WRC Rally Sweden
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Mikkelsen now grabs second on the stage times, 6.1s behind Tanak. So he noses ahead of Neuville to take second overall for now too.
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"I feel it could have been better," rues Lappi. "But OK, still here. The guys [ahead] are touching the banks quite heavily so they are really pushing. There are still plenty of guys to come and the road is getting cleaner and cleaner."
Meanwhile Esapekka Lappi is in third quickest behind Tanak and Neuville, 8s off the pace. That puts him fourth overall right now.
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Here's a rapid time - at split five Craig Breen has suddenly nosed ahead of Mikkelsen to go second to Tanak.
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Not a great day for M-Sport so far, Elfyn Evans is 14s off Tanak on the stage and now 17s behind overall, ahead of only Meeke at present.
"It's very difficult to know what to do," says Evans. "You try to be neat and tidy and it feels slow. You push a bit harder and it feels really wild."
"It's very difficult to know what to do," says Evans. "You try to be neat and tidy and it feels slow. You push a bit harder and it feels really wild."
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"There are some parts with more grip, and then suddenly you lose it," says Neuville. "I didn't have the perfect stage, to be honest, I was looking a lot for the road and visibility. But I kept it on the road. It was not a good run."
Neuville comes in 6.5s slower than Tanak so is now second overall, 7.5s behind the Toyota.
Tanak has the advantage back by the next split, where he's half a second quicker than Mikkelsen.
Mikkelsen has a 0.9s deficit to Tanak from the superspecial coming into the stage.
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Tanak isn't the pacesetter on the splits anymore - by Mikkelsen's latest time the Hyundai is 0.2s up on the Toyota.
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"I was a bit cautious, I was a bit tentative," admits Meeke. "Any time I got the rear wheels out of line, I didn't feel comfortable to be honest."
Kris Meeke arrives with the slowest stage time so far, 17s off Tanak and now 18.4s behind the likely rally leader overall.
Andreas Mikkelsen is now closest to Tanak at split one, just 0.6s off.
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"We didn't have a good time compared to Ott," says Latvala. "I thought I was doing well, but it was very slippy with the loose snow and I couldn't get the confidence. I don't trust the car in these conditions where it's loose snow on the top."
Latvala had initially frowned at Tanak's time on the board and asked for confirmation that it really was a 10m32s and now a 10m42s like his...
Latvala had initially frowned at Tanak's time on the board and asked for confirmation that it really was a 10m32s and now a 10m42s like his...
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Latvala comes in 9.5s slower than Tanak but 3s faster than Ogier.
So overall Tanak leads Latvala by 9.8s now.
So overall Tanak leads Latvala by 9.8s now.
Neuville remains Tanak's closest challenger on the splits but is 4.7s off at the latest one and just ahead of Latvala.
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Tanak blasts in 12.5s faster than Ogier's time, which puts him 15.0s clear of the champion overall already.
"Car feels good but still there is a lot of loose snow on the top, especially at the beginning of the stage," says Tanak. "It's a hard job, but when you have some ice the car's really good."
Tanak adds that the lines Ogier's leaving in the snow suggest he's "pushing a lot harder than I am".
"Car feels good but still there is a lot of loose snow on the top, especially at the beginning of the stage," says Tanak. "It's a hard job, but when you have some ice the car's really good."
Tanak adds that the lines Ogier's leaving in the snow suggest he's "pushing a lot harder than I am".
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"Difficult, especially as there was no snow bank in the stage, so quite tricky for us," rues Ogier. "Ott's going well. I tried my best, I even had a couple of moments already. Difficult!"
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Ogier is at the finish with a stage time of 10m45.2s.
Thierry Neuville is the closest to Tanak so far at split one, but he is still 1.9s off the Toyota there.
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Another rapid split from Tanak - he's 8.4s up on Ogier by the latest timing point.
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Kris Meeke comes through the first split slower than the two Toyotas, but still 1.1s faster than Ogier.
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By the next split, Tanak is 6s faster than Ogier.
Ogier said there were no problems to explain his ninth place overnight, he just hadn't driven especially well.
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Here's how they stood after SS1:
1 Tanak
2 Latvala +0.3s
3 Ostberg +0.6s
4 Meeke +0.9s
= Mikkelsen +0.9s
6 Neuville +1.0s
7 Paddon +2.1s
8 Lappi +2.2s
9 Ogier +2.5s
10 Breen +2.9s
11 Suninen +3.1s
12 Evans +3.5s
1 Tanak
2 Latvala +0.3s
3 Ostberg +0.6s
4 Meeke +0.9s
= Mikkelsen +0.9s
6 Neuville +1.0s
7 Paddon +2.1s
8 Lappi +2.2s
9 Ogier +2.5s
10 Breen +2.9s
11 Suninen +3.1s
12 Evans +3.5s
Tanak leads the rally into today, having headed Toyota team-mate (and 2017 Sweden winner) Jari-Matti Latvala on the superspecial.
Latvala now slots in between Tanak and Ogier at split one, 1.6s off his team-mate.
Latvala now slots in between Tanak and Ogier at split one, 1.6s off his team-mate.
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Even at the first split, it looks like clearing the fresh snow is proving no fun for first-on-the-road Ogier - he's 3.7s slower than next man in Ott Tanak there.
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Information
The first full-length stage is about to begin, here's what to expect:
SS2 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.
SS2 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.
David Evans
Snow update… it snowed loads overnight. The only measurable I had in terms of depth was my Starbucks travel mug - it came halfway up what's known as a grande sized cup. In terms of what this means for first on the road Sebastien Ogier, worth looking back to 2011 when we last had heavy overnight snowfall and Sebastien Loeb lost 42s in 14 miles on Vargasen. Fastest man that day? Mads Ostberg…
Hello and welcome to Autosport Live's Rally Sweden coverage. We didn't get a lot of snow in Monte Carlo, but there's plenty in Sweden - let's go full-on winter rallying.
By: Matt Beer
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