WRC Rally Sweden
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For now, pre-Ostberg, the lead pack looks like this: 1 Neuville, 2 Tanak, 3 Lappi, 4 Mikkelsen.
Ostberg is now onto the stage. His first split is decent but a second off Neuville's benchmark there.
Ostberg could slot in anywhere from first to fourth really if he has a smooth run.
Ostberg could slot in anywhere from first to fourth really if he has a smooth run.
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"I was quite happy with that," says Mikkelsen, "but the risk level is very, very high. There's a long way to go."
Strong run from Lappi, who goes second fastest to Neuville with a time 1.6s slower.
And with Mikkelsen now arriving 6s off the pace, that brings Lappi past Mikkelsen - who started this stage in third - overall.
Mikkelsen has lost out to both Neuville and Lappi there.
And with Mikkelsen now arriving 6s off the pace, that brings Lappi past Mikkelsen - who started this stage in third - overall.
Mikkelsen has lost out to both Neuville and Lappi there.
Now Meeke's time has come in, he's moved ahead of Ogier overall. Evans is still behind his team-mate but at this rate the two main M-Sport cars could be 11th and 12th in the order after this one.
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"I just pushed, the car was working really, really nicely," says Neuville. "Very mixed conditions but I enjoyed it. I think the time is good, we will see. Obviously it's getting better [for drivers further back] but not much faster is possible."
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Neuville is in and fastest so far by 9.2s over Latvala and 10.2s over Tanak.
That surges him ahead of previous rally leader Tanak by 2.7s overall - will that mean Neuville's in first place outright now or can Mikkelsen or Ostberg pip him?
That surges him ahead of previous rally leader Tanak by 2.7s overall - will that mean Neuville's in first place outright now or can Mikkelsen or Ostberg pip him?
Meeke is through, but his stage time hasn't appeared yet. He reiterates his SS2 thoughts about being cautious so far.
Mikkelsen, who began the stage third overall, is also up and running but he's a second off Neuville at split one. Ostberg will be the other man to watch as he too will be in with a shout of jumping Tanak if things go well for him. Not doing Monte Carlo means Ostberg has the best road position of almost anyone today.
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At the latest split, Neuville is 9.4s up on Tanak - that would be enough to jump him into the lead for now...
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"Getting better, getting better," says Latvala, speaking at the very, very fast pace he does when his car is going very, very fast.
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Latvala comes in fastest so far, a second up on Tanak. That trims the outright gap between them to 8.8s, but we have many cars to come through before it's clear what positions they'll be in.
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But Tanak doesn't look like he'll be fastest here - Latvala is a couple of tenths up on him at the splits and Neuville's latest times are a chunky 5s quicker. Could Neuville leap right into the lead here, or will Mikkelsen or Ostberg benefit from their even-better road positions.
Tanak says his more muted pace is down to the amount of fresh snow on the road.
"A lot worse than the previous one, a lot of loose on the top," he says. "They've been ploughing, but the path is very narrow. But it was OK."
Tanak says his more muted pace is down to the amount of fresh snow on the road.
"A lot worse than the previous one, a lot of loose on the top," he says. "They've been ploughing, but the path is very narrow. But it was OK."
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Tanak is in and is 9.5s quicker than Ogier.
That means Ogier is already 24.9s off Tanak - our probable rally leader - after just two full-length stages. Ogier went into this one only 10th overall.
That means Ogier is already 24.9s off Tanak - our probable rally leader - after just two full-length stages. Ogier went into this one only 10th overall.
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"First we stalled on the startline and then there was so much fresh snow I had no grip," says Ogier. "I struggled a lot."
Feels like we've been typing much the same thing for about five years now (possibly because we have) but leading the championship and running first on the road a lot isn't much fun for Ogier.
Feels like we've been typing much the same thing for about five years now (possibly because we have) but leading the championship and running first on the road a lot isn't much fun for Ogier.
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Ogier completes the stage in 13m36.5s, but at the final split he was 8s off Tanak.
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Massive first split time from Neuville - he's 2.9s faster than Tanak there. He began the stage fourth overall, 7.5s from Tanak's lead.
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Next split in from Latvala, and he's now matching rally-leading team-mate Tanak's pace.
Meeke was among those too cautious on SS2 but he's started SS3 better and matched Latvala at split one. He needs to, as currently he's 12th overall and ahead of only Solberg among the WRC runners.
It's fair to say basically nobody except Tanak was happy with how SS2 went for them, with everyone else either feeling they'd been too cautious, made too many small mistakes, struggled to see a clear line in the snow/ice in the early morning light.
Even Ostberg, currently an excellent second on his surprise return to Citroen, felt he could've done better.
Even Ostberg, currently an excellent second on his surprise return to Citroen, felt he could've done better.
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The early cars have passed the opening split and Ogier is continuing to lose time - he's 4.9s off Tanak there. Latvala is between them, six tenths slower than Tanak.
Our stage guides today, by the way, are provided by Paddon's co-driver Seb Marshall. Cheers Seb! And we really, really, really hope you doing that for us doesn't jinx your entire rally, as happened on a few occasions last year.
David Evans
There will be a lot of folk talking about using the snowbanks this weekend. Here's a Jari-Matti Latvala guide to what that means…
"When the conditions are right," the Toyota driver told Autosport, "you can take so much more speed into the corner – sometimes you can't believe how hard you can go.
"It's complicated when you try to use the bank, you want to lean the rear of the car on the bank and let the car run around the outside of the bend.
"But you have to be very, very careful. When the rear of the car is on the bank, you must, must have the wheels straight because what you don't want is to hit the bank and for that to send the front of the car in. If you hit it too hard, the car will twist and spin."
Returning Citroen star Mads Ostberg offered his rivals running ahead of him some Scandinavian commonsense. Asked if he thought the drivers ahead would be tempted to nibble at the snowbanks to try and pull loose snow into the road to slow the cars behind, he replied: "This is a massive risk for them – it's so easy to dig into the bank on the inside and have a spin or get stuck.
"I'm sure when I arrive it'll be a nice clean road, no snow on the road and I can enjoy it!"
Given he's second overall, it looks like that's what's happening so far...
"When the conditions are right," the Toyota driver told Autosport, "you can take so much more speed into the corner – sometimes you can't believe how hard you can go.
"It's complicated when you try to use the bank, you want to lean the rear of the car on the bank and let the car run around the outside of the bend.
"But you have to be very, very careful. When the rear of the car is on the bank, you must, must have the wheels straight because what you don't want is to hit the bank and for that to send the front of the car in. If you hit it too hard, the car will twist and spin."
Returning Citroen star Mads Ostberg offered his rivals running ahead of him some Scandinavian commonsense. Asked if he thought the drivers ahead would be tempted to nibble at the snowbanks to try and pull loose snow into the road to slow the cars behind, he replied: "This is a massive risk for them – it's so easy to dig into the bank on the inside and have a spin or get stuck.
"I'm sure when I arrive it'll be a nice clean road, no snow on the road and I can enjoy it!"
Given he's second overall, it looks like that's what's happening so far...
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SS3 Svullyra (15.46 miles)
Longest stage of the rally this one and, during the recce there was definitely a bit more loose snow on this one than the first. It's quite technical at the start, but it does open out onto a wider road – but it's still not super, super wide.
I'd say this one flows and has a bit more of a consistent feel to it than the first one. Everybody talks a lot about Colin's Crest jump in Vargasen tomorrow – and that's a great jump – but there's also a really big one in here as well; about halfway through the road opens out and the take-off speed at this one is probably even higher than in Vargasen.
Longest stage of the rally this one and, during the recce there was definitely a bit more loose snow on this one than the first. It's quite technical at the start, but it does open out onto a wider road – but it's still not super, super wide.
I'd say this one flows and has a bit more of a consistent feel to it than the first one. Everybody talks a lot about Colin's Crest jump in Vargasen tomorrow – and that's a great jump – but there's also a really big one in here as well; about halfway through the road opens out and the take-off speed at this one is probably even higher than in Vargasen.
A bit of insight into Autosport Live WRC processes - as you've probably guessed, it's hard for our rallying expert DAVID EVANS to be doing much text commentary when whizzing between stages, quizzing drivers, spectating halfway up mountains or in valleys etc. So he fires in updates from the scene by email, phone or text while one of us on the newsdesk rattles through the main commentary. David has notched up some weird and wonderful places to send us Live updates from (and a lot of international branches of McDonalds near rally stages), but his location for all this morning's early news was definitely one of the oddest and prettiest. He's now left his churchside perch and headed to SS3...
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SS2 summary:
* Tanak flies and launches himself into a 6s overall lead
* Ostberg noses into second ahead of Mikkelsen and Neuville on his Citroen return
* Breen sets strong splits then makes errors so is only seventh
* Ogier struggles running first on the road and finds himself 10th...
* ...but that's two places ahead of a very cautious Meeke
We've got half an hour until SS3 begins and it's still early so you probably have commutes to complete or breakfast to prepare. Focus on that for the next 30 minutes then we'll see you back here for another intriguing Swedish stage.
* Tanak flies and launches himself into a 6s overall lead
* Ostberg noses into second ahead of Mikkelsen and Neuville on his Citroen return
* Breen sets strong splits then makes errors so is only seventh
* Ogier struggles running first on the road and finds himself 10th...
* ...but that's two places ahead of a very cautious Meeke
We've got half an hour until SS3 begins and it's still early so you probably have commutes to complete or breakfast to prepare. Focus on that for the next 30 minutes then we'll see you back here for another intriguing Swedish stage.
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SS2 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 10m32.7s
2 Mikkelsen +6.1s
3 Ostberg +6.2s
4 Neuville +6.5s
5 Lappi +8.0s
6 Latvala +9.5s
7 Breen +11.1s
8 Suninen +11.5s
9 Paddon +12.1s
10 Ogier +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ostberg +6.8s
3 Mikkelsen +7.0s
4 Neuville +7.5s
5 Latvala +9.8s
6 Lappi +10.2s
7 Breen +14.0s
8 Paddon +14.2s
9 Suninen +14.6s
10 Ogier +15.0s
11 Evans +17.6s
12 Meeke +18.4s
Leading stage times:
1 Tanak 10m32.7s
2 Mikkelsen +6.1s
3 Ostberg +6.2s
4 Neuville +6.5s
5 Lappi +8.0s
6 Latvala +9.5s
7 Breen +11.1s
8 Suninen +11.5s
9 Paddon +12.1s
10 Ogier +12.5s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Tanak
2 Ostberg +6.8s
3 Mikkelsen +7.0s
4 Neuville +7.5s
5 Latvala +9.8s
6 Lappi +10.2s
7 Breen +14.0s
8 Paddon +14.2s
9 Suninen +14.6s
10 Ogier +15.0s
11 Evans +17.6s
12 Meeke +18.4s
Just one more top class car to come - and it's also Ostberg's, in car... It's Henning Solberg in the Ford Ostberg used last season. But the returning series veteran is about half a minute off the pace.
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"Really tricky conditions in the stage and I was too careful, maybe," says Ostberg, who isn't over-thrilled with that pace. "I was driving slower at the end, I had a few moments and it felt like I had to drop it down a little bit."
But with SS1 factored in, that puts Ostberg second overall in the rally - 6.8s behind Tanak.
Ostberg ends up third fastest, 0.1s behind Mikkelsen and 6.2s off Tanak.
Ostberg will be next in. He's 4.5s off Tanak at the final stage but on course to go an excellent second quickest.
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Hayden Paddon, another man whose 2018 WRC season starts here, comes in eighth fastest and therefore pops into seventh overall.
"Difficult," says Paddon. "As soon as you get off the ice tracks you've got no grip at all, but in the light those tracks are really difficult to see."
"Difficult," says Paddon. "As soon as you get off the ice tracks you've got no grip at all, but in the light those tracks are really difficult to see."
Teemu Suninen's programme in the third M-Sport car begins here, and though he's only seventh overall that makes him the leading Ford so far - 0.4s ahead of illustrious team-mate Ogier.
Ostberg's splits have dropped off Tanak by the middle of the stage - he's 2.7s off at the latest one - but he's matching what Mikkelsen and Breen were doing there.
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Breen explains that time loss was due to minor mistakes: "I went straight at one junction and thumped into a snow bank at another."
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So the overall order right now is 1 Tanak, 2 Mikkelsen, 3 Neuville, 4 Latvala, 5 Lappi, 6 Breen, 7 Ogier
Breen's pace fades and he ends up sixth quickest on the stage, 11s off Tanak.
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Here comes Ostberg - back to Citroen for what is intended to be a one-off and rapid all week so far. And he's matched Tanak's benchmark at split one.
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"The gap is very tricky - you have it and you lose it and it's up and down," says Mikkelsen. "Not an easy stage at all."
By: Matt Beer
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