RALLYE MONTE CARLO (FRIDAY): TÄNAK CLOSES IN ON OGIER

The rally season has begun! With teams reshuffling their driver line-ups over the winters, all of us are excited to see whether someone can dethrone Sebastien Ogier. The Frenchman, who was born close to where the Rallye Monte Carlo began this year took a huge lead on Thursday night, winning SS1 by seven seconds and SS2 by a staggering seventeen seconds. If someone wanted to stop the flying Frenchman, it would have to be soon.

Stage 3 - Great Success. Ott Tänak, who BTW has now switched to Toyota won his first stage of the year. Tänak was fastest by 3.9sec in his Yaris from rally leader Sébastien Ogier and said: “The middle section was damp as expected. It was very tough but OK, we are here.”

Road opener Ogier was 1.5sec quicker than Ford Fiesta team-mate Elfyn Evans, who was third quickest, and extended his lead to 30.0sec.Dani Sordo climbed to second with fourth fastest time after Hyundai i20 team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen made a mistake which dropped him to third, 4.9sec behind the Spaniard.

“I went straight on at a junction and had to turn around. Not so good and a very dirty road,” said the Norwegian, who lost 21.5sec to the pace-setting Tänak, who was up to fourth overall.Jari-Matti Latvala and Kris Meeke completed the top six in the stage, the Finn reporting understeer in his Yaris. He was sixth overall, just behind team-mate Esapekka Lappi.

As the rain eventually hit, Ogier took advantage.

As the rain eventually hit, Ogier took advantage.

Thierry Neuville’s problem-filled start to the rally continued with a rear left puncture in his i20 about 10km from the end. Craig Breen hit a stone and his Citroën C3 finished with no brakes and oil leaking onto the front right tyre from a damaged pipe.The roads became progressively dirty as the early starters dragged mud and stones onto the asphalt and they had a clear advantage over the later runners.

Stage 4/5 - Ogier won both stages to extend his lead to a whopping fourty seconds from Ott Tänak. Having won today’s opener, Tanäk was third and second fastest in the following two tests to complete a stellar loop in which the Estonian climbed from fifth to second on his Toyota Yaris debut.Dani Sordo was frustrated by a tyre mix-up which meant he drove the final two tests with soft rather than super soft rubber on the front of his Hyundai i20. He conceded 10sec in Vaumeilh - Claret and dropped to third, 7.1sec behind Tänak.

Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen retired his i20 from third before the start of Roussieux - Eygalayes. The Norwegian stopped on the liaison section with a broken alternator. Finnish drivers doubled up in fourth and fifth, with Esapekka Lappi heading Toyota team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala by 12.7sec. Kris Meeke was a distant sixth in a Citroën C3, the Northern Ireland driver almost 90sec further back.

Ogier on the charge.

Ogier on the charge.

Stage 6 - Tänak takes up the batton by winning his second stage of the Rally The Estonian was fastest through the 26.72km speed test from Vitrolles to Oze for a second time in a Toyota Yaris and cut the Frenchman’s advantage by 6.5sec to 33.9sec.The long-awaited rain finally arrived to make conditions tricky, but it wasn’t enough to clean the asphalt of the mud dragged onto the surface by drivers cutting corners.

Dani Sordo remained in third place, but a cautious approach from the Spaniard in his Hyundai i20 cost more than 25sec and he is now over a minute adrift of Ogier. “Now it’s really raining and in this mix of tyres I had to take it a little bit careful,” he explained.Toyota Yaris duo Esapekka Lappi and Jari-Matti Latvala are knocking on the door of Sordo’s third place. Both posted top six times and Lappi is only 1.6sec behind, with Latvala a further 8.6sec back. Kris Meeke completed the top six in a Citroën C3.

Third fastest time for Thierry Neuville moved the Belgian to within 12.5sec of eighth-placed Elfyn Evans as he continued his fightback up the leaderboard.

Stage 7/8 - On SS7, the Frenchman slips up, he slides into a ditch. With help from the spectators he's out but his lead is cut to just 19 seconds. Elfyn Evans won the stage with Neuville just a second behind. Dani Sordo built a small cushion for his third place as Lappi and Latvala are hot on his tale.

Stage 8 - Neuville is coming back! He wins the stage by a huge 7.4 seconds from Latvala. However more importantly, Tänak has hacked another four seconds off Ogier's lead and it's now down to 14 seconds. The race is On!

The leaderboard is below after SS8. Another update on Saturday evening.

LEADERBOARD (AFTER STAGE 8)

Overall leaderboard:

1 Ogier

2 Tanak +14.9s

3 Sordo +59.7s

4 Lappi +1m09.9s

5 Latvala +1m10.1s

6 Meeke +2m45.5s

7 Bouffier +3m34.6s

8 Evans +4m01.7s

9 Neuville +4m04.1s

10 Breen +5m06.6s