Rallycross
Rally Australia 2018
03h
The general classification after SS5:
WRC standings after SS5 – 1. Østberg 38m 10.7sec2. Latvala +5.9sec3. Tanak +7.9sec4. Paddon +8.2sec5. Breen +8.5sec6. Suninen +14.0secNeuville is 7th and Ogier is 10th #WRC
— WRC (@OfficialWRC) November 16, 2018
03h
The crews are now preparing to compete in the Sherwood special, the longest of the day at 26,68km. Ostberg took the scratch in the first run in 12'49″0.
03h
Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) lost 23 seconds in the 5th special stage of the Rally Australia called Coldwater. It was precisely in a ford that the Finn encountered problems when he suffered engine shutdowns. Ott Tänak (Toyota) also damaged his Yaris WRC by tearing off its front bumper in the same place.
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) was the fastest, completing the 14,12km in 7'51''1, a tenth ahead of Teemu Suninen (M-Sport). Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) followed half a second ahead of Craig Breen (Citroën), Hayden Paddon (Hyundai), Mads Ostberg (Citroën), Sébasten Ogier (M-Sport) and Ott Tänak (Toyota) who finished at less than 2 seconds from the reference despite his car suffering a lot of damage.
Mads Ostberg retains the lead of Rally Australia with almost 6 seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala. Ott Tänak follows at 2 seconds with 3 tenths ahead of Hayden Paddon and 6 tenths over Craig Breen. Teemu Suninen finds himself 6th ahead of Thierry Neuville who precedes Elfyn Evans by a tenth. Esapekka Lappi fell from 2nd to 9th place and is ahead of Sébastien Ogier by just under 2 seconds.
03h
Ostberg performed well, finishing 7 tenths behind Neuville. Latvala is 6s behind the leader. “This SS wasn't perfect, but the time wasn't bad. »
03h
Suninen almost took the scratch since he failed a tenth behind Neuville. The M-Sport driver remains more than 5 seconds behind Breen. “It was a clean SS, I rode well. »
03h
Paddon ranks 7 tenths behind Neuville and is 3 tenths behind Tänak with only the same gap on Breen. “This ES is very pleasant, it offers a good pace. the differences are very small. »
03h
Breen remains competitive with 6 tenths behind Neuville. The Citroën driver is only 6 tenths behind Tänak. “It went better than the first. It was complicated with the medium tire at the rear, I had to manage. »
03h
Evans' alleged stoppage appears to be a simple computer bug since Evans is clocking in less than 4s from the benchmark. “I didn’t encounter any problems. » The Welshman finds himself one tenth behind Neuville in the general classification.
03h
Evans is now on a strong pace... It is still unclear what problem the M-Sport driver encountered.
03h
The damage suffered by Tänak’s Toyota:
#RallyAustralia SS5 Tänak: “The front was in the watersplash and took all the front away I guess. We had damage on the previous one, it is running like a dog. » pic.twitter.com/vaXlHA98Tc
— Valmar Viisel (@paddocknews) November 16, 2018
03h
Latvala is closest to Neuville with half a second behind. The Finn has a 2s lead over his teammate Tänak and is fighting for the lead of the race. " It goes well. »
03h
Evans stopped on the stage. The M-Sport driver is back in action.
03h
Latvala passed through the ford without incident, the large puddle having been emptied by the first cars.
03h
Lappi fails 23s behind Neuville and finds himself more than 7s behind the Hyundai driver in the general classification. His Toyota has no cosmetic damage like Tänak's. “I hope I won't have any more mechanical problems in the next SS. »
03h
Lappi was able to resume a strong pace after suffering from his engine outages.
03h
Lappi is slowing down in the special. The Finn also seems to have suffered from going through the ford which caused engine shutdowns. The Toyota driver was in 2nd place in the general classification.
03h
Tänak drops almost 2s to Neuville and maintains a lead of more than 11s over the Belgian in the general classification. The Estonian lost his front bumper. The Yaris WRC suffered quite a bit in 2 special stages. “It was in the lookout. » The Estonian had already left when the journalist asked him a question.
03h
Tänak's Toyota damaged on the front left, particularly after going through a ford.
03h
Neuville is still 1”6 ahead of Ogier who is now more than 9s behind the Belgian in the general classification. “The special went well. We'll see if our different strategy compared to Ogier's will work. »
03h
Ogier finished with a time of 7'52″7, a little more than 3 seconds better than Latvala's scratch in the first run. “The grip is better but that’s the case for everyone. I've been at the limit since 2 ES, I can't do better. »
