WRC Rally Sweden 2019
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"It's going to be very, very close," says Mikkelsen. "It was very tricky in here. I was a bit on the careful side. It's so easy to make a mistake here, so I tried to keep it in the lines."
That will set up a tense Saturday finale on Torsby Sprint. Based on how Torsby went last night, it'll be a cracker of a stage.
Stopwatch
Mikkelsen is 1.5s down on Lappi here! The gap from second to third is now only 0.4s.
Those puddles on the final corner, both inside and outside, are probably trickiest of all. But Mikkelsen navigates the first one without trouble.
Mikkelsen is on the stage now, paired up against Evans.
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Lappi is informed his gap to Neuville has crept up.
"That's good. Tricky stage, the ruts are everywhere but they're full of water, but I believe everyone has had the same. I don't think it's getting any better."
"That's good. Tricky stage, the ruts are everywhere but they're full of water, but I believe everyone has had the same. I don't think it's getting any better."
Lappi goes fastest of anyone with a 1m36.6s. His gap to fourth-placed Neuville is up to 3.4s. Now, what can Mikkelsen do?
Ogier and Lappi are up next. The latter is important, as he's in the thick of a battle for second place with Mikkelsen and Neuville.
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"It's always important. [It's a] very tricky stage, lots of standing water, so I guess later will be faster."
Neuville knows all about that from 2017, when he hit a tyre stack and retired on this stage when holding a comfortable lead. No such drama this time!
Neuville knows all about that from 2017, when he hit a tyre stack and retired on this stage when holding a comfortable lead. No such drama this time!
Stopwatch
Importantly for Meeke, Loeb was also a fair bit slower than him, 1.8s in all. So the gap from sixth to seventh goes up to 2.3s.
Neuville is well up on Loeb in their duel, 2.1s faster.
Neuville goes over the jump on lap two sideways! A tad scruffy there.
There's deep ruts everywhere that both drivers are trying to keep out of. But it's a tough ask
It's Neuville vs Loeb now. A Hyundai shootout.
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Those puddles are causing spectacular sideways moments. But how does Meeke feel about it?
"Not spectacular. Really not nice. I got a bad start, I think the right hand lane is bad for starting and Pontus beat me to the first corner. He put a lot of water on my windscreen and I couldn't see."
"Not spectacular. Really not nice. I got a bad start, I think the right hand lane is bad for starting and Pontus beat me to the first corner. He put a lot of water on my windscreen and I couldn't see."
Meeke is fastest for now with a 1m37.5s.
Tidemand and Meeke are up now. It's critical for Meeke, as he's only 0.5s up on Loeb heading into this one. Can he hold onto sixth?
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Marcus Gronholm has taken his turn, with no lights on despite it being dark already.
"I see so well, so it's no problem," says Gronholm. He's clearly been eating his carrots. But is his brake problem fixed?
"Not really, we still have the problem but it's technical so it's not so bad, just a bit of handbrake and sliding around."
"I see so well, so it's no problem," says Gronholm. He's clearly been eating his carrots. But is his brake problem fixed?
"Not really, we still have the problem but it's technical so it's not so bad, just a bit of handbrake and sliding around."
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"This was difficult to drive," says Latvala. "It's the water that makes it very difficult because on long corners you suddenly hit the water and it's aquaplaning. For the people it's great I think!"
Someone could get caught out here.
Someone could get caught out here.
Bertelli has a half-spin at the final corner. He hit a big puddle and aquaplaned, which spun him around. That same outside corner caused some drivers issues on Thursday too, though it was people running wide not spinning that was at issue then.
Ah, apologies, I've mis-read the road order here; it's Latvala vs Bertelli, not Gronholm. And Latvala is clearly ahead after the first lap.
There was plenty of nice white snow here on Thursday – not anymore. It's looking quite muddy and slushy, with plenty of puddles lining the surface.
Now, back to Karlstad, where Marcus Gronholm and Jari-Matti Latvala are both on their way in a head-to-head.
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Before turning our attention to Karlstad, a quick diversion across to Torsby, where the service park is located.
Teemu Suninen drove straight there after the previous stage, in which he damaged the rollcage of his Ford Fiesta by hitting a tree.
The good news for M-Sport and Suninen is that only a single bar is damaged, which is currently being cut out with an angle grinder and replaced. Because M-Sport are the original manufacturers of the rollcage, they can fix it, get it re-certified by the FIA and send him out tomorrow, assuming they can get the fix done in time.
Teemu Suninen drove straight there after the previous stage, in which he damaged the rollcage of his Ford Fiesta by hitting a tree.
The good news for M-Sport and Suninen is that only a single bar is damaged, which is currently being cut out with an angle grinder and replaced. Because M-Sport are the original manufacturers of the rollcage, they can fix it, get it re-certified by the FIA and send him out tomorrow, assuming they can get the fix done in time.
Welcome back to Autosport Live coverage of Saturday's penultimate Rally Sweden stage, which takes place on the same Karlstad superspecial the rally kicked off with on Thursday night.
Autosport
There's a fair wait for our next stage, the superspecial in Karlstad which the rally visited on Thursday night.
We'll be back in just under an hour so, for now, here's a quick digest of the last three stages. See you shortly!
We'll be back in just under an hour so, for now, here's a quick digest of the last three stages. See you shortly!
WRC Rally Sweden: Ott Tanak dominates for Toyota
for second place has developed between Andreas Mikkelsen, Esapekka Lappi and Thierry Neuville
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Teemu Suninen's feared rollcage damage after hitting that tree has come to pass. M-Sport has confirmed his retirement, which bumps his team-mate Pontus Tidemand up to eighth.
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That spin of Neuville's on Vargasen was a thing of beauty, by the way. Take a look at the clip above!
That WRC2 lead battle between Ole Christian Veiby and Jari Huttunen has become closer still on Vargasen.
Huttunen smashed everyone through there, even highly rated compatriot Kalle Rovanpera in WRC2 Pro, with a time 5.4s than second-fastest R5 driver Rovanpera.
There's now only 16.8s separating Veiby and Huttunen. That'll be one to keep an eye on into Sunday!
Huttunen smashed everyone through there, even highly rated compatriot Kalle Rovanpera in WRC2 Pro, with a time 5.4s than second-fastest R5 driver Rovanpera.
There's now only 16.8s separating Veiby and Huttunen. That'll be one to keep an eye on into Sunday!
Information
Everyone stays where they are in the overall classification after that stage, though the gaps are getting tighter for second.
Overall classification after SS14 Vargarsen
1. Tanak 2h15m55.7s
2. Mikkelsen +54.3s
3. Lappi +56.2s
4. Neuville +58.8s
5. Evans +1m06.7s
Overall classification after SS14 Vargarsen
1. Tanak 2h15m55.7s
2. Mikkelsen +54.3s
3. Lappi +56.2s
4. Neuville +58.8s
5. Evans +1m06.7s
Information
Right, here's how the top five times stack up from that second pass of Vargasen;
SS14 Vargasen stage times
1. Ogier 8m20.1s
2. Neuville +1.6s
3. Evans +2.0s
4. Lappi +2.2s
5. Loeb +3.0s
SS14 Vargasen stage times
1. Ogier 8m20.1s
2. Neuville +1.6s
3. Evans +2.0s
4. Lappi +2.2s
5. Loeb +3.0s
There is a massive dent in that Fiesta. The rollcage might be compromised. If it is, the FIA will require M-Sport to retire Suninen's car. That's not something that can be fixed during service. He'll be out for good if that happens.
Suninen carried too much speed through a left hander immediately before a right turn and slid off trying to get it slowed down. He might have got stuck in some snow if he hadn't hit that tree.
How often does hitting a tree save someone's rally?
How often does hitting a tree save someone's rally?
Suninen gets the car back on the road and is on his way.
Suninen had just clocked the fastest second split of anyone, 2.7s up on Ogier. He was clearly giving it everything.
Crash
Suninen is off and into a tree!
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"We've done everything we could. I'm pretty sure yesterday was the key to our road position and today has been about using that road position," says Tanak.
That was indeed important. As Ogier and Neuville went backwards on Friday, Tanak limited his losses.
That was indeed important. As Ogier and Neuville went backwards on Friday, Tanak limited his losses.
By: Matt Beer
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