WRC Rally Sweden
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Lappi in now and he goes fastest of all, 4.9s up on Latvala's time. Will he be happier?
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But it's not all rosy at the finish for Latvala.
"This car is not OK," says a frustrated Finn. "There's something strange. On transmission it's all over the place, it's oversteering and understeering. The engine is cutting and is stalling on gear changes. I will change the differential for tomorrow."
"This car is not OK," says a frustrated Finn. "There's something strange. On transmission it's all over the place, it's oversteering and understeering. The engine is cutting and is stalling on gear changes. I will change the differential for tomorrow."
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Latvala is through and goes 2.4s faster than tea-mate Tanak.
Latvala, Lappi and Suninen are the next drivers we're expecting through.
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More modest jumps from Evans and now Tanak over Colin's Crest, but it doesn't stop the latter setting the fastest time. He's through in 8m44.7s.
Evans, who took one spare tyre, reckons he might have been better off taking an extra back-up after assessing the state of his tyres at the end of the previous stage.
Speaking of Evans, he's through the finish now and 4.1s slower than Ogier.
Marker on the board from Tanak now through the first split. He's 3s faster than Evans managed.
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"That's maybe the only fun part of the stage," says Ogier of his Colin's Crest leap. "At least we enjoyed it on the first slope, but now there's not much we can do."
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And the M-Sport man completes the stage now, half a minute up on Solberg's time (8m48.5s).
Huge leap from Ogier over Colin's Crest! He's still putting on a show, even if he's not up at the sharp end.
Ogier is 21s up at the second split now. Everyone down to Ostberg has started the stage.
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And he gives us our benchmark stage time - it's 9m18.6s.
Solberg has just leapt over Colin's Crest, recording a distance of 33 metres.
No split time showing for Ogier through the first split, but Evans is 7s up on Solberg through there.
Bit of a gap behind those two, of course, with Meeke playing no further part in the action after that engine problem.
Ogier and Evans are also on the stage.
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Quick WRC2 update for you...
Another messy looking startline for Solberg to grapple with, as he snaked his way onto the stage.
Green flag
Stage underway - Solberg is up and running.
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Crash
Some news for you ahead of this stage - Citroen has confirmed Meeke has retired from the rally.
David Evans
Are there any World Rallycross drivers not present at Rally Sweden this week? Johan Kristoffersson is competing in a Skoda Fabia R5, his team-mate Petter Solberg is driving an RS1800 Escort on the Historic and Peugeot men Timmy and Kevin Hansen were also in Torsby enjoying Citroen’s hospitality.
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A quicker turnaround between stages now means we're preparing for SS14, Vargasen - the final stage on this afternoon's loop. Here, once more, is a guide to the famous stage that includes Colin's Crest, courtesy of Petter Solberg:
SS14 Vargasen 8.83 miles
What can we say about this stage? It’s really a classic from Rally Sweden. It’s a great road with lots of medium and fast corners which really flow nicely. There’s also some nice up and down bits...
David Evans: do you mean undulations?
Solberg: I don’t know, do you think I mean undulations?
Evans: Yes.
Solberg: OK, we start that one again…
There’s also some really nice undulations in this stage! Of course everybody knows this stage for Colin’s Crest, the big jump in the middle – this is a fantastic place with so many people and such an incredible feeling. When you are coming there, you can smell the fires and almost hear the people – it’s so colourful when you are flying through the air! You have to stay focused for the road though, there’s a quite tricky right-hander coming straight after the landing.
SS14 Vargasen 8.83 miles
What can we say about this stage? It’s really a classic from Rally Sweden. It’s a great road with lots of medium and fast corners which really flow nicely. There’s also some nice up and down bits...
David Evans: do you mean undulations?
Solberg: I don’t know, do you think I mean undulations?
Evans: Yes.
Solberg: OK, we start that one again…
There’s also some really nice undulations in this stage! Of course everybody knows this stage for Colin’s Crest, the big jump in the middle – this is a fantastic place with so many people and such an incredible feeling. When you are coming there, you can smell the fires and almost hear the people – it’s so colourful when you are flying through the air! You have to stay focused for the road though, there’s a quite tricky right-hander coming straight after the landing.
Meeke, incidentally, is now 15th overall after forfeiting six minutes to stage winner Neuville on SS13.
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Leading times:
SS13:
1 Neuville 12m44.5s
2 Mikkelsen +6.6s
3 Breen +9.4s
4 Paddon +9.9s
5 Lappi +13s
6 Ostberg +15s
Overall:
1 Neuville 2h10m47.4s
2 Breen +14s
3 Mikkelsen +26.8s
4 Paddon +30.3s
5 Ostberg +48s
6 Lappi 55.7s
7 Latvala +1m45.8s
8 Suninen +2m00.8s
9 Tanak +3m24.6s
10 Ogier +4m01.8s
11 Evans +4m24.6s
SS13:
1 Neuville 12m44.5s
2 Mikkelsen +6.6s
3 Breen +9.4s
4 Paddon +9.9s
5 Lappi +13s
6 Ostberg +15s
Overall:
1 Neuville 2h10m47.4s
2 Breen +14s
3 Mikkelsen +26.8s
4 Paddon +30.3s
5 Ostberg +48s
6 Lappi 55.7s
7 Latvala +1m45.8s
8 Suninen +2m00.8s
9 Tanak +3m24.6s
10 Ogier +4m01.8s
11 Evans +4m24.6s
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SS13 summary:
* Meeke hits a snowbank and his engine cuts out
* Citroen driver involved in incident with Tanak as the Toyota attempts to pass
* Mikkelsen edges away from Paddon in fight for third
* Fastest time for Neuville means he leads by 14s from Breen
* Meeke hits a snowbank and his engine cuts out
* Citroen driver involved in incident with Tanak as the Toyota attempts to pass
* Mikkelsen edges away from Paddon in fight for third
* Fastest time for Neuville means he leads by 14s from Breen
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Brilliant statement from Neuville, who goes fastest by 6.6s on the stage. That means his lead is out to 14s.
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Mikkelsen comes through fastest of all now by 2.8s with a time of 12m51.1s, which puts a little bit of breathing space between himself and Paddon in the fight for third.
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"There's quite a lot of gravel coming through, so once you come back through to the ice you've got to adjust," says Paddon.
But Paddon drops time towards the end of the stage and comes through 0.5s slower than Breen.
All three Hyundais behind him are faster so far, though.
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"There's a lot of gravel in there," says Breen. "I'm just trying to manage the tyres as well as I can."
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Breen comes through fastest so far by 3.6s.
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Ostberg comes through second and is 2s slower than Lappi, who's made a little more ground up on the Citroen man in the battle for fifth.
"It was a litlle bit better, I changed back to my original set-up," says Ostberg. "I did a few stupid mistakes, one in front of everyone."
"It was a litlle bit better, I changed back to my original set-up," says Ostberg. "I did a few stupid mistakes, one in front of everyone."
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Even if Breen did have a hit with a snowbank, there's no indication it's cost him any time. He's second fastest so far at the third split, with only Paddon behind him on the road faster.
By: Matt Beer
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