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WRC Rally Australia: Thierry Neuville pulls clear on shortened loop

Thierry Neuville tightened his grip on the final round of the World Rally Championship season in Australia, with a dominant display on the shortened Saturday afternoon loop

Neuville, who scooped up the rally lead on Saturday morning after his Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen crashed, dominated the opening stage of the afternoon - Welshs Creek, beating Latvala by 9.9 seconds.

On Argents Hill - the second half of the monster Nambucca stage - Neuville gained a further 2.8s and picked up his sixth stage win of the rally.

The final scheduled stage of the afternoon - the second running of Newry was cancelled due to safety concerns over a damaged bridge, meaning Neuville went to service with a lead of 19s over Latvala.

Kris Meeke, who started the morning in third place, retired with rear-right suspension damage sustained on Welshs Creek.

"Near the start, we went over a narrow bridge and I just touched the rear - something is broken," Meeke explained.

M-Sport's Ott Tanak is promoted to third position, 40.2s off the rally lead but 25s ahead of Craig Breen, who sits in a season's best fourth place.

Hayden Paddon rounds out the top five for Hyundai while world champion Sebastien Ogier is sixth in the overall classification, despite his Fiesta missing its bumper for the majority of the afternoon.

His fellow countryman Stephane Lefebvre is in seventh place, the Frenchman spun in SS12 but was sixth quickest on Argents Hill.

The DMACK-shod Fiesta of Elfyn Evans had another miserable loop, reporting oversteer issues and slipping to more than three minutes off the rally lead in eighth place.

Finn Esapekka Lappi, who was the first driver onto the stages, is up to ninth in the overall classification following Meeke's retirement.

Kalle Rovanpera, the sole WRC2 entry this weekend, rounds out the top 10 in his Fiesta R5.

Leading positions after SS14:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Thierry Neuville, N.Gilsoul Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 2h03m07.4s
2 Jari-Matti Latvala, M.Anttila Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 19.0s
3 Ott Tanak, M.Jarveoja M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 40.2s
4 Craig Breen, S.Martin Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 1m05.2s
5 Hayden Paddon, S.Marshall Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 1m20.1s
6 Sebastien Ogier, J.Ingrassia M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 1m47.2s
7 Stephane Lefebvre, G.Moreau Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 2m59.1s
8 Elfyn Evans, D.Barritt M-Sport World Rally Team Ford 3m22.7s
9 Esapekka Lappi, J.Ferm Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Toyota 4m18.6s
10 Kris Meeke, P.Nagle Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT Citroen 7m41.3s
11 Kalle Rovanpera, J.Halttunen Ford 15m26.6s
12 Nathan Quinn, B.Searcy Mitsubishi 17m17.3s
13 Richie Dalton, J.Allen Skoda 18m07.2s
14 Dean Herridge, S.Hill Subaru 20m47.3s
15 Andreas Mikkelsen, A.Jager Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai 22m16.6s
16 Jourdan Serderidis, F.Miclotte Citroen 23m20.1s
17 Thomas Clarke, R.Preston Mitsubishi 26m33.7s
18 Fabio Frisiero, S.Scattolin Peugeot 26m42.3s
19 John O'Dowd, K.Sheil Subaru 32m00.7s
20 Justin Hatton, S.Fisher Mitsubishi 32m45.3s
21 Mike Young, M.Read Ron Cremen Rallysport Citroen 33m05.3s
22 Peter Dunn, D.Neagle Subaru 35m06.6s
23 Wayne Morton, M.Benson Toyota 41m38.7s
24 Mark Beard, S.Beckwith Subaru 42m08.8s
25 Craig Brooks, S.Glenney Subaru 44m24.7s
26 Rhys Pinter, P.Hall Ford 45m44.5s
27 Lewis Bates, D.Moscatt Toyota 52m59.1s
28 Eli Evans, G.Weston Mini 1h04m19.2s
29 Andrew Penny, K.Penny Subaru 1h20m19.8s


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