small delay to a puncture this morning. He's second fastest to Neuville, four tenths off.
Sordo comes in third fastest just ahead of Ogier and draws exactly level with the champion in the overall order. We've got a lot of cars to come through in this wonderfully close battle before we can work out where they actually stand overall.
That could be for the lead between Tanak and Latvala as the Citroens aren't so hot at the first split - Breen and Meeke are slowest so far there, 4s and 4.3s off Tanak respectively there.
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Tanak is concerned, though: "We have to go and check, there's something bent at the front."
He scoots off to see what the problem is.
He scoots off to see what the problem is.
Tanak can't match Neuville but second fastest so far, 2s off the Hyundai, gets him ahead of Latvala in the overall order by just 0.1s!
Is that for first? For second? For third? Depends how Meeke and Breen do shortly.
Is that for first? For second? For third? Depends how Meeke and Breen do shortly.
Stopwatch
Neuville is through and is fastest so far by 2.4s over Ogier, which moves him right onto Ogier's tail for fifth? sixth? seventh? overall. They're now just 0.7s apart.
"I had the soft tyre on the rear and it was moving quite a lot but it's the only thing we can do," says Neuville. "I tried to do my best and I'm trying to avoid mistakes."
"I had the soft tyre on the rear and it was moving quite a lot but it's the only thing we can do," says Neuville. "I tried to do my best and I'm trying to avoid mistakes."
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Latvala comes in second fastest to Ogier, eight tenths off.
"Errrrrr OK," is Latvala's summary. "I had a little bit more understeer than I had in the morning, so I was fighting in the slow corners. In some places I had to be careful with the tyres to try not to overload them."
Tanak is still coming through faster but by less of a margin than on the early splits.
"Errrrrr OK," is Latvala's summary. "I had a little bit more understeer than I had in the morning, so I was fighting in the slow corners. In some places I had to be careful with the tyres to try not to overload them."
Tanak is still coming through faster but by less of a margin than on the early splits.
Stopwatch
Ogier completes the stage in 10m27.4s and comes out with variation #171 of first-on-the-road frustration.
Stopwatch
Tanak storms through the first split on this stage 2.2s quicker than next-fastest man Neuville and 3.7s up on Latvala - which would be enough to thrust Tanak up to second on the rally at least.
Stopwatch
Latvala is the early pacesetter at split one, but only by 0.1s over Ogier.
Information
Fish puzzled resolved, straight onto SS6 already.
Here's Seb Marshall's description:
SS6 Caminha (11.24 miles)
This is an exact reverse of last year's stage. Traditionally this is the stage with the least grip, even though the surface looks like it should give good grip. We should expect this one to be the fastest of the loop.
The locals have felled a lot of the trees in this stage. When you get up on the top, it's quite hard to find a point of reference. When you come up over, you look and wonder: 'Where does the road go?'… a la firebreaks in the UK forests.
At the same time, that felling does open up some of the corners and make them a bit quicker when you can see through them. In all honesty, it's a fairly strasightforward stage.
Here's Seb Marshall's description:
SS6 Caminha (11.24 miles)
This is an exact reverse of last year's stage. Traditionally this is the stage with the least grip, even though the surface looks like it should give good grip. We should expect this one to be the fastest of the loop.
The locals have felled a lot of the trees in this stage. When you get up on the top, it's quite hard to find a point of reference. When you come up over, you look and wonder: 'Where does the road go?'… a la firebreaks in the UK forests.
At the same time, that felling does open up some of the corners and make them a bit quicker when you can see through them. In all honesty, it's a fairly strasightforward stage.
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Information
SS5 summary:
* Paddon flies to the stage win by 4.2s and moves up to fifth
* Meeke sneaks ahead of Latvala into rally lead
* Ostberg tumbles down the order as he has to stop with a puncture
* Paddon flies to the stage win by 4.2s and moves up to fifth
* Meeke sneaks ahead of Latvala into rally lead
* Ostberg tumbles down the order as he has to stop with a puncture
SS5 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Paddon 15m35.6s
2 Sordo +4.2s
3 Meeke +5.1s
4 Tanak +5.7s
5 Latvala +5.8s
= Evans +5.8s
7 Breen +6.1s
8 Neuville +7.5s
9 Ogier +9.9s
= Hanninen +9.9s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Meeke
2 Latvala +0.2s
3 Tanak +1.3s
4 Breen +1.9s
5 Paddon +4.6s
6 Ogier +9.1s
7 Sordo +9.3s
8 Neuville +12.2s
9 Evans +18.5s
10 Lappi +33.7s
Leading stage times:
1 Paddon 15m35.6s
2 Sordo +4.2s
3 Meeke +5.1s
4 Tanak +5.7s
5 Latvala +5.8s
= Evans +5.8s
7 Breen +6.1s
8 Neuville +7.5s
9 Ogier +9.9s
= Hanninen +9.9s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Meeke
2 Latvala +0.2s
3 Tanak +1.3s
4 Breen +1.9s
5 Paddon +4.6s
6 Ogier +9.1s
7 Sordo +9.3s
8 Neuville +12.2s
9 Evans +18.5s
10 Lappi +33.7s
Crash
Ostberg makes it to the end of the stage with a three-minute delay. He'd picked up a puncture and drove a kilometre on the wheel rim before deciding to park up and sort it. But that's going to drop him to the foot of the top 20.
Ostberg is moving again, but he's lost three minutes to the leaders on the next split.
By: Matt Beer
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