WRC Rally Sweden
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David Evans
After a troublesome run through the opening stage of the day, Jari-Matti Latvala has busied himself with the suspension clicks on his Yaris WRC and found improved confidence.
Ahead of this afternoon, he offered Autosport advice on the weather and conditions: "It should stop snowing when we go out of service and then the first two stages in Norway, I think they will be OK. The question is the Rojden and Torsby stages, I don’t know what they will be like, but they can be tricky."
Asked if he thought the Torsby stage should be ploughed again, he replied: "That is a good question. I don’t know, but there is a lot of snow that has fallen this morning…"
The organises are understood to be considering whether to run the plough through, but they will likely want to leave it as late as possible in order to avoid another invitation to, what was it Latvala's team-mate Tanak said? Ah yes, "Go screw themselves…"
And it turns out Latvala's forecast isn't quite right - it is still snowing, not a lot, but enough.
Ahead of this afternoon, he offered Autosport advice on the weather and conditions: "It should stop snowing when we go out of service and then the first two stages in Norway, I think they will be OK. The question is the Rojden and Torsby stages, I don’t know what they will be like, but they can be tricky."
Asked if he thought the Torsby stage should be ploughed again, he replied: "That is a good question. I don’t know, but there is a lot of snow that has fallen this morning…"
The organises are understood to be considering whether to run the plough through, but they will likely want to leave it as late as possible in order to avoid another invitation to, what was it Latvala's team-mate Tanak said? Ah yes, "Go screw themselves…"
And it turns out Latvala's forecast isn't quite right - it is still snowing, not a lot, but enough.
David Evans
First up, that distant world champion - Ogier is only 11th, 47.7s off the lead. Even by usual road-sweeping standards, this is not a good day for Ogier and he ended service by making major changes to his Ford's set-up.
Though Ogier preferred not to discuss what he'd changed, M-Sport's Chris Williams confirms the team has "compromised precision for grip" - essentially softened the car. That's a major rethink, but the hope is Ogier will be in better shape for ploughing the loose snow away with that approach.
Though Ogier preferred not to discuss what he'd changed, M-Sport's Chris Williams confirms the team has "compromised precision for grip" - essentially softened the car. That's a major rethink, but the hope is Ogier will be in better shape for ploughing the loose snow away with that approach.
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We'll begin the four-stage afternoon loop with a second run through Hof-Finnskog. Paddon's co-driver Marshall is our guide to it:
SS5 Hof-Finnskog (13.21 miles)
New for last year, this one remains the same for this season and starts with quite a technical section. The middle part of the stage is really, really fast through the countryside before we turn off onto a smaller and more twisty road to the finish. On the recce we had a good base of ice here, but it might get a bit more rutted on the second run through.
SS5 Hof-Finnskog (13.21 miles)
New for last year, this one remains the same for this season and starts with quite a technical section. The middle part of the stage is really, really fast through the countryside before we turn off onto a smaller and more twisty road to the finish. On the recce we had a good base of ice here, but it might get a bit more rutted on the second run through.
Welcome back to Autosport's live coverage of Rally Sweden, where we're resuming for the afternoon with a very close and unpredictable lead battle, a world champion down in 11th and an angry erstwhile leader in seventh.
Autosport
Here's the full report from the morning's action, we'll see you back here at 12.30pm as the afternoon stages kick off: 
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SS4 summary:
* Furious Tanak falls from second to seventh and says organisers should've done better job of clearning snow from stage
* Mikkelsen moves into second behind Neuville
* Ogier also struggles and is now 47s off the lead in 11th
* Evans drops a minute and a half off the front with a puncture
* Meeke and Lappi among those to clout mystery black object on stage
* Furious Tanak falls from second to seventh and says organisers should've done better job of clearning snow from stage
* Mikkelsen moves into second behind Neuville
* Ogier also struggles and is now 47s off the lead in 11th
* Evans drops a minute and a half off the front with a puncture
* Meeke and Lappi among those to clout mystery black object on stage
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SS4 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 10m18.5s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Ostberg +2.2s
4 Lappi +2.9s
5 Breen +3.4s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Mikkelsen +3.7s
3 Lappi +5.3s
4 Ostberg +7.4s
5 Breen +15.0s
6 Latvala +17.0s
7 Tanak +19.4s
8 Paddon +19.5s
9 Suninen +20.4s
10 Meeke +38.7s
11 Ogier +47.7s
Leading stage times:
1 Mikkelsen 10m18.5s
2 Neuville +1.9s
3 Ostberg +2.2s
4 Lappi +2.9s
5 Breen +3.4s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Mikkelsen +3.7s
3 Lappi +5.3s
4 Ostberg +7.4s
5 Breen +15.0s
6 Latvala +17.0s
7 Tanak +19.4s
8 Paddon +19.5s
9 Suninen +20.4s
10 Meeke +38.7s
11 Ogier +47.7s
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"I'm still trying to learn the car and there's still pace to improve," says Ostberg, still only four stages into his Citroen return. "Every metre is a chance to learn."
Ostberg comes in third-fastest, 2.2s off Mikkelsen. That keeps him right in the mix in fourth overall, 7.4s off leader Neuville, and demotes Tanak to seventh.
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"This last section's obviously very tricky with a bit more snow," says Paddon. "The line's a bit better for us but if you get out of that line it's a bit like tobogganing."
Paddon and Suninen come through safely, with Paddon very slightly extending his advantage in that battle to 0.9s.
And Paddon's closed to within 0.1s of the fuming Tanak, who was leading overall not so long ago.
And Paddon's closed to within 0.1s of the fuming Tanak, who was leading overall not so long ago.
Split time info is a touch scant on this stage - Ostberg's first split is not staggering (a couple of seconds shy of Mikkelsen and Neuville there) but it's in the second part where everything is going crazy on this one.
Breen jumped both Tanak and Latvala with his pace there.
Fourth fastest for Breen, which puts him in the same place overall at present at least until Ostberg arrives.
Earlier rally leader Tanak is now down to sixth overall.
Earlier rally leader Tanak is now down to sixth overall.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen comes in fastest so far - he's 1.9s quicker than team-mate Neuville there. And that brings him up to second overall for now, 3.7s off Neuville.
Now we need to wait for Ostberg to get a clear picture of the lead pack.
Now we need to wait for Ostberg to get a clear picture of the lead pack.
OK, no drama for Lappi - that was an errant split and a misleading piece of onboard footage. He reports he did hit something "really hard" too and "was sure that something broke on the car" but he's still within 4.3s of the pace and third overall behind Neuville and Latvala.
"In a really fast place there was a black clump on the inside of a corner. I don't know how it got there, we've never seen that before on this stage," says Evans, who is now 1m37.7s from the front.
Meeke reported that he'd hit something on a straight piece of road and backed off for a spell afterwards. Is that same rock causing the trouble for Evans and Lappi?
Crash
Trouble for Evans too - he's got a puncture and has lost over a minute and a half dragging the car to the stage finish.
Crash
Problem for Lappi - he's 2m30s off the pace and his onboard shows he's moving slowly. He was third beginning this stage.
Stopwatch
Neuville comes through 5s faster than Latvala to set the stage pace so far.
That bolsters Neuville's overall lead right now to 17.0s over Latvala and 19.4s over Tanak, but with Ostberg, Mikkelsen and Lappi to factor in somewhere between them most likely.
That bolsters Neuville's overall lead right now to 17.0s over Latvala and 19.4s over Tanak, but with Ostberg, Mikkelsen and Lappi to factor in somewhere between them most likely.
Stopwatch
Fitting Tanak's description of the final miles being the worst for snowploughing, Latvala goes from being slightly faster than him to a massive 11.2s clear at the stage finish.
That launches Latvala ahead of Tanak overall by 2.4s.
That launches Latvala ahead of Tanak overall by 2.4s.
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Tanak is very, very, very unhappy with the efforts to clear a path on that stage.
"What can I say? The organisers can screw themselves. The last 6kms there was no snow blowing and we were pushing the snow with the front bumper. The R2 cars will be faster than us there."
"What can I say? The organisers can screw themselves. The last 6kms there was no snow blowing and we were pushing the snow with the front bumper. The R2 cars will be faster than us there."
There's Ogier's time and he's now 28.3s off Tanak - who'll be first or second most likely - after SS4.
Ogier's finished the stage but his time hasn't popped up. His gloomy mood at the stage end suggests it'll be another snowploughing-compromised disappointment, though.
Rally leader Neuville is up and running too. He carries a 2.7s advantage over Tanak onto this one.
Stopwatch
After a tentative start to the day, Latvala's confidence was emphatically back on the last stage and he's going well here too - 0.4s faster than Toyota team-mate Tanak at the latest split.
Stopwatch
Early split times from SS4 continue the trend of Ogier losing time - he's 2.3s off Tanak at split one. Ogier could end up half a minute from the lead by the end of this loop. The snowfall that's made this rally a properly proper winter event is making life hard for the man forced into snowplough duty.
So after three stages, and with just one to go in the morning loop, we have a five-car lead battle in which Neuville, Tanak, Lappi, Mikkelsen and Ostberg are covered by 7.1s.
Then there's a slight gap to a Latvala, Breen, Paddon, Suninen pack that's still close enough to get involved in what's going on ahead.
Then there's another gap to some fairly illustrious stragglers - Meeke, Ogier and Evans falling away through either tough road positions or a lack of confidence in the car and conditions.
Then there's a slight gap to a Latvala, Breen, Paddon, Suninen pack that's still close enough to get involved in what's going on ahead.
Then there's another gap to some fairly illustrious stragglers - Meeke, Ogier and Evans falling away through either tough road positions or a lack of confidence in the car and conditions.
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Straight onto SS4, Rojden - here's Paddon's co-driver Marshall's guide to it:
SS4 Rojden (11.88 miles)
This is a truly international stage, starting in Sweden, crossing into Norway soon after the start and then back into Sweden for the last few kilometres – which are actually some of the trickiest kilometres in this stage with some nadgery, off-camber corners.
But this one really is one of my favourites, it's a really fast stage and as you climb the hill you go over lots of little bumps and crests – the feeling in the car on this one is really nice.
Towards the end there's one really slippery junction for a square left. It seems strange to talk about one corner being more slippery than another when they're on ice, but there's something about this place, I don't know what it is, you can't really work out the physics of the thing! In years gone by, just about everybody has nearly overshot this junction, but in the end you could chuck it in on the handbrake, slide, nudge the bank on the outside and crack on; not this year – the bank on the outside is a three-metre wall of snow and ice. Basically all the snow that's been ploughed from the roads has just been pilled up there.
I'll be warning Hayden about this one, especially with such a quick approach!
SS4 Rojden (11.88 miles)
This is a truly international stage, starting in Sweden, crossing into Norway soon after the start and then back into Sweden for the last few kilometres – which are actually some of the trickiest kilometres in this stage with some nadgery, off-camber corners.
But this one really is one of my favourites, it's a really fast stage and as you climb the hill you go over lots of little bumps and crests – the feeling in the car on this one is really nice.
Towards the end there's one really slippery junction for a square left. It seems strange to talk about one corner being more slippery than another when they're on ice, but there's something about this place, I don't know what it is, you can't really work out the physics of the thing! In years gone by, just about everybody has nearly overshot this junction, but in the end you could chuck it in on the handbrake, slide, nudge the bank on the outside and crack on; not this year – the bank on the outside is a three-metre wall of snow and ice. Basically all the snow that's been ploughed from the roads has just been pilled up there.
I'll be warning Hayden about this one, especially with such a quick approach!
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SS3 summary:
* Neuville goes quickest and leaps from fourth to first ahead of Tanak
* Ostberg drops from second to fifth behind Lappi and Mikkelsen
* Ogier falls outside the top 10 to 11th as Meeke gains ground
* Neuville goes quickest and leaps from fourth to first ahead of Tanak
* Ostberg drops from second to fifth behind Lappi and Mikkelsen
* Ogier falls outside the top 10 to 11th as Meeke gains ground
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SS3 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 13m16.4s
2 Lappi +1.6s
3 Mikkelsen +6.1s
4 Breen +7.0s
5 Ostberg +7.8s
6 Latvala +9.2s
7 Tanak +10.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +2.7s
3 Lappi +4.3s
4 Mikkelsen +5.6s
5 Ostberg +7.1s
6 Latvala +11.5s
7 Breen +13.5
8 Paddon +17.3s
9 Suninen +17.9s
10 Meeke +25.2s
11 Ogier +27.6s
12 Evans +28.3s
Leading stage times:
1 Neuville 13m16.4s
2 Lappi +1.6s
3 Mikkelsen +6.1s
4 Breen +7.0s
5 Ostberg +7.8s
6 Latvala +9.2s
7 Tanak +10.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +2.7s
3 Lappi +4.3s
4 Mikkelsen +5.6s
5 Ostberg +7.1s
6 Latvala +11.5s
7 Breen +13.5
8 Paddon +17.3s
9 Suninen +17.9s
10 Meeke +25.2s
11 Ogier +27.6s
12 Evans +28.3s
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"It's quite tricky, there is not a lot of grip left in the ice," says Ostberg. "I struggled especially with braking and traction. It feels like the car is just gaining speed under braking. I was fighting quite hard in there, it was difficult to stop for the corners."
Sounds like first on the road is hellish because there's so much snow, and last (of the top class) on the road isn't great because the snow and ice is too churned by then. The sweet spot is in the middle of the 13-strong WRC pack.
Sounds like first on the road is hellish because there's so much snow, and last (of the top class) on the road isn't great because the snow and ice is too churned by then. The sweet spot is in the middle of the 13-strong WRC pack.
Ostberg is fifth fastest, and as a result falls from second to fifth overall.
Paddon comes in seventh fastest, losing a bit of ground to Breen ahead as he slots in seventh overall for now but with Ostberg set to knock him down a place. A touch of understeer is Paddon's only worry so far.
Ostberg isn't going to be a lead contender after this, he's fourth fastest on the splits at present and not close to Neuville's blistering time, but he'll close a bit on Tanak.
Suninen remains M-Sport's frontrunner - he's currently seventh overall but will probably be eighth once Ostberg's through. He's 9.7s ahead of team leader Ogier, whose road position is much worse, and 10.4s ahead of Evans, who just isn't very confident in these conditions so far.
A very decent fourth-fastest time from Breen puts him sixth overall for now behind Latvala.
By: Matt Beer
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