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WRC Rally Sweden
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Right. Since then we've had Suninen go fastest by 5s, then Lappi trumping that by 10s.
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Meeke is in, and confirms there was an incident between himself and Tanak!
"Simple, simple mistake," he says. "I nosed into a snowbank, but when I got going I had no power.
On his moment with Tanak: "I was right in the ditch, he tried to pass me and then he went off."
"Simple, simple mistake," he says. "I nosed into a snowbank, but when I got going I had no power.
On his moment with Tanak: "I was right in the ditch, he tried to pass me and then he went off."
Stopwatch
Latvala is in safely and fastest of all so far by 3.2s. He says he lost only a couple of seconds passing Meeke.
Crash
All a bit hectic out there. Tanak comes through the finish and is 1m35s slower than Ogier. He suggests he caught Meeke early on and the Citroen driver tried to let him past but then came back onto the road and clipped him!
Breen is fastest of all through the first split, though there are reports that he might have hit a bank on the stage too!
All the remaining WRC runners are now on the stage.
Crash
Tanak has dropped 1m30s+ to Ogier through the third split, but has now passed Meeke on the stage. The onboard shows that Meeke has left-rear damage as he moves over.
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"We had a pretty big spin in there. Not ideal," says Evans. "The car is working better and giving a bit more confidence - perhaps a little bit too much."
Evans had dropped 10s to Ogier by the midway point on the stage, but is 15s down on his team-mate at the finish.
Ogier says the stage was "not so fun this time" and that he expects to be slower than the WRC2 cars.
Stopwatch
Ogier has completed the stage in 13m15.2s, which is close to 45s faster than Solberg.
Reports in of left rear damage for Meeke.
Still waiting for any word on Meeke. Meanwhile, Latvala is through the first split and fastest of all by two seconds. No time showing for Tanak so far.
Crash
Meeke's first split is dreadful. He's lost more than two minutes to the others - has he had an issue out there?
No split time for Ogier at the second checkpoint, but he's 24s up on Solberg by split three. No other times in yet through the first split.
Crash
Evans has had a spin and is facing the wrong way! He clipped a bank and that turned him round.
He's got his Fiesta facing the right way again, but will have forfeited all that time and more he'd made up on Ogier through the first split.
He's got his Fiesta facing the right way again, but will have forfeited all that time and more he'd made up on Ogier through the first split.
Meeke, Tanak and Latvala have also started the stage.
Ogier is 11.5s up on Solberg through the first split, and Evans in turn is 4.8s up on his team-mate.
Unsurprisingly, it's the slower corners where there's a bit more road - and consequently ruts - starting to peak through.
First split time of 3m57.7s for Solberg at around quarter of the stage distance.
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Ogier and Evans have now joined Solberg on the stage.
David Evans
Craig Breen's turned in one of his best WRC performances to date so far this weekend, and Citroen team principal Pierre Budar said Breen had made the difference for his outfit – with the Frenchman describing the Irishman as “brilliant.”
“Craig was not completely happy at shakedown and we made a few modifications to the car, but the main switch was on himself. He found how to do it and he made the difference today [Friday]. He was brilliant.”
Breen, who added a third stage win of the weekend to his tally earlier, wasn’t to argue.
“At the first corner yesterday I overcooked it, but the car stuck, it gripped and that gave me confidence," he said. "I kept pushing a bit more and a bit more and the confidence kept coming, what a fantastic feeling. The last one in Torsby wasn’t quite so good, but we’ll have another go today.”
“Craig was not completely happy at shakedown and we made a few modifications to the car, but the main switch was on himself. He found how to do it and he made the difference today [Friday]. He was brilliant.”
Breen, who added a third stage win of the weekend to his tally earlier, wasn’t to argue.
“At the first corner yesterday I overcooked it, but the car stuck, it gripped and that gave me confidence," he said. "I kept pushing a bit more and a bit more and the confidence kept coming, what a fantastic feeling. The last one in Torsby wasn’t quite so good, but we’ll have another go today.”
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Few more breaks in the snow and ice on the road by the looks of things at the start of this stage. Solberg is ready to go.
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Here's Petter Solberg's guide to the first of those tests, which is coming up shortly:
SS13 Hagfors 14.54 miles
This is a stage of really different types. The first part is like a normal Rally Sweden stage, it’s nice and fast and flowing and the road is quite wide in places – you can get a nice rhythm here and everything works. And then you go to the arena section near the end which is actually on the ski slope. You have some hairpins in here and you have to be so precise. It’s quite tricky coming in here, there’s a rhythm change and you have to really precise – it’s almost like a slalom!
SS13 Hagfors 14.54 miles
This is a stage of really different types. The first part is like a normal Rally Sweden stage, it’s nice and fast and flowing and the road is quite wide in places – you can get a nice rhythm here and everything works. And then you go to the arena section near the end which is actually on the ski slope. You have some hairpins in here and you have to be so precise. It’s quite tricky coming in here, there’s a rhythm change and you have to really precise – it’s almost like a slalom!
We're back and ready for the second run at Hagfors and Vargasen.
There's a bit of a wait now until the next stage - which starts in a little under 45 minutes - so we're going to take a quick break. Join us back here soon for SS13.
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And here are some leading times:
SS12 times:
1 Breen 9m55.3s
2 Neuville +1.3s
3 Paddon +2.5s
4 Mikkelsen +3.9s
5 Lappi +5.2s
6 Tanak +7.3s
Overall classification:
1 Neuville 1h58m02.9s
2 Breen +4.6s
3 Mikkelsen +20.2s
4 Paddon +20.4s
5 Ostberg +33s
6 Lappi +42.7s
7 Latvala +1m18.3s
8 Tanak +1m18.8s
9 Suninen +1m37.5s
10 Meeke +2m15.4s
11 Ogier +3m31.1s
12 Evans +3m39.1s
SS12 times:
1 Breen 9m55.3s
2 Neuville +1.3s
3 Paddon +2.5s
4 Mikkelsen +3.9s
5 Lappi +5.2s
6 Tanak +7.3s
Overall classification:
1 Neuville 1h58m02.9s
2 Breen +4.6s
3 Mikkelsen +20.2s
4 Paddon +20.4s
5 Ostberg +33s
6 Lappi +42.7s
7 Latvala +1m18.3s
8 Tanak +1m18.8s
9 Suninen +1m37.5s
10 Meeke +2m15.4s
11 Ogier +3m31.1s
12 Evans +3m39.1s
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With all the WRC runners in, here's your SS12 summary...
* Breen's stage win gets him within 4.6s of leader Neuville
* Hyundai's close up in third and fourth as Paddon takes time out of Mikkelsen
* Evans claws back ground on Ogier as early runners continue to struggle
* Breen's stage win gets him within 4.6s of leader Neuville
* Hyundai's close up in third and fourth as Paddon takes time out of Mikkelsen
* Evans claws back ground on Ogier as early runners continue to struggle
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"I had an OK run," says Neuville, who seems relaxed about the time he's forfeited to Breen. "We have two spare wheels, he has only one, so we knew on the faster stages we were going to lose some time."
Stopwatch
And Neuville comes through the stage end 1.3s slower than Breen. That brings his lead down to 4.6s!
Neuville, meanwhile, is 0.9s slower than Breen through the final split.
Mikkelsen is in and goes third fastest, 1.4s slower than Paddon. That means they're split by 0.2s overall now!
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"It's a little bit more difficult today," says Paddon. "The rear-wheel drive cars have created ruts in different places and you can't quite place the car how you want."
It'll be nip and tuck between him and team-mate Mikkelsen overall after this stage, though, as the Norwegian has been slower through the splits so far.
Paddon is in now and 2.5s slower than Breen in his Hyundai.
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"It's good, we've got one spare so I had to try and make the most of it on the first part of the loop," says Breen, whose run included a hairy moment on two wheels towards the finish.
Stopwatch
Breen goes fastest of all by 5.2s. Mikkelsen and Paddon have set similar time to him so far, although Neuville is fastest of all through the first split.
Breen will be next through, and is fastest of all so far at the final split!
Ostberg is through next and slots into third, 7.6s slower than Lappi. Looks like he's going to lose time to the leading quarter that started the afternoon ahead of him.
By: Matt Beer
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