WRC Tour of Corsica
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Sordo is the next to arrive and he's 0.2s quicker than Latvala, quickest at the first split so far.
Stopwatch
Splits are coming in now and and Jari-Matti Latvala is quickest at the first yardstick. He's 5s up on Elfyn Evans and 0.6s up on Hayden Paddon.
Autosport
It's a little early, so Autosport Live is switching on the lights for you. But we don't switch on your average light. We're turning on Bernard Darniche's Fiat 131, which won this event in 1977, coutesy of LAT. If that doesn't wake you up, we give up.
David Evans
Speaking of Kris Meeke, he was on form at breakfast this morning: “I can’t wait to get back in this car and start driving again and I’ve been like that from when I stepped out of it last night.
"Last year was so frustrating for me on this event, but yesterday was great. What was important for me was the second stage yesterday, that was Sebastien’s stage from last year – he really destroyed everybody in that one last time out.
"Paul [Nagle, co-driver] and I worked hard on that stage and it’s been good for us. But 10 seconds is nothing, especially not in Corsica.”
Meeke has good memories of today’s opening stage, having taken 17 seconds out of everybody in there six months ago.
"Last year was so frustrating for me on this event, but yesterday was great. What was important for me was the second stage yesterday, that was Sebastien’s stage from last year – he really destroyed everybody in that one last time out.
"Paul [Nagle, co-driver] and I worked hard on that stage and it’s been good for us. But 10 seconds is nothing, especially not in Corsica.”
Meeke has good memories of today’s opening stage, having taken 17 seconds out of everybody in there six months ago.
Information
With SS5 underway, who better than rally leader Kris Meeke to take us through what to expect from this test.
SS5/7 La Porta-Valle di Rostino 1 48.71km (30.26 miles)
"This one’s a typical Corsica stage, really twisty and narrow through a couple of villages," explains Meeke. "There’s a tricky section in the middle of the stage where we go in through a forest, it’s about six or seven kilometres where it’s so bumpy all the time; the surface changes from good grip to broken Tarmac.
"The rhythm is changing all the time in this stage, we start on a technical uphill section and then come down through the villages to a hairpin in Barchetta. The stage is a little bit shorter than last year, we start five kilometres further in."
SS5/7 La Porta-Valle di Rostino 1 48.71km (30.26 miles)
"This one’s a typical Corsica stage, really twisty and narrow through a couple of villages," explains Meeke. "There’s a tricky section in the middle of the stage where we go in through a forest, it’s about six or seven kilometres where it’s so bumpy all the time; the surface changes from good grip to broken Tarmac.
"The rhythm is changing all the time in this stage, we start on a technical uphill section and then come down through the villages to a hairpin in Barchetta. The stage is a little bit shorter than last year, we start five kilometres further in."
Autosport
Hello and welcome back to live coverage of the Tour of Corsica. We hope you're ready for an exciting day of action.
Autosport
Here's the full report from Friday, see you back here around 7.30am UK time on Saturday morning for day two from Corsica: 
Here's a Peugeot 205 to take your mind off it (Bruno Saby's 1986 Corsica winner)
And in case anyone found that a bit unpleasant...
David Evans
Lunch has been sorted in service for the next couple of days… vegetarians look away now, this is a cow on a spit-roast and it smells epic.
DAVID EVANS will be back in service and looking for food soon...
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SS4 results:
Leading stage times:
1 Meeke 18m20.4s
2 Ogier +2.2s
3 Neuville +3.2s
4 Breen +11.3s
5 Latvala +12.1s
6 Sordo +14.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Meeke
2 Ogier +10.3s
3 Neuville +25.8s
4 Breen +52.4s
5 Sordo +53.8s
6 Latvala +1m00.2s
7 Paddon +1m18.8s
8 Lefebvre +2m07.6s
9 Mikkelsen +2m57.3s
10 Sarrazin +3m17.8s
And Evans ends the day 18th, 6m39.5s from the front
Leading stage times:
1 Meeke 18m20.4s
2 Ogier +2.2s
3 Neuville +3.2s
4 Breen +11.3s
5 Latvala +12.1s
6 Sordo +14.2s
Overall leaderboard:
1 Meeke
2 Ogier +10.3s
3 Neuville +25.8s
4 Breen +52.4s
5 Sordo +53.8s
6 Latvala +1m00.2s
7 Paddon +1m18.8s
8 Lefebvre +2m07.6s
9 Mikkelsen +2m57.3s
10 Sarrazin +3m17.8s
And Evans ends the day 18th, 6m39.5s from the front
Showing just how good his day is, Mikkelsen had a spin on that stage and still extended his WRC2 lead - which is now 1m10s over Suninen.
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SS4 summary:
* Meeke back on top with a stage win that extends his lead to 10.3s overnight
* Neuville says he's taking huge risks in third but can't keep up with Meeke/Ogier
* Breen grabs fourth from Sordo
* Evans makes it to the end of the day and can finally get his hydraulics fixed
* Meeke back on top with a stage win that extends his lead to 10.3s overnight
* Neuville says he's taking huge risks in third but can't keep up with Meeke/Ogier
* Breen grabs fourth from Sordo
* Evans makes it to the end of the day and can finally get his hydraulics fixed
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It'll be Sarrazin - amazingly - completing the overall top 10 overnight if he completes this stage problem-free but he's some way down the start order.
Mikkelsen is in, now looking very dominant in WRC2 again and up to ninth overall.
Evans's time loss on this stage is going to be another two or so minutes, so he'll be outside the top 15 overnight and about three minutes away from getting back into the points.
The top six is going to look like this:
1 Meeke
2 Ogier +10.3s
3 Neuville +25.8s
4 Breen +52.4s
5 Sordo +53.8s
6 Latvala +1m00.2s
1 Meeke
2 Ogier +10.3s
3 Neuville +25.8s
4 Breen +52.4s
5 Sordo +53.8s
6 Latvala +1m00.2s
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A good end to the stage from Breen, he's fourth fastest on that one and then brings him past Sordo into fourth overall too.
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"Two tough stages this afternoon, I enjoyed them both," says Meeke. "I'm in a good rhythm but you're always wary of him [Ogier]. He never gives up. I'm comfortable with my pace."
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Meeke completes the stage, he's fastest by 2.2s over Ogier so his overnight lead will be 10.3s.
Going to be touch and go whether Breen takes fourth from Sordo - they started the stage 1.5s apart and at the final split Breen is 1.4s quicker.
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"I'm running for my life, I have a feeling like we're flying on the edge everywhere and sometimes over the limit so I have to calm down," says Neuville. "We can't do the times today."
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His team-mate Neuville isn't far off Ogier's pace though, he comes in just a second slower, which is 11s faster than Sordo. That will cement Neuville in third overnight.
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"To be honest, it was a difficult day, but I'm happy with myself," says Sordo. "I'm driving OK. The car is not perfect so it is not possible to do the times of Ogier."
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Next split from Meeke, he's lost a little of his advantage but is still 1.7s faster than Ogier.
Not such a good end to the stage for Sordo, though - he's 2.1s slower than Latvala so the gap between them is down to 6s and you'd probably expect Breen to grab fourth now.
Just ahead of Latvala in the battle for fourth, Sordo has picked up his pace on the splits and looks less likely to lose a place to Breen now.
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Here's Latvala, who's 9.9s slower than Ogier on the stage.
"At the moment, it just hasn't been where I expected it to be," says Latvala, who's set to end day one in sixth.
This morning he felt it was him letting the side down with hesitant driving. On the repeat loop he's not sure the Yaris's set-up has been too great.
"At the moment, it just hasn't been where I expected it to be," says Latvala, who's set to end day one in sixth.
This morning he felt it was him letting the side down with hesitant driving. On the repeat loop he's not sure the Yaris's set-up has been too great.
Evans latest: another split, another 25s lost for the hydraulics-hampered DMACK car.
Easy to forget that Ogier is to a large extent still learning the Ford. While most of these drivers were heavily involved in their employers' development programmes with the very different new 2017 cars, Ogier spent all last year working on a VW that'll never rally then turned up on M-Sport's doorstep just before Christmas to step into the Fiesta for the first time.
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And as he says that, Meeke puts in a second split that's 1.9s faster than Ogier - will he end the day more than 10s clear?
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"Let's see where we are tonight, but we should at least be in second position so it's not a bad day," says Ogier. "It's not been optimum but we have some ideas for tomorrow."
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Ogier, meanwhile, has finished the day's final stage in a time of 18m22.6s.
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That's better from Neuville - he's quicker than anyone else between splits one and two, so is back to just 1.2s off Ogier by that marker.
In the Sordo/Breen/Latvala battle over fourth, Sordo has turned the tables on Latvala at split two and is now 1.2s faster, but Breen is looking good at split one - he's 1.8s quicker than Sordo there and that puts him on course to pinch fourth.
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Meeke is slower than Ogier at split one - but there's just a tenth of a second in it.
Neuville, who ended the last stage pretty frustrated that whatever he tried Meeke and Ogier were still pulling away, is through split one 3.2s slower than Ogier.
If it turns out Hyundai has now slipped off Citroen and M-Sport's pace, those mistakes while dominating in Monte Carlo and Sweden are really, really, really going to nibble at Neuville.
If it turns out Hyundai has now slipped off Citroen and M-Sport's pace, those mistakes while dominating in Monte Carlo and Sweden are really, really, really going to nibble at Neuville.
Neuville and the Citroens of Meeke and Breen are also on the stage now.
By: Matt Beer
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