WRC Rally of Portugal
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SS13 summary:
* Neuville takes a second out of Ogier with stage win
* M-Sport man Ogier still leads by 18.5s
* Paddon pulls up with suspected power steering problem
* Neuville takes a second out of Ogier with stage win
* M-Sport man Ogier still leads by 18.5s
* Paddon pulls up with suspected power steering problem
Stopwatch
SS14 is underway - we'll bring you updates shortly - but Meeke is the last WRC runner of note through SS13 and completes ninth-fastest, 7.4s slower than Neuville.
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"There is not so much frustration, it's all OK," says a pretty bland Tanak at stage end. "Pretty rough, but OK we are through and clean."
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Stopwatch
Looks like Tanak is back to normal pace after that earlier SS12 heartbreak. He's through SS13 3.5s slower than Neuville and third-fastest.
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Fuel of (potential) winners?
Stopwatch
Sordo comes in and that's a better time from the Spaniard, who it's fair to say probably forfeited more time than he might have wanted to this morning. He's third fastest, 3.6s slower than team-mate Neuville.
Stopwatch
But that's because Ogier's in. He's through and loses a second exactly to Neuville, but that still means he's got a healthy lead of 18.5s.
"It's never easy," he says. "I'm happy with this stage, I tried not to push too hard on the tyres - it's going to be a long loop for them."
"It's never easy," he says. "I'm happy with this stage, I tried not to push too hard on the tyres - it's going to be a long loop for them."
Worth noting too that Sordo and Tanak (now out of victory contention, surely) are also on the stage. Split times to come...
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Boo-urns. Here's Neuville on his time through the stage and his victory hopes: "It's a bit more grippy, the car is working a bit better. It won't be enough to chase down Ogier."
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Neuville's in and goes fastest of all, 3.6s faster than anyone else.
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"[I've got] two softs on the rear; I said I was sure I had a puncture," says Breen at the stage end. "Another stage out of the way, I think we've got a good tyre choice for the loop."
Breen comes in second-fastest on the stage, 2.8s slower than Latvala. Neuville will be next.
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"We had a really bad electrical burning smell," says Evans, who comes in fourth-fastest on that stage.
Ogier is 4.4s slower than Neuville through that split - might the Belgian work his way back into a position to challenge?
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Lappi slots into second on the stage, 3.1s down on Latvala.
First split in from Neuville, who goes fastest through there. He's 5.3s up on current stage pacesetter Latvala's benchmark.
David Evans
Rally leader Sebastien Ogier has denied his charge was a risk-all affair this morning. The Frenchman moved ahead of team-mate Ott Tanak in the 23-mile Amarante test, when the Estonian suffered damage to his left-rear suspension.
“I try not to push outside of my comfort zone,” said Ogier. “That was the case this morning. Sometimes there is the time for all-or-nothing, but that was not this morning, definitely not when I was still on the podium position and ahead in the championship.”
Ogier currently leads by 19.5s from Neuville overall.
“I try not to push outside of my comfort zone,” said Ogier. “That was the case this morning. Sometimes there is the time for all-or-nothing, but that was not this morning, definitely not when I was still on the podium position and ahead in the championship.”
Ogier currently leads by 19.5s from Neuville overall.
Ostberg comes in and is 3.2s down on Latvala. But back down the road, Neuville and Ogier are both on the stage!
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Here's an unwell Latvala at stage end: "I managed to get some rest and just drink [during service] because I can't really eat anything. In the jumps I felt a bit horrible but otherwise I tried to concentrate on driving."
Latvala is in at stage-end and fastest by 9.9s. His time is 10m47s.
David Evans
Thierry Neuville hasn’t given up on catching Sebastien Ogier, but the Belgian admitted he was going to have to gamble with car set-up.
“We need to do something with the car,” he said. “I we don’t risk anything then we can’t win anything. Still, to get the best out of the car we have to drive it quite sideways and that’s not so natural for me. In the last stage this morning, I tried to drive the car straighter and in a way more natural for me and it didn’t work, we lost time. We have to try some different things and we have to hope it works.”
“We need to do something with the car,” he said. “I we don’t risk anything then we can’t win anything. Still, to get the best out of the car we have to drive it quite sideways and that’s not so natural for me. In the last stage this morning, I tried to drive the car straighter and in a way more natural for me and it didn’t work, we lost time. We have to try some different things and we have to hope it works.”
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Hanninen and Evans have also joined the party. Breen will be next, then our current second- and first-place runners Neuville and Ogier will get going.
Latvala fastest of all so far in his Yaris. He's through the final split in a time of 7m28.3s.
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Mads Ostberg and Esapekka Lappi have also joined the stage - a few minutes still until our frontrunners join the stage.
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With Paddon out, there are now four drivers on the stage at the moment. the most recent man to join the part was Jari-Matti Latvala, who's currently 10th in the overall classification.
Stopwatch
Valeriy Gorban is the first man through the stage, and completes it in a time of 11m47.1s.
Crash
Problem looks terminal for Paddon, who's pulled off the road and stopped at a junction.
Crash
Seems as though there's a problem for Paddon - looks as though his power steering may have gone.
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SS13 is underway, incidentally, with a few of the stragglers on the leaderboard (including the third Hyundai of Hayden Paddon) currently on the stage.
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David Evans
The Michelin runners are:
Tanak/Ogier 2H/3S
Breen/Lappi 4H/2S
Latvala/Neuville 3S/2H
Hanninen 3H/2S
Paddon 5S
Sordo 4S/2H
The importance of DMACK runners Elfyn Evans and Mads Ostberg might have faded from the lead fight, but it’s still worth registering the Welshman has taken three softs and two hards with Ostberg reversing that plan with three hards and two softs.
Tanak/Ogier 2H/3S
Breen/Lappi 4H/2S
Latvala/Neuville 3S/2H
Hanninen 3H/2S
Paddon 5S
Sordo 4S/2H
The importance of DMACK runners Elfyn Evans and Mads Ostberg might have faded from the lead fight, but it’s still worth registering the Welshman has taken three softs and two hards with Ostberg reversing that plan with three hards and two softs.
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If you joined us earlier, you might - like us - have found yourself lulled into a false sense of security that things might have settled down after a hectic first day. Not so.
Ott Tanak had maintained his overnight lead, but disaster struck on SS12 - the final stage of the loop - when he hit a bank, damaging his left-rear suspension and dropping him out of contention.
It's instead his M-Sport team-mate Sebastien Ogier who leads the way, ahead of Hyundai pair Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. Craig Breen is fourth, with Tanak relegated to fifth overall as a result of his incident.
Ott Tanak had maintained his overnight lead, but disaster struck on SS12 - the final stage of the loop - when he hit a bank, damaging his left-rear suspension and dropping him out of contention.
It's instead his M-Sport team-mate Sebastien Ogier who leads the way, ahead of Hyundai pair Thierry Neuville and Dani Sordo. Craig Breen is fourth, with Tanak relegated to fifth overall as a result of his incident.
Hello, and welcome back to Autosport Race Centre Live for coverage of Saturday afternoon's Rally of Portugal loop.
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Here's our report from this morning's action, which looked relatively calm until Tanak's SS12 drama. That's all for the time being, but join us again in a little over two hours to see if his car's repaired and if anyone can fight back at Ogier. 
By: Matt Beer
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