WRC Rally Sweden
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Bad news for 10th place man Meeke, as Suninen comes through and is 6.3s faster than him.
All of the remaining runners apart from leader Neuville are on the stage now.
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Lappi goes fastest of all now by a couple of seconds.
"Good good. A few mistakes - not crazy big ones, but otherwise a clean stage. The confidence has been there, I was driving like this in the morning."
"Good good. A few mistakes - not crazy big ones, but otherwise a clean stage. The confidence has been there, I was driving like this in the morning."
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Latvala is anxious to find out Tanak's time, and when he hears it says: "OK, then we did a very bad time. I don't know how Ott can be so quick but he's doing an incredible job."
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Tanak was rapid this morning and is attempting to claw back time after a difficult Friday. His closest rival ahead is Toyota team-mate Latvala, and by the end of this stage there's just half a second between them overall as Latvala comes through the finish 7.5s slower.
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"Conditions seem to be the same as yesterday," says Tanak. "Now we have two or three cars more at the front, but it's a big job."
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Tanak backs up Meeke's theory, and comes through the finish 15s up on the Brit's effort with a time of 10m02.6s.
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"Sunine's dropping back a bit and I'd like the opportunity to take a point," says Meeke. "I'm not so optimistic about the second loop because I'm expecting the stages to clean and clean, so the guys behind should annihilate our times."
Meeke is a further 3.5s faster than Evans at stage end. Tanak looks like he's going to smash the four efforts that have come before him, though.
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"It's better, but conditions in the stage are pretty difficult after some historics yesterday," says Evans, who's happier with his set-up this afternoon.
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Tanak, Latvala and Lappi have also now taken to the stage.
Evans completes the stage and is 3.5s faster than Ogier. That bunches them back up a bit in the overall order.
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"Of course not, especially as now we're going to lose time again. We had some fun this morning," says Ogier, when asked if he can catch Meeke ahead.
The Frenchman was four seconds faster on the stage this morning.
The Frenchman was four seconds faster on the stage this morning.
He's now at the stage end in 10m24.6s - that's 37.3s faster than Solberg's time.
Onboard with Ogier shows a few patches of gravel starting to appear, with the M-Sport man doing a good job of avoiding them so far.
Stopwatch
Solberg completes the stage in 11m01.9s.
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Meeke is 0.9s faster than Evans through the first split, but they've both been comprehensively outpaced by Toyota man Tanak - he's a full 3s faster at that point.
Solberg, meanwhile, is closing in on the stage end.
We've got second, third and fourth split times through now. The first three on the road have all come through split two, and again it's Evans who's fastest - he's fastest by three seconds at that mark.
Evans is 1.3s up on Ogier through the first split. They're squabbling for 11th and 12th overall, with Ogier 11.5s ahead before this stage.
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If you're wondering what sort of challenge the drivers are facing out there right now, here's your guide from none of than Petter Solberg:
SS12 Torntorp (12.35 miles)
The first part, maybe a kilometer or so, of this stage is new, but the rest of it is coming back to the route for the first time since 2014. In the beginning and towards the end the stage is a bit more twisty, but there’s some really fast sections in the middle. When you get the car in top gear and you are really pushing through the open fields, it’s an incredible feeling – I think this is a good one for the fans too. There’s a spectator area in Bjorklangen at the end of a fast section with a hairpin left into a tight right – these really slow you down after being in top gear.
SS12 Torntorp (12.35 miles)
The first part, maybe a kilometer or so, of this stage is new, but the rest of it is coming back to the route for the first time since 2014. In the beginning and towards the end the stage is a bit more twisty, but there’s some really fast sections in the middle. When you get the car in top gear and you are really pushing through the open fields, it’s an incredible feeling – I think this is a good one for the fans too. There’s a spectator area in Bjorklangen at the end of a fast section with a hairpin left into a tight right – these really slow you down after being in top gear.
Ogier is eight seconds up on Solberg through the first split. Evans and Meeke are also on the stage.
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Four drivers - the three M-Sport Fords as well as second place man Craig Breen - are the outliers in terms of tyre choices for this stage. They've gone for five tyres for the afternoon, with the rest opting for six.
Stopwatch
Solberg is through the first split in 2m44.6s.
Ogier is also on the stage now. he's been badly hampered by his road position so far this weekend - let's see if he can recover any ground this afternoon.
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Before we get properly into this afternoon's first stage, here's a quick JWRC update courtesy of JACK BENYON:
This weekend is the first round of the Junior World Rally Championship, with drivers in front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta R2Ts. The winner at the end of the year is awarded a Ford Fiesta R5 thanks to M-Sport. Dennis Radstrom leads after the morning loop, 15.2s ahead of Emil Bergqvist.
Reigning Junior British Rally champion Callum Devine is an impressive third. The Irishman has never rallied on snow and is still in single digits for events done on loose-surfaces. The majority of his experience comes from asphalt.
This weekend is the first round of the Junior World Rally Championship, with drivers in front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta R2Ts. The winner at the end of the year is awarded a Ford Fiesta R5 thanks to M-Sport. Dennis Radstrom leads after the morning loop, 15.2s ahead of Emil Bergqvist.
Reigning Junior British Rally champion Callum Devine is an impressive third. The Irishman has never rallied on snow and is still in single digits for events done on loose-surfaces. The majority of his experience comes from asphalt.
Green flag
Henning Solberg - the first man on the road this afternoon - is up and running and SS12 is underway.
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It's not clear yet what everyone has taken yet tyre-wise, but Hyundai boss Michel Nandan says his drivers have each taken two spares - with a few concerns about the amount of gravel that crew might encounter out on the stages this afternoon.
It's Neuville who leads, then, but with a charging Breen within striking distance. Hyundai man Neuville had a small issue with the paddle shift this morning, but the manufacturer reports it was a quick fix.
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Back on topic, here's a quick recap on how things stand ahead of this second loop:
1 Neuville
2 Breen +5.9s
3 Mikkelsen +17.6s
4 Paddon +19.2s
5 Ostberg +21.5s
6 Lappi +38.8s
7 Latvala +1m04.8s
8 Tanak +1m12.8s
9 Suninen +1m22.8s
10 Meeke +1m54.4s
11 Ogier +3m03.1s
12 Evans +3m14.6s
1 Neuville
2 Breen +5.9s
3 Mikkelsen +17.6s
4 Paddon +19.2s
5 Ostberg +21.5s
6 Lappi +38.8s
7 Latvala +1m04.8s
8 Tanak +1m12.8s
9 Suninen +1m22.8s
10 Meeke +1m54.4s
11 Ogier +3m03.1s
12 Evans +3m14.6s
David Evans
There’s some sort of Swedish wildlife thing going on in the service park – basically somebody’s brought a trailer-load of stuffed big and scary animals. The wolf is by far the scariest looking and fortunately, about the rarest of the bunch. At least I think that’s what the chap said.
There’s either 400 or 400,000 wolves in Sweden. Or that could be in the Varmland region. I’m kind of hoping it’s 400 and Sweden. Apologies for this Swedish wildlife section being a bit short on detail. Nice wolf picture though – makes a change of Thierry Neuville’s orange glasses. And if you haven’t seen those, here they are…
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Hello and welcome back to Autosport's live coverage of Rally Sweden. The repeat run of this morning's loop is up next, starting with a second pass through Torntorp that starts in around 15 minutes.
Autosport
It's been an exciting morning in Sweden, and the afternoon promises more action. Have a read of our end-of-leg report and rejoin us at 1130hrs as the lead fight reaches fever pitch.
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Impressive Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta has reclaimed the WRC2 lead on the last stage of the morning loop.
He leads reigning champion Pontus Tidemand.
He leads reigning champion Pontus Tidemand.
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SS11
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +0.9s
3 Ogier +1.2s
4 Breen +1.7s
5 Mikkelsen +3.2s
6 Meeke +4.5s
Overall
1 Neuville
2 Breen +5.9s
3 Mikkelsen +17.6s
4 Paddon +19.2s
5 Ostberg +21.5s
6 Lappi +38.8s
7 Latvala +1m04.8s
8 Tanak +1m12.8s
9 Suninen +1m22.8s
10 Meeke +1m54.4s
11 Ogier +3m03.1s
12 Evans +3m14.6s
1 Neuville
2 Tanak +0.9s
3 Ogier +1.2s
4 Breen +1.7s
5 Mikkelsen +3.2s
6 Meeke +4.5s
Overall
1 Neuville
2 Breen +5.9s
3 Mikkelsen +17.6s
4 Paddon +19.2s
5 Ostberg +21.5s
6 Lappi +38.8s
7 Latvala +1m04.8s
8 Tanak +1m12.8s
9 Suninen +1m22.8s
10 Meeke +1m54.4s
11 Ogier +3m03.1s
12 Evans +3m14.6s
By: Matt Beer
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