Rally Australia 2017
22h
The crews will compete in the 20,87km of Newry17 from 22:56 p.m. French time.
22h
The provisional classification after SS9:
22h
Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) took the scratch in the longest special stage of the Rally Australia, the 48,89km Nambucca17, the third longest course of the season played partly in the rain. The Belgian set a time of 26'53''6, 3''9 ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and 4''5 over Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai). Kris Meeke (Citroën) lost more than a dozen seconds to the Finn. By finishing almost 17 seconds behind the benchmark, Ott Tänak (M-Sport) took back almost 17 seconds from Craig Breen (Citroën). Sébastien Ogier (M-Sport) finished 20 seconds behind, gaining eight seconds from Hayden Paddon (Hyundai).
Andreas Mikkelsen retains the lead of Rally Australia with a 15s lead over Thierry Neuville. Jari-Matti Latvala climbs into the top three by overtaking Kris Meeke by less than four seconds. Ott Tänak took the lead from Craig Breen by more than 6 seconds. Hayden Paddon came back to within two seconds of the Irishman. Sébastien Ogier follows in eighth place, two seconds behind the New Zealander. Stéphane Lefebvre (Citroën) remains ninth, five seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans (M-Sport) after losing time in a spin.
22h
Mikkelsen: “I attacked hard but we are on different strategies. Mine wasn't optimal for this special, but I saved two for later. »
22h
Mikkelsen drops 4″5 to Neuville and only has a 15″6 lead over his teammate.
22h
Meeke: “I tried but the others were just faster. I am satisfied with my driving. »
22h
Meeke sets the 3rd time at 16″5, dropping a dozen seconds to Latvala who takes 3rd place by 3″5, despite a good end to the special for the Citroën driver.
22h
Latvala: “I had to push too much at the start of the special, but that helps me stay confident. »
22h
Neuville: “I don't know what it will be like with Andreas but I attacked hard because I wanted to stay focused. »
22h
Neuville improves the provisional reference by 3″9 with a time of 26’53″6. The Hyundai driver protects his 2nd place by now having a lead of more than 13 seconds over Latvala while Meeke is in more difficulty.
22h
Latvala takes the provisional scratch with a time of 26'57″5, almost 13s better than Tänak.
22h
Meeke is around ten seconds behind Latvala. The Citroën driver should lose his 3rd place to the Finn.
22h
Breen finished 17s behind Tänak as the rain intensified towards the end of the special. The M-Sport driver took 5th place, almost 15 seconds ahead of the Irishman.
22h
Tänak: “It rained a lot but the car’s behavior remains good. »
22h
Tänak improves the benchmark with a time of 27'10″4, but Neuville has a 12s lead over the Estonian in the 4th partial.
21h
Neuville is currently the fastest. The Belgian is more than 12 seconds ahead of Lappi in the 4th intermediate position.
21h
Paddon signs the 3rd provisional time, 7″5 behind Ogier. The Hyundai driver maintains 7th place, 2″2 ahead of the reigning world champion.
21h
Ogier: “It would have been nice to have rain tires for this special! It will be hard to fight for the podium, but we will not give up. »
21h
Ogier takes the provisional scratch with a time of 27'14″2, 5″4 better than Lappi. The M-Sport driver was less than 10 seconds behind Paddon in 7th place before the special.
21h
Lefebvre lost almost 11 seconds to Evans and retained his 9th place for 5 seconds. The Citroën driver lost time following a spin and stalling.
