Rally Australia 2018
23h
The crews now head to the Sherwood ES3 which appears to be the justice of the peace of the stage with 26,68km timed. Ogier is expected to start at 23:41 p.m.
23h
Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) took the scratch in the 14,12km Coldwater, the second special of the Rally Australia completed in 2'7''56. The Finn preceded Craig Breen (Citroën) by half a second. Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), Mads Ostberg (Citroën) and Hayden Paddon (Hyundai) followed by more than a second, preceding Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). Ott Tänak (Toyota) finished almost 3 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai). Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) failed by almost 4 seconds, but the slowest was Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) who suffered from the sweep by losing more than ten seconds.
Jari-Matti Latvala finds himself tied for the lead in Rally Australia with teammate Esapekka Lappi. Mads Ostberg follows 2”4 ahead of Hayden Paddon, while Ott Tänak slips into 5th position, 3 tenths behind the New Zealander. Craig Breen finds himself 6th, one tenth behind the Estonian, ahead of Teemu Suninen by 3 tenths. Elfyn Evans slips to 8th position ahead of Andreas Mikkelsen. Thierry Neuville is 10th, more than 7 seconds from the head of the race, while Sébastien Ogier is a dozen seconds behind.
WRC standings after SS2 – Two Toyotas tied at the top. 1. Lappi 12m 43.0sec =1. Latvala 12m 43.0sec3. Østberg +2.4sec 4. Paddon +3.1sec 5. Tänak +3.4sec 6. Breen +3.5sec #WRC
— WRC (@OfficialWRC) November 15, 2018
23h
Ostberg signs the 4th fastest time, 1″5 behind Latvala and moves up to 3rd in the general classification between Lappi and Paddon. “The stage was good but I didn't manage to have a good pace. However, the car and the notes are very good. I must progress, even if the time is satisfactory. »
23h
Suninen takes the 5th time, 2″2 behind Latvala’s scratch and finds himself 6th in the general classification between Breen and Evans. “I could have gone faster but my pace was good. »
23h
Good time from Paddon who sets the 4th time, 1″6 behind the benchmark. The Hyundai driver climbs to 3rd place in the standings between Latvala and Tänak.
23h
Breen narrowly managed the scratch, half a second behind Latvala. The Citroën driver found rhythm in this SS. “I'm having trouble with the front axle, I can't get the car where I want. »
23h
Evans sets the 4th time, 4″3 behind Latvala. The Welshman climbs ahead of Mikkelsen in the general classification for a lead of 3 tenths. “It wasn't perfect but pretty good overall,” said the M-Sport driver simply.
23h
Mikkelsen finished 5″3 behind Latvala. The Norwegian is 2″5 behind Tänak overall, ahead of his teammate Neuville by almost 2s. “I'm not efficient everywhere, but the pace is pretty good. »
23h
And Latvala takes the provisional scratch with a 1″2 lead over Lappi. The 3 Toyotas are still at the forefront. Neuville is relegated more than 7s to Ogier more than 10s. “The car is very pleasant to drive. I had a bigger jump than expected but other than that I was okay. »
22h
Lappi improves again with a 2″6 lead over his teammate Tänak. This is enough to put the Finn in an unusually good mood. “I wasn't really comfortable because the road was very wide and I remained cautious because I still had some margin. I stayed within the trajectories, perhaps it was the right method. »
22h
Tänak further improves the pace with 2″9 ahead of Neuville and almost 7s ahead of Ogier. “The special was okay, but we were a little swept away in this one. I'm not at the limit, it's only the 2nd special. »
22h
Neuville drops Ogier with a 4s lead over the Frenchman. “It was a good SS but difficult. I saw Séb's tracks going far away, so I tried to stay clean. »
22h
Ogier sets a first time in 8'07″0. “I attacked, I can't do much more. The end of the SS was dry, which could complicate our task. »
22h
The first 5 km are on a wide road before becoming narrower and more technical. This passage had not been used for several years.
22h
The first crews are already in the 2km Coldwater SS14,12.
