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WRC Rally of Portugal
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Towards the stage end, Paddon is 1m13.6s faster than Gorban through the final split.
Stopwatch
Behind Latvala, Hanninen's put in a decent time through split one and is 0.4s faster than his team-mate. It's Ostberg who's fastest of all, though, 0.2s further clear through there.
With a few runners through the second split now, it's Latvala who's fastest of all so far. He's around nine seconds faster than Paddon - who's now through the final split - at that point.
Hanninen, Evans and Breen are the next runners on the stage, with Neuville next to take the start.
Eight cars now out on the stage - with Latvala, Ostberg and Lappi the first of our top 10 runners out there.
Stopwatch
Now we have a representative benchmark, we can compare Gorban and Paddon's pace. The latter is a cool 36.8s up on Gorban through the second split.
Information
In fact, that's incredibly poor reading of the timing screens from us. that's actually Paddon's time through the first split - Gorban's time hasn't been registered through there, but he IS through split two in 10m53.2s. We promise.
But let's not worry about that; our first split time is through, and Gorban completes the first part of the stage in 5m10.2s.
A reminder that this is a fairly hefty one, so updates on frontrunners may be a little bit longer. It's 20 minutes or so until our rally leaders get going.
Paddon - who is back running smoothly after electrical gremlins thwarted his progress yesterday - is up and running on SS12 now too, as is Khalid Al Qassimi.
Lights green
Stage is officially underway - Valeriy Gorban is up and running.
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So here, for the final time this morning, is a stage preview from Kris Meeke's co-driver Paul Nagle:
SS12 Amarante (23.33 miles)
This is one of the best stages of the rally, it’s an absolute classic that we do on the way back south towards service in Porto. It’s completely different to the first couple, much wider, faster and flowing – this one and Ponte de Lima are probably my favourites here. The surface is different here as well, it’s a good hard-packed surface which should give good grip.
SS12 Amarante (23.33 miles)
This is one of the best stages of the rally, it’s an absolute classic that we do on the way back south towards service in Porto. It’s completely different to the first couple, much wider, faster and flowing – this one and Ponte de Lima are probably my favourites here. The surface is different here as well, it’s a good hard-packed surface which should give good grip.
Yes, if you're still there we salute you - welcome back after a quick tea break to Race Centre Live for Rally of Portugal updates. About 10 minutes to go until the final stage of the morning loop.
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We have about half an hour till the morning loop concludes with the day's longest stage, so time for a quick pause.
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SS11 summary:
* Tanak bangs in a brilliant stage win to rebuild his lead over Ogier from 1.1s to 6.3s
* Neuville takes third from Sordo but the M-Sport Fords pull away from the Hyundais
* Evans goes off and damages a tyre, dropping to seventh
* Lappi stalls and struggles to restart, so falls away from Hanninen ahead
* Tanak bangs in a brilliant stage win to rebuild his lead over Ogier from 1.1s to 6.3s
* Neuville takes third from Sordo but the M-Sport Fords pull away from the Hyundais
* Evans goes off and damages a tyre, dropping to seventh
* Lappi stalls and struggles to restart, so falls away from Hanninen ahead
Information
SS11 RESULTS
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m32.6s
2 Ogier +5.2s
3 Neuville +9.9s
4 Latvala +14.2s
5 Sordo +14.7s
6 Breen +15.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +6.3s
3 Neuville +18.9s
4 Sordo +22.7s
5 Breen +33.0s
6 Hanninen +1m20.1s
7 Evans +1m39.7s
8 Lappi +2m26.7s
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 13m32.6s
2 Ogier +5.2s
3 Neuville +9.9s
4 Latvala +14.2s
5 Sordo +14.7s
6 Breen +15.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +6.3s
3 Neuville +18.9s
4 Sordo +22.7s
5 Breen +33.0s
6 Hanninen +1m20.1s
7 Evans +1m39.7s
8 Lappi +2m26.7s
Quote
"What else can we do?" says Tanak. "Sebastien was pushing hard in the previous one and this one was new for all of us, so I decided to have a good run."
He certainly did.
He certainly did.
Stopwatch
Bang: Tanak comes in fastest by 5.2s over Ogier, that rebuilds his lead to 6.3s over his world champion team-mate.
Quote
Ogier is told how much faster than him Tanak is on the splits.
"That's a good time then," he says very calmly.
"That's a good time then," he says very calmly.
Sordo is in, only fourth fastest behind Ogier, Neuville and Latvala, and that means he loses third to Neuville by 3.8s.
Meanwhile that tyre damage has dropped Evans right back to a provisional seventh, behind Hanninen's Toyota by 19.6s.
Neuville definitely did lose a bit to Ogier on that section, after only being a second or so apart on the splits, Ogier is 4.7s faster than Neuville at the finish.
Meanwhile Neuville looks on course to grab third from Sordo here, though Neuville reckons he might've been too slow in the downhill section at the end of the stage so he might lose some of what he gained.
Stopwatch
Tanak is flying: at split one he's a full 3.1s faster than Ogier. At split two it's 5s! What a way to respond to your world champion team-mate suddenly appearing on your tail.
It's a left front puncture for Evans, and whereas yesterday he was adamant his tyre failed without him hitting anything, today he says he went off dodging a big rock and picked up the tyre damage that way.
The smell of rubber from Evans's puncture hung in the air so much, the following Breen thought the puncture might be his.
The smell of rubber from Evans's puncture hung in the air so much, the following Breen thought the puncture might be his.
Crash
Evans is a minute down on a competitive pace as he passes the finish line. TV crews are reporting he has a puncture, which would be his second of the weekend.
That incident means Hanninen is now 1m06.6s clear of Lappi, while Lappi still has a 1m51.4s cushion back to Ostberg - who will probably take ninth from Mikkelsen on this one.
Crash
And a delay for Lappi too - he loses a full 50s in the final miles of that stage. That won't cost him a place is he's well clear of WRC2 leader Mikkelsen and the delayed Ostberg, but it breaks up the Hanninen/Lappi Toyota battle.
"I stalled the car on a tight corner and it didn't restart," explains Lappi. "I had to open the belts and do some tricks, then put the belts back. My mistake. I'm learning."
"I stalled the car on a tight corner and it didn't restart," explains Lappi. "I had to open the belts and do some tricks, then put the belts back. My mistake. I'm learning."
Crash
But at split two, there's trouble for Evans - he's 21s down on Breen, who he'd just grabbed fifth from on the previous stage.
The frontrunners are now in business. Evans fastest so far at split one, Breen, Neuville and Ogier into the opening miles too.
Stopwatch
Paddon set a benchmark of 13m49.9s on this stage, and Latvala is the first man who looks likely to beat that.
Latvala's team-mates Lappi and Hanninen remain very evenly matched on the splits - which isn't really ideal for Hanninen as he has a few more years of World Rally Car experience than WRC2 champion Lappi, even if Hanninen's top-class career has been a bit intermittent.
Latvala's team-mates Lappi and Hanninen remain very evenly matched on the splits - which isn't really ideal for Hanninen as he has a few more years of World Rally Car experience than WRC2 champion Lappi, even if Hanninen's top-class career has been a bit intermittent.
Green flag
Gorban, Paddon, Al Qassimi, Lefebvre, Prokop and the poorly Latvala are all onto this stage now. As you'd expect, Paddon's setting the pace.
Information
The early runners are already onto the next stage, here's Nagle's guide to it:
SS11 Cabeceiras de Basto (13.85 miles)
The second stage in the loop is brand new, we've never been here before so new notes for his one. It's very similar to the first one in terms of nature and road surface – which you'd kind of expect given that it's only a few miles down the road and running in the Serra da Cabreira range as well.
Like the first one, the road here is narrow and twisty with a real sandy surface. That's definitely a feature of the first two, how soft they are. The roads will dig out quite a lot and leave a lot of bedrock. It's so soft the roads were actually re-graded in places after the recce.
SS11 Cabeceiras de Basto (13.85 miles)
The second stage in the loop is brand new, we've never been here before so new notes for his one. It's very similar to the first one in terms of nature and road surface – which you'd kind of expect given that it's only a few miles down the road and running in the Serra da Cabreira range as well.
Like the first one, the road here is narrow and twisty with a real sandy surface. That's definitely a feature of the first two, how soft they are. The roads will dig out quite a lot and leave a lot of bedrock. It's so soft the roads were actually re-graded in places after the recce.
Information
SS10 summary
* Ogier sets the pace, grabs second from Sordo and closes to within 1.1s of leader Tanak
* Evans grabs fifth from Breen
* Ogier sets the pace, grabs second from Sordo and closes to within 1.1s of leader Tanak
* Evans grabs fifth from Breen
Information
SS10 RESULTS
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 10m46.4s
2 Evans +0.2s
3 Neuville +1.8s
4 Tanak +3.9s
5 Sordo +7.3s
6 Breen +8.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +1.1s
3 Sordo +8.0s
4 Neuville +9.0s
5 Evans +14.6s
6 Breen +17.8s
7 Hanninen +1m01.8s
8 Lappi +1m22.4s
Leading stage times:
1 Ogier 10m46.4s
2 Evans +0.2s
3 Neuville +1.8s
4 Tanak +3.9s
5 Sordo +7.3s
6 Breen +8.8s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ogier +1.1s
3 Sordo +8.0s
4 Neuville +9.0s
5 Evans +14.6s
6 Breen +17.8s
7 Hanninen +1m01.8s
8 Lappi +1m22.4s
Quote
Here's Tanak's verdict on that:
"He is doing very, very well. But I didn't do this stage last year so I was maybe not fully, fully committed in places."
"He is doing very, very well. But I didn't do this stage last year so I was maybe not fully, fully committed in places."
Tanak also fades at the end of the stage - he's only fourth quickest and loses 3.9s to Ogier.
That means Ogier is not only up to second, he's now just 1.1s behind his rally-leading M-Sport team-mate!
That means Ogier is not only up to second, he's now just 1.1s behind his rally-leading M-Sport team-mate!
Quote
"I tried to push and I tried to do my best but they are much more fast than me. I don't know," says Sordo.
Poor end to the stage from Sordo, who ends up 7.3s off Ogier's pace.
That means he loses second and is now 6.9s behind Ogier overall, and just 1.0s ahead of Hyundai team-mate Neuville.
That means he loses second and is now 6.9s behind Ogier overall, and just 1.0s ahead of Hyundai team-mate Neuville.
By: Matt Beer
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