WRC 2025. Round 4. Spain.Day 3 SS9-SS10. Race Part 1
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#WRC #WorldRallyChampionship #WRC2025 #Rally
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00:00:01Let's get to the final stage of the loop this morning then shall we?
00:00:05Tejeda to San Mateo is our destination.
00:00:0823.3 kilometres.
00:00:10The first ten and a half k's of this were used in last year's edition
00:00:15which was part of the European Rally Championship.
00:00:18What a fantastic stage we're about to see.
00:00:21We went out and took a look at this on the recce earlier this week.
00:00:24Some beautiful sections a bit reminiscent of what we saw at the end of the day yesterday.
00:00:29Let's see what the drivers make of it.
00:00:31You know we are seeing such different structures with some of the stages
00:00:35like in the previous one just different sections of tarmac
00:00:38which was changing the grip levels out there.
00:00:42What are we going to see this time around?
00:00:44Well we'll see it through the eyes of Josh McAleen first and foremost.
00:00:48He heads into the stage and is opening the road for the day.
00:00:53He's listening to Owen Tracy and we're just having a look on the road section here.
00:01:18As Adrian Formbo gets himself prepared.
00:01:32It's great to have these road section shots just see them making the adjustments, alterations ahead of the stages.
00:01:48Now for Josh McAleen heading into the stage finds himself in 12th position overall.
00:01:53As he said at the end of the previous stage every single kilometre here this weekend is a learning opportunity and he's taking it as such.
00:02:01Now Lewis Moyer who we had in commentary on the previous stage is saying
00:02:30you know he'd heard there's a huge amount of spectators in this one.
00:02:34And we certainly saw when we were out on the recce
00:02:36there were people recceeing their spectator points.
00:02:39Making sure that they're in the right spot to see all of the action.
00:02:42There are certain sections where you can see the cars for a very long time here.
00:02:46As they work their way around the hillside.
00:02:49It's nice new tarmac through most of this stage.
00:02:54Certainly at the start.
00:02:56What?
00:02:5760.
00:02:586 left.
00:02:59Keep.
00:03:00And right.
00:03:015.
00:03:02Minus.
00:03:0340.
00:03:04Slow.
00:03:05Time to play.
00:03:063.
00:03:07Minus.
00:03:08Keep.
00:03:09And 3 left.
00:03:10Trim.
00:03:11Continues.
00:03:12Long.
00:03:13Out.
00:03:1480.
00:03:15And.
00:03:166 right.
00:03:17Keep.
00:03:18Slow into 3 left.
00:03:20Time to slip.
00:03:21Out.
00:03:22And.
00:03:23Right.
00:03:24Time to play.
00:03:25Sharp.
00:03:263.
00:03:27Keep.
00:03:28Slow into 2.
00:03:29Nice chat with Lewis Moyer there in the service park.
00:03:30And of course having him in commentary is always a bit of a boon.
00:03:33He's got great memories of this island.
00:03:35And I think you know from what we've seen already so far a lot of these drivers are going
00:03:38to take away some uh some strong memories of some fantastic roads that we're seeing.
00:03:43Ah yeah I think these are certainly the for any for any tarmac driver these roads are
00:03:49an absolute dream aren't they to compete on regardless of the result and everything
00:03:53else it's to have this stretch this ribbon of tarmac closed to the public just for you
00:03:58to send the fastest rally car in the world down well that's pretty special isn't it.
00:04:03Um and yeah brilliant as always to have Lewis knocking around such a brilliant guy with
00:04:10brilliant memories and uh of the sport is um he's a legend that's for sure.
00:04:15Great to see him again.
00:04:17The tarmac on this this stage the surface on this stage is a bit similar to what we
00:04:32saw uh yesterday on three and six but um so the drivers I think will be a little bit
00:04:38more comfortable on here very very slippery the surface of the road on the previous stage
00:04:43the cars looked fidgety didn't they? Yeah it was from the the mid kind of the midpoint onwards.
00:04:49It was older tarmac at the start and then yeah they go on to the newer staff and it was really
00:04:54throwing them because it was a lot more slippery. I think nearly every driver mentioned it.
00:04:58Yeah. Yeah this is very reminiscent of what we saw with that third stage yesterday.
00:05:04Yeah what happens is when you've got that surface uh like we saw in the previous stage the tire
00:05:10skates across the road rather than biting and finding grip it sort of skates across the top so
00:05:14you get this floaty feeling with the car.
00:05:16So you get this floaty feeling with the car.
00:05:17So you get this floaty feeling with the car.
00:05:21Just see the opening split on the board there for uh Gregoire against his teammate Josh McLean.
00:05:36It's 1.2 seconds faster.
00:05:42Now Gregoire's in ninth position overall but it's a big jump up to the next car ahead of him.
00:06:07This has turned into three days I think of really good testing for M Sport hasn't it?
00:06:13And uh now the last thing that either of either Josh or Gregoire can do is make a mistake
00:06:19and damage the car because they're not really, nor of them really fighting for much are they?
00:06:23It's kind of into team honours and Gregoire's got that one fairly well wrapped up hasn't he?
00:06:28Yeah at the moment yeah he certainly has.
00:06:30Now it's just about gathering as much information as much data that they can take into the
00:06:35remainder of the season and just keep learning.
00:06:46Edrien Formo sixth position overall for Edrien.
00:06:50He's 8.7 seconds adrift off Taka.
00:06:55It's the battle between the Hyundai's we're kind of watching with Newville 4.3 seconds behind Formo.
00:07:03Oytanax 17.3 further back from Newville.
00:07:06It's also a bit reminiscent.
00:07:36Isn't it what we saw yesterday in terms of the condition, Jenny?
00:07:38Because that middle stage kind of shrouded in cloud.
00:07:41We had a lot of moisture on it in terms of in the air rather than so much on the ground.
00:07:46And now we've got a beautiful sunshine stage, which is exactly the way it was yesterday.
00:07:51You just come around the side of the mountain and the weather is completely different.
00:07:54Yeah, it's honestly, it's so localized, the cloud here.
00:07:58And like Lewis was just saying there, if you drive 10 minutes south,
00:08:01I mean, outside of the service park, it's grey, it's cloudy, it looks like it could rain and it's cold.
00:08:06You drive 10 minutes south, it looks like this.
00:08:08It's so localized and that's island life for you, isn't it?
00:08:12It is.
00:08:13I was loving the information coming in from him about what they describe as that low cloud, the donkey's belly.
00:08:20Yeah.
00:08:20Yeah.
00:08:20Yeah.
00:08:30Got the opening split in from Fort Mo.
00:08:32He's quicker than Munster by one and a half seconds.
00:08:35Tanak's going to be next to head into the stage.
00:08:37Of all of the Hyundai's, it's Fort Mo that just seems to be, again, it's not, it's not on the pace that's running.
00:09:07Toyota's, nobody is, but it's, of the Hyundai's, it's Fort Mo that seems to be the most comfortable in the car or able to make the most out of a bad situation.
00:09:15We certainly saw that yesterday morning as well from Fort Mo and it changed around in the afternoon.
00:09:41I mean, they're obviously making changes.
00:09:43They're throwing everything at it right now to, to try and get some performance.
00:09:48Yeah.
00:09:48They went backwards with Adrian yesterday.
00:09:49They, they went a bit softer with the car to try and find grip.
00:09:52But obviously everything got a lot hotter in the afternoon.
00:09:56And so by going a bit softer, it worked the tire harder and the heat worked tire harder and it ended up being counterproductive.
00:10:02So they've gone back to where they were, but they learned something.
00:10:05That was the key thing with Oit and Thierry.
00:10:08They had to throw something at it to try and find something.
00:10:11And I think by going softer, they did do, they've at least got the tire working better than it was yesterday morning.
00:10:18But ultimately it's a design flaw is too, is too strong, but there is something in the car that's not working with the, with the tire.
00:10:31And because of the, the way the regulations are formed, you only have so many jokers, as I was just saying in the previous studio, you don't have so many jokers that you can change throughout the year.
00:10:40And unfortunately, I mean, right now, I'm sure if they could start changing dampers and diffs and all that kind of stuff.
00:10:46And I think there's a lot in the diffs, then that car would be behaving completely differently.
00:10:52We did have a chat with FX DeMaison, who's technical director for the Hyundai team last night at Meet the Cruise.
00:10:57And he basically said, you know, that they can't, as you're alluding to, though, they can't make any massive changes right now, this weekend.
00:11:05But you can guarantee for the next tarmac event, they are going to bounce back stronger because they will have, okay, tarmac events are different in terms of the setup that you have to have for each.
00:11:14But at least they can take all the feedback from what they've got here, which hasn't gone right, and turn that into a more positive outcome next time around.
00:11:22We will be chatting with FX DeMaison a little bit later on in the program today.
00:11:30So we'll try and get you as much information as we possibly can from the technical director at Hyundai.
00:11:36Yeah, I mean, ultimately, really, all they can, everything's sealed, transmission's sealed, dampers are sealed, you know.
00:11:43So all they can really fiddle around with are roll bars, the rake of the car, springs, that sort of stuff.
00:11:51They can't make any massively significant component changes.
00:11:55Yeah.
00:11:55Over if they can't make any convince you that, before the car Iris is leaving, they're going to do it again.
00:12:04We'll be doing that again.
00:12:05We'll be giving you an example of this time on the car.
00:12:1040, clear, slowly, 4 left, minus, keep.
00:12:147, 5, right.
00:12:17Into, 5 left, out for 18.
00:12:19Type is 4, convoy.
00:12:2060, slow, 3 left, keep.
00:12:23Sharp, wall.
00:12:263 left, keep, sharp, wall.
00:12:27Into, come back, 4 right, minus, for 40, double, it's 2 rounds.
00:12:32And, classic, sir.
00:12:35And, right, and, black, bye.
00:12:36It's a bit wild from Josh there.
00:12:37He just doesn't look confident in the car.
00:12:38It doesn't look like he's, we haven't really seen Josh
00:12:40able to attack the stage at all this weekend, have we?
00:12:45He just, the car just looks a bit fidgety.
00:12:47It looks like hard work.
00:12:49Louis Luka just making a little note change there.
00:12:53The car just looks, it just looks nervous, doesn't it?
00:12:59I suppose as well it's a little bit of a difficult balance
00:13:01with Josh because he is, as he's very much told us,
00:13:04in that learning mode.
00:13:06If he is to push a little bit harder than he's comfortable with,
00:13:08is the risk of mistake out there.
00:13:10And that will be so detrimental right now.
00:13:12Yeah, for sure.
00:13:13But, I mean, we saw in Sweden, Josh got the bit between his teeth
00:13:16on a few stages.
00:13:17And he was, you know, and he was, he was challenging Gregoire's time.
00:13:19So when he's comfortable in the car,
00:13:21it shows that he's comfortable to step up the pace.
00:13:23We haven't seen that this weekend.
00:13:25Which, yeah, it's reflecting the fact
00:13:26that he's not quite comfortable.
00:13:28He's doing the right thing in not putting his foot too far flat.
00:13:31Again, you can see here Tanak's time down from Formo's
00:13:46one and a half seconds slower.
00:13:48Neuville is also in the stage for us.
00:13:50We've got McAleen, Munster, Formo, Tanak, and Neuville
00:13:53all within the final stage of the loop this morning.
00:14:00Yeah, you can see Josh shaking his head.
00:14:20I mean, we could see it, you could see the car was moving around.
00:14:23It was nervous, it was fidgety.
00:14:24The back of the car was lively.
00:14:28Yeah, obviously, he's straight, it comes as no surprise
00:14:31with us watching that stage that he gets to the end
00:14:34and shakes his head.
00:14:35Yeah.
00:14:36It's just hard work.
00:14:39Julian Porter's made it round to this next stage.
00:14:41Well done, Jules.
00:14:42Let's catch up with Josh.
00:14:50Josh, that's the third stage of the loop.
00:14:54I've got no info because we've only just arrived,
00:14:56but how was it in there?
00:14:58A disaster.
00:15:02It's probably the most we've suffered all rallies,
00:15:04so there's so many corners, so much time,
00:15:08and yeah, you're just waiting all the time.
00:15:12Three done, three more to go today,
00:15:13and hopefully we can keep on going.
00:15:15But yeah, you're always down, negative,
00:15:18and you want to be positive,
00:15:20and yeah, driving these cars is a positive thing,
00:15:22but you still want to do well.
00:15:24When you say you're just sat there waiting,
00:15:26what are you waiting for?
00:15:28Waiting in the front to hook up, basically,
00:15:30to get on throttle,
00:15:31and especially in the high-speed stuff,
00:15:34when you start to lose the front,
00:15:36then you've absolutely no faith
00:15:37in where the car's going to end up
00:15:39at the next to the corner, so...
00:15:41Yeah, the previous stage is high grip,
00:15:43and it worked okay,
00:15:45but now back to the smooth roads,
00:15:48you think with high temperatures it should work,
00:15:49but obviously we can't get the feeling,
00:15:53or yeah, maybe I can drive it better,
00:15:56but I'm a bit lost.
00:15:58That's a great explanation,
00:15:59very honest from George there.
00:16:01Yeah, it goes...
00:16:03We could see it, you know,
00:16:04we could see that the car was not where it needed to be.
00:16:07You could hear where he was picking up the throttle.
00:16:09He was just having to be patient, patient, patient,
00:16:12rather than attacking the stage,
00:16:14and he hasn't been able to do it at all,
00:16:16and that's...
00:16:17It's frustrating for him
00:16:20because he knows that's not naturally what he...
00:16:22You know, he knows he can drive quicker than that,
00:16:24but when you've got the car to do it,
00:16:26it's just frustrating,
00:16:27and it's just a setup.
00:16:28A setup thing.
00:16:29There's been quite a few little alterations to the note so far,
00:16:45isn't there,
00:16:46from just what we've seen
00:16:47when we've picked up the onboard.
00:16:48As soon as Gregoire jumped on the brakes,
00:17:03weight transfer onto the front,
00:17:05the battle car just stepped down a little bit there.
00:17:06I think Gregoire will be a bit lost as well.
00:17:17It's 13.23.5.
00:17:227.7 seconds up on Josh.
00:17:24Yeah, let's hear if it's similar comments
00:17:26coming through from Gregoire
00:17:27when he gets to Jules at the stop control.
00:17:29Newville is past the 7.5km marker.
00:17:39He is two seconds slower than Edrian Formo.
00:17:43We'll come back to those times, sir.
00:17:44Let's hear from Gregoire.
00:17:45Greg, Josh was frustrated and disappointed in there.
00:18:04You seem to have done a better job timing-wise.
00:18:06What was it like, though?
00:18:07It was really tricky.
00:18:08The setup is definitely not good for this one.
00:18:11I could see his line.
00:18:12I think he was overheating at the end.
00:18:15And the lines were not always good.
00:18:17But it's really difficult.
00:18:19The car is not doing what we want.
00:18:21So I understand his frustration.
00:18:25It amazes me.
00:18:26You just said you could see his lines.
00:18:27You're driving at 150 km per hour.
00:18:30You could still notice his lines.
00:18:32Yeah, exactly.
00:18:33I think because we don't manage to generate grip.
00:18:35So we have sliding over the surface.
00:18:37And so it leaves a bit of rubber on the ground.
00:18:39And I can see sometimes he doesn't manage
00:18:42to keep the inside of the corner.
00:18:44I try to drive a bit slower than in this corner
00:18:48to get a better exit.
00:18:50But we are too slow.
00:18:52Again, that's what I was saying at the start
00:18:56about the car skating across the surface of the road.
00:18:59It's not generating grips.
00:19:00When you turn in, it doesn't bite.
00:19:02So if you turn into a right-hander,
00:19:03that front-left, you want it to bite in
00:19:05and just instantly turn the car.
00:19:07It's not doing that.
00:19:08They're getting understeen.
00:19:09And the cars are just skating across the top.
00:19:10That's what Hyundai had yesterday morning
00:19:13with Tierney Villanoi-Tanac.
00:19:15And you can see it.
00:19:16And coming back to the lines,
00:19:19they ain't doing 150 km an hour
00:19:21coming out of a corner.
00:19:22So Gregoire will have been able to see
00:19:24the rubber that's been left down by Josh
00:19:26where he's been running wide as well
00:19:28and understeering on the way out of the corner.
00:19:30So, yeah, that's what's going on.
00:19:33They're not generating grip.
00:19:35The car's just sat on the top of the surface of the road.
00:19:38We've seen this a lot from Hyundai throughout the year.
00:19:40Even with just water coming up.
00:19:41I think it's coming from the header tank
00:19:42of the radiator reservoir.
00:19:44And it's not a massive issue.
00:19:47But that's potentially...
00:19:50Adrian also having to catch it there.
00:19:53It's potentially...
00:19:54We don't see them wiping it
00:19:55because I think it gets quite smeary.
00:19:56Maybe there's a little bit of oil in there.
00:19:58Maybe.
00:20:0213.11.4.
00:20:03We've heard some honest answers
00:20:05from Josh and from Greg at the stop control.
00:20:08Let's find out what Adrian is going to tell us.
00:20:11He's just cleared the windscreen now
00:20:12across the stop line.
00:20:14That's what he was flicking
00:20:14from behind the steering wheel.
00:20:38Adrian, you're staring at me with a purpose.
00:20:40What was it like in there?
00:20:45Well, it's a beautiful stage.
00:20:47We have to record that the road is really beautiful.
00:20:51It's really nice to drive this road.
00:20:53And with this car, it's really fantastic.
00:20:56It's frustrating for us.
00:20:57But at the same time, it's really enjoyable.
00:21:00I think the thought in front was really pushing.
00:21:02The lines were just crazy.
00:21:03Switching out to the man who is the fastest
00:21:18within the stage right now.
00:21:19This is Takamoto Katsita.
00:21:21Up at 7.5 k's.
00:21:22He's 1.3 seconds up on Formo.
00:21:253.9 up on Tanak.
00:21:263.3 up on Neuville.
00:21:30Critically, Bex, Formo really comfortably up on
00:21:33OIT Tanak and Thierry Neuville in the stage.
00:21:36The last split to Tanak.
00:21:37Yeah.
00:21:379.7 seconds down from Formo.
00:21:42And I said it in commentary this morning
00:21:44with PK on the live TV stage.
00:21:46Why, your fans have asked,
00:21:48well, why don't they just set up
00:21:49Thierry Neuville's car and OIT Tanak's car
00:21:51with exactly the same as Formo's
00:21:53because Formo's seems to be the quickest.
00:21:55It doesn't work like that
00:21:56because it's all about driving style.
00:21:58It's all about how you drive the car.
00:22:00Adrian's setup might work for Adrian.
00:22:02You put that on Thierry's car
00:22:03and ask Thierry to drive with his driver
00:22:04so it'll be all over the place.
00:22:06So you have to find the setup that suits you.
00:22:22The Bataka's in fifth position.
00:22:24He's trying to make some inroads
00:22:25into Sammy Paiuri's time.
00:22:26It's 9.8 seconds between them.
00:22:30Sammy had a great run on the previous stage.
00:22:33And right now, Paiuri is around about 48.
00:22:37He is 4 tenths of a second slower than Thierry.
00:22:40There's not much in it at the early part of this stage.
00:22:43Let's see how that progresses.
00:22:51It looks nervous, doesn't it?
00:22:53You can, you can, if you watch it,
00:22:55you can, and watch,
00:22:56you compare where the car is on the road
00:22:58relative to OIT's hands.
00:22:59You can see it's just not gripping up, is it?
00:23:04It's just skating on the surface of the road.
00:23:07And that's where that time's lost.
00:23:08And it's so strange to say this as well
00:23:10because since I've been commentating with Ubex,
00:23:13whenever we've been at a tarmac event,
00:23:15sealed surface event with Hyundai,
00:23:16the car has been so good on the front end,
00:23:19hasn't it?
00:23:19It's been really pointy.
00:23:20And now,
00:23:25it's just not working for them.
00:23:28And Tanak 10 and a half down on Adrian Formo.
00:23:30Yeah, it's kind of a hard time to comprehend, isn't it?
00:23:3413, 21.9 for Tanak.
00:23:36It's been a bit, a little bit tricky in there for you.
00:23:46Give me an insight.
00:23:48Yeah.
00:23:51Surprisingly bad today,
00:23:53so I don't know what's happening.
00:23:54So it was bad yesterday,
00:23:56but I don't know how to,
00:23:57how to describe today then.
00:23:59So worse than it did yesterday.
00:24:01It's, yeah.
00:24:03Midpoint service coming up,
00:24:07but as we've already discussed,
00:24:08there's only a certain amount
00:24:10they can make in terms of changes
00:24:12to make it more comfortable,
00:24:13to make it more competitive.
00:24:14It's not a huge amount
00:24:15they're going to be able to do on site.
00:24:22Now, let's take a look elsewhere then.
00:24:24Nubil is going to be next to complete.
00:24:25He is faster than Tanak by 5.2 seconds,
00:24:29up at 20ks.
00:24:33I want to move to follow me.
00:24:35Sami Pirie and Takikat Sutina,
00:24:37there's not much between them.
00:24:39It was six tenths.
00:24:40Sami was slower at 7.5km.
00:24:42He's now up at 10.
00:24:43He's 1.1 down.
00:24:46Got Elvin Evans into the stage.
00:24:47He's almost waiting for Ogier
00:24:48and Robin Perer to get underway.
00:24:50I'm sorry.
00:25:20It's just an understeer followed by an oversteer, Bex.
00:25:48As soon as Thierry picked up the throttle, he was quite late on the throttle as well.
00:25:52He's having to be really patient.
00:25:57See where the time is going to be in relation to four miles.
00:26:00Obviously, we're into the red here.
00:26:03He's driving around the problem.
00:26:06You can see how late he was picking up the throttle.
00:26:08He waited until the car hooked up and then jumped on the throttle.
00:26:11Normally, that car was working on the throttle way earlier
00:26:14and just on a constant throttle, modulating it perhaps a little bit throughout the corner.
00:26:18But he's having to wait and drive around the issue.
00:26:21And, you know, three and a half seconds down to Adrian for Moe.
00:26:25But again, you could see it in the car.
00:26:26Just looked fidgety.
00:26:34Let's get Thierry's assessment of the whole loop this morning then.
00:26:36Thierry is saying in the previous one, your little internal fight with your teammates.
00:26:44It's not going too well in there.
00:26:45But you were second of the Hyundai, so that's okay.
00:26:48But Adrian, a bit quicker.
00:26:49Yeah, it's not a surprise, to be honest.
00:26:52The feeling was really bad in the stage.
00:26:54And I can't do more.
00:26:57We're trying really to put the car as far as we can to make it working well.
00:27:03But I'm on the limit of what I can do.
00:27:05I have no other different entrants available this weekend.
00:27:08So, yeah, I'm stuck with what I have.
00:27:11When you say you're trying to put the car as far as you can, what do you mean by that?
00:27:15Yeah, with the settings I have and I can choose from the package.
00:27:20I have tested everything.
00:27:21I have tried my best.
00:27:23We are not on the same setup, so I think that, yeah, it's not more than what I can do at the moment.
00:27:31So, basically, he's gone through all the springs, the dampers, the roll bars.
00:27:35They've messed around, I'm sure, with probably ride height and stuck a bit of weight on the front of the car.
00:27:41In terms of braking and all that, there's not much else they can do.
00:27:43The key thing there is what we were talking about is differentials.
00:27:46And he said he's used all the diffs.
00:27:48And he's got no options diff-wise.
00:27:50And I think that is the key part to the way the car is behaving, Bex.
00:27:57Well, let's see what the afternoon brings.
00:28:01Let's switch out to Elvin Evans now then.
00:28:04That difference, Cheney, between Elvin and Oje, is really racking up now.
00:28:0915.6 seconds.
00:28:12You know, Oje really is starting to run away from Elvin here.
00:28:18But Elvin is in good position in terms of points-wise.
00:28:21He's in third position.
00:28:23He's had a fantastic start to the season.
00:28:24He's already got a good haul of points in hand.
00:28:28Taka through then.
00:28:41It's a good time on the board.
00:28:44We've seen some confident, committed moments, certainly, from Taka out there this morning.
00:29:02He's in a brilliant position overall right now in terms of the fact he's having a bit of a battle with Sammy Pirie.
00:29:08He's in fifth position.
00:29:09He talked about yesterday, Cheney, you know, building confidence after, you know, a tough final day at Rally Kenya just a few weeks ago.
00:29:17He certainly did that throughout the day yesterday.
00:29:19Let's get, uh, his thoughts.
00:29:32Taka, in the previous one, you just said you struggled a little bit with the grip changes.
00:29:35From what I can get at, this is consistent all the way through, so you enjoy this one?
00:29:39Yeah, it's quite nice stage, uh, free drive, yeah, it's nice, uh, a bit more smooth side end, so a bit more sleepy, but it's, uh, I would say some stages are a bit tricky, but still, all of the stages are very beautiful.
00:29:54I really like it, so, yeah, I am, uh, struggling, but still very happy to be here.
00:30:00I think we could see Taka become ambassador for this rally.
00:30:03He's said such good things about the stages here so far.
00:30:07Just looking at the battle between him and Sami Pairi is, uh, going to be next to complete for us.
00:30:12Sami is four tenths of a second slower than Taka.
00:30:15Final split point.
00:30:20As we pick up Sebastian Ogier now.
00:30:23Second position overall for Seb on this final stage of the morning.
00:30:30Stretching his legs over Elvin Evans, but trying to get close to Rovampera is proving a difficult task.
00:30:37He said last night at the meet-the-crew session in the service park here that the battle would be with Elvin today.
00:30:44That Rovampera was not catchable.
00:30:47Rovampera didn't believe his words.
00:30:49No, I, I believe Sebastian Ogier's words.
00:30:52Yeah.
00:30:53When you look at the times, you've got to, because Rovampera seems to be in a little bit of a world of his own.
00:30:59Well, and it's, it's, you know, that, as, that, as well as the 28 and a half second buffer, he's got ahead of him.
00:31:04You can't, on tarmac, you've got to be going at warp speed to try and, to try and find that kind of time over somebody, haven't you?
00:31:10So I think something has to go wrong for Calais, and then, and then it opens a window of opportunity for Sebastian Ogier.
00:31:19But on sheer pace alone, I can't see it, I can't see it happening.
00:31:22Sami coming back to Taka, Taka was really tidy through this final part of the, uh, the stage.
00:31:52Oh, just seven tenths, so close between them, though.
00:31:55You know, Sami's having a really good run here.
00:31:58So ahead of Takamoto Katsuta overall now by 9.1 seconds.
00:32:05Second fastest through.
00:32:22Sami, you're asking me the time, looking at it.
00:32:490.7 down on Takamoto, that's really encouraging for the limited experience you have on this surface, in this car.
00:32:56Yeah, it's, it's quite nice.
00:32:58Uh, some really nice stages.
00:33:01Um, but again, like, some of the pace is way, way too careful.
00:33:05But, uh, quite long stage in, uh, hot conditions, so, uh, trying to manage this, uh, tyre as well, so, not so straightforward, but not, not bad.
00:33:15I love the fact that he was straight there, he just wanted to know, Taka's time, straight away.
00:33:22Susie crossed the line.
00:33:23I'm shaking my head here in commentary.
00:33:25Chenny, I'm looking at the times of this pair.
00:33:27Kali Rovenpera at Yoni Halton, 2.6 seconds, actually, forget that, 4.2 seconds faster than Ogier at 10 kilometers into the stage.
00:33:40Absolutely immense times coming through from Rovenpera here.
00:33:43Yeah, and it's all, it's all just coming so naturally.
00:33:47He's not, in his head, he won't feel like he's taking risks, big risks at all.
00:33:51He's just, you know, just getting in the car, driving it, driving with what he's got underneath him.
00:33:56The car's working well, and we all know how good Kali is.
00:33:59But I don't think he's, he's under any pressure, doesn't feel under any pressure to, to, oh, I've got to, I've got to find a couple of extra tenths of kilometer.
00:34:05Really lean on stuff.
00:34:08He's just driving the car, managing the situation, and everything is just working together.
00:34:13You know, he's just, he's just kept it simple.
00:34:16It's an absolute masterclass, really, from Rovenpera, our double world champion.
00:34:20He's not had the best starts to the 2025 season.
00:34:23He's certainly turning it around here.
00:34:35Potentially that lead is going to be over 30 seconds.
00:34:43It is going to be over 30 seconds.
00:34:44Keeps this up.
00:34:47Come the end of the stage.
00:34:49Elvin carried really good speed into that, really good.
00:34:54Shaking her head.
00:34:55A little shake of the head there from, from Elvin.
00:34:58He was down on the splits all the way through the stage, relative to Takamoto, Katsuta, and Sami Pairi.
00:35:05And Elvin, three-tenths off, Takas benchmark, and that's about to be beaten, I suspect, by Sebastian Auger.
00:35:18He's here from Elvin.
00:35:19Elvin, I'm scrolling through the times, you might want to have a little bit of a look.
00:35:41Behind you is green, which is not what you wanted me to tell you.
00:35:44No, it's not a surprise, to be honest.
00:35:46I'm not...
00:35:47The car was working fine, but I wasn't happy with how I drove in there.
00:35:52So, there's no excuses.
00:35:54It's fine margins, though, isn't it?
00:35:55No, it is.
00:35:57But, uh, that's the end of the game.
00:36:02You know, when we were up wrecking the stage on Tuesday, all of the...
00:36:05Where Sebastian Auger is right now, completely shrouded in the cloud cover that we saw on the previous stage.
00:36:11He walked the way up the hillside, right at the top there, full fog,
00:36:15and then down to around about this point where it started to clear away.
00:36:20So, we're kind of lucky today we've got nice sunshine out there.
00:36:23Seb's dropped right back, Bex, in that three kilometres.
00:36:27He's gone from two tenths up on Takah to 1.1 down.
00:36:35Meanwhile, this man, Kalorov Impera, just continuing to extend his lead.
00:36:38It's 4.5 seconds up on Takamoto Katsuta, 4.8 up on Ogier at 15 kilometres.
00:36:46There it is on your screens.
00:37:02When Ruben Impera is feeling comfortable, when he's feeling happy,
00:37:05and he's completely in the zone, which he is right now.
00:37:08He is racking up stage wins consistently, showing us a brilliant performance.
00:37:15He's really hard to beat, and pushing that lead up now to over 30 seconds.
00:37:20It's just...
00:37:21It's just so smooth.
00:37:23But he can't really rein it back in, then.
00:37:25You know, he's got to keep at the pace that he's at.
00:37:27He's not taking any risks, but this is what he's telling us, Elise.
00:37:30He's not taking any risks. We're not seeing any risks.
00:37:33You could... Yeah, you'd be able to see it.
00:37:35There's barely any opposite look going on in that car.
00:37:38The car is just working for him, and he is...
00:37:40He's in the flow, isn't he?
00:37:41And he's just... He's just water.
00:37:43It's just working. It's just water running down a stream.
00:37:46It's just happening.
00:37:47And that's exactly where Calais needs to be.
00:37:52Seb pulls it back.
00:37:53Break.
00:37:55Two-tenths of a second, then.
00:37:59Up on Katzuta.
00:38:0213.06.2.
00:38:03Thank you, extended.
00:38:04120.000.
00:38:06Fast is 5.2.
00:38:08He's extra 1.2-1.
00:38:15Completelyhem?
00:38:17H happily, our spirits潮 Well.
00:38:20He's busy.
00:38:21When comes in the room, our spirits are under our第一aş.
00:38:21And whites, the birds are capaz of a останов,
00:38:23I know you never ever give up on a fight, but rapid Robin Perra behind is taking some
00:38:34big time out of everybody.
00:38:35He's 5.6 up at the last minute I have on you.
00:38:38It doesn't really matter anymore.
00:38:40We are anyway too far away, but yeah, well done again.
00:38:44For me in this one, I was happy with the car, but just not enough commitment.
00:38:49This very fast section with massive drop on the side.
00:38:54Maybe a little bit too old for that one.
00:38:56I was about to say, you're going to go a bit too old now, you're looking at the edges.
00:38:59Yeah, this one has some scary path for sure.
00:39:04You know, we were lucky enough to drive it at just, you know, very slow speed so we could
00:39:08take in the surroundings and yeah, the drops off to the side are absolutely massive.
00:39:14It's like a huge volcanic crater which is off to the right-hand side of this stage.
00:39:21It does sound silly and I know Seb saying that with a big smiley face, but there is an element
00:39:26of truth to it as well, Bex.
00:39:28The older you get, the more you realise and recognise stuff like that.
00:39:32When you're young, you're sort of fearless and don't think about those sorts of things.
00:39:36And I know Seb was smiling when he said it, but there will have been an element of truth
00:39:40in what he was saying there as you know, he noticed those big drop offs and going,
00:39:44I'm not sure I fancy that.
00:39:48I'm loving it though.
00:39:49I'm loving the honesty that we're having from the drivers out there today.
00:39:52It's great and isn't it so good that we're hearing from them again.
00:39:56Absolutely.
00:39:57The landscape changed completely in Kenya and it's so nice to hear from the drivers.
00:40:01It's such a special thing that, it's the one motorsport in the world that literally
00:40:05ten seconds after they've been driving as fast as they possibly can, you can slap a microphone
00:40:10in front of them and get their thoughts and that's something we can never take for granted.
00:40:15And I'm so pleased that it's all been sorted out.
00:40:18Yeah, I think everybody is because we do want to hear from them.
00:40:21We need the stories from the stage and we're certainly getting them this weekend.
00:40:33What is this time going to be?
00:40:38It's been a superb run in here from Kalirov and Perra.
00:40:42It is a stormer of a stage time to complete the loop this morning.
00:40:47To extend his advantage to 36.9 seconds now.
00:40:52Kalirov and Perra 8.4 seconds faster than Sebastian Ogier.
00:40:56It's a pure masterclass from our double world champion this weekend.
00:41:00Brilliant stuff.
00:41:01That car's working so well.
00:41:02The direction change off that long right hander into the left right.
00:41:05Everybody else was getting a bit of a wobble on.
00:41:08These two, the cars didn't it.
00:41:09She looked so planted.
00:41:10She went left to right and there was no correction at all.
00:41:14I think Kale will be happy with that one.
00:41:16If he's not, he should be.
00:41:18Kale yesterday.
00:41:19I didn't know whether to call you.
00:41:20Quick Kale.
00:41:21Racey Robin Perra.
00:41:22But now it's rapid Robin Perra.
00:41:25Over eight seconds faster than anyone else.
00:41:27Did it feel that good?
00:41:29Yeah, it felt really nice.
00:41:31This stage was like more like yesterday.
00:41:35More racing and nice flow.
00:41:38So yeah, the driving and the car works really well.
00:41:42We have really good basements also.
00:41:43So yeah, I was just enjoying.
00:41:45I didn't even push.
00:41:46And the speed is good because yeah, everything works better.
00:41:50I wouldn't go back to the media zone and tell your rivals you didn't really push.
00:41:55They might quit.
00:41:56Yeah.
00:41:57Well, like I've said many times on this kind of road, it's not about pushing.
00:42:01It's about having the flow.
00:42:02And yeah, it seems that everything is working well.
00:42:05So it was a nice day.
00:42:08I think we mentioned the flow.
00:42:10He's definitely in it.
00:42:11Yeah.
00:42:12And long may that continue.
00:42:13It's a beautiful thing to watch out there.
00:42:17It's all about just letting it happen.
00:42:20It's not fighting the car.
00:42:22If Kale was pushing, he'd probably go slower.
00:42:26I know that sounds silly, but the car would be moving around more.
00:42:29He'd be scrubbing off speed.
00:42:30It is exactly what he said.
00:42:32It's about the flow.
00:42:33And I know it's a bit Bruce Lee, but it's being water.
00:42:36It is being water, just letting it happen and going with it.
00:42:41And that's exactly what Kale is doing at the moment.
00:42:44You can watch it.
00:42:45You can see it.
00:42:46Why did you have to put that image into my head?
00:42:48That's all I'm going to think about now is Bruce Lee.
00:42:50Good lad, Bruce Lee.
00:42:52Good lad, Bruce Lee.
00:42:53WRC2 is where we're at right now.
00:43:02And if you have been following it, you will well know that Johan Rossell is leading the category after eight stages.
00:43:09Alejandro Cachon is in second position.
00:43:14Gryzin is in third.
00:43:16It is Gryzin right now who's the faster of the three of them that are within the stage.
00:43:22Gryzin desperately trying to make some inroads into Cachon's time, but it's difficult.
00:43:27He was at 1.1.1 seconds faster, but only a tenth of a second faster now at 10 kilometers.
00:43:35Cachon though.
00:43:37Up at 15 k's, Chenny's two seconds up on Rossell.
00:43:41Yeah, I think this is the sort of stage of suit Alejandro because it's all about the local knowledge.
00:43:47He can, he'll be able to use that.
00:43:49And again, it's quite, it's the surface of the road's quite slippery.
00:43:54It's very, very smooth and he'll know it.
00:43:56He knows these roads and it does make such a difference.
00:44:00There'll be some of these stages that he could drive without the pace notes.
00:44:05He knows them that well.
00:44:06So he's using all that local knowledge.
00:44:09And also, he's quick.
00:44:12He is very quick.
00:44:13He's very quick.
00:44:14That needs to be said as well.
00:44:16Yeah, he's got the local knowledge of all that, but he is, he's properly quick.
00:44:23First time through then, it's 13.32.8 for Johan.
00:44:27Let's see what Alejandro does behind.
00:44:29He's 2.6 seconds faster now at 17.5 k's.
00:44:34Let's jump on board.
00:44:37It's a great battle we're seeing here for all positions in WRC2.
00:44:45He's going to extend that lead, Bex.
00:45:02The car's working well.
00:45:03When I look at the split times for you compared to Alejandro, he's quicker by 2.6.
00:45:08Are you now managing this or is he just genuinely faster?
00:45:12No, I think it's normal.
00:45:13No, I think it's normal.
00:45:14I am less confident compared to the other stage.
00:45:19I don't know the beginning and yes, but no, it's quite okay.
00:45:25I'm really interested to see this next split.
00:45:30He's committed.
00:45:31Yeah, there you go.
00:45:323.7.
00:45:33You could see it.
00:45:34He's committed.
00:45:35He's going to take a chunk out of Johan Rossell.
00:45:38Here's 18.9 seconds between them.
00:45:40What can he do now, this final sector towards the end?
00:45:45Everything's been really positive.
00:45:47The inputs he's been putting into the car.
00:45:49He's been braking, confidently getting back on the power and keeping his foot in.
00:45:53Yeah, it's working well for him.
00:45:58Yeah, Gryzin's 1.2 seconds behind Alejandro up at 15 kilometers.
00:46:05But a little bit quicker than Rossell, but eight tenths.
00:46:10This is 5 sent harrow and
00:46:137-30 left.
00:46:24The 1st์ left.
00:46:25And the eye IS 40 right.
00:46:2730 right.
00:46:2994 left.
00:46:31And the center appears.
00:46:35The light受kaner will prove the benefits.
00:46:39We're almost there, just a couple more corners, and we'll see what this time difference is
00:47:01going to be in the backpuff of the lead in WRC2.
00:47:04It's going to be bigger, he's definitely, I'm sure he's going to have extended it, he's
00:47:08been really committed through this last section of the stage, that car's been working well,
00:47:11he's confident with what he's got underneath him.
00:47:14He's taken 4.1 seconds out of Rossell, which means the difference between Rossell and
00:47:19Catch-On now, first and second in WRC2 is 14.8 seconds.
00:47:38We'll see where Nikolai factors in, because he's right in the middle of the two drivers
00:47:50in terms of the split points right now.
00:47:57Alejandro, that's a great stage time, 4.1 quicker than Johan Rossell, you're starting
00:48:03to put some pressure on him.
00:48:05Yeah, it's not an easy stage, because it's quite long, the temperature now is quite hot,
00:48:13so at the start of the stage, I was thinking that maybe I was too careful or too slow, but
00:48:19I tried to manage the tyre, then here at the end there are some fast sections, so there I
00:48:27tried to push, I think it's a clean stage.
00:48:30Yeah, no one's going to be that time either, Bex, I'm pretty confident about that, because
00:48:35he was so clean at the end.
00:48:37Okay, no one's going to be.
00:48:58The last spot to have for Nikolai is two seconds off the pace of Alejandro, but he is faster than Rossell by 1.7.
00:49:28A6, 50, left 6, 100, right, 90, right 7, 30, left 6, left, and right 7, back, 80, 80, right 8, 150, 50, left 2, and left 8.
00:49:52A little bit of a lock-up there.
00:49:57Yeah.
00:49:57I was going to say, what do you notice?
00:49:59Because we were on board with Cachon here.
00:50:01The differences with Gryazin, or is it just too faint to notice?
00:50:06There's just little differences.
00:50:08Where Cachon was picking up the throttle, it was really early on, it was carrying really good speed.
00:50:13The Skoda just looks a little bit more nervous, a bit more fidgety.
00:50:17It's not massive, is it?
00:50:19It's minimal stuff, but it's making a difference time-wise.
00:50:21It all adds up, of course it does.
00:50:24And Cachon was just really clean and smooth.
00:50:29There was just that little bit less drama there with Cachon than there was with Nikolai,
00:50:34and that's where that 2.1 seconds has come in.
00:50:3713.30.8 there in the time for Gryazin,
00:50:41which means he's now 22.6 behind Alejandro Cachon, 37.4 behind the lead.
00:50:47Something going on with Lindholm on my splits, Bex, he's dropped right back.
00:50:51Yes, he has.
00:50:54We'll see if we can find out what that is.
00:50:55The first time I've seen you on this whole rally, in fact, but what was that stage like?
00:50:58It's really a really nice stage.
00:51:02Not easy in the middle and the last part, but the first part is really nice to drive.
00:51:06Yeah, what is going on with Emil Lindholm, I wonder.
00:51:19We haven't got an onboard with him.
00:51:20We'll have to wait until he gets to the end of the stage to find out.
00:51:23He is going to be the next driver to complete,
00:51:25but as you noticed on the splits from 12.5km, he's already started to lose time.
00:51:3545.1 seconds down from Alejandro at 17.5km.
00:51:39So he's losing 15 seconds every 2.5km, so he's losing 15 seconds every 2.5km.
00:51:59So is it, has he hit something or has he had a D beat or something like that?
00:52:12We'll find out.
00:52:13Well, it's interesting.
00:52:14This is, you know, the section of stage we've just gone through with Leo Rossell.
00:52:18There's quite a bit of gravel on one of the cuts.
00:52:20There's some loose rocks around as well, you know.
00:52:23They're not huge, but if they're a sharp, nasty rock,
00:52:26you hit them the wrong way, you can do damage.
00:52:29Yeah, seen it happen in the past.
00:52:32They're very strong, very strong, these Pankuk tyres.
00:52:37Again, consistent 15-second loss, Bex.
00:52:40Lindholm's now at 20km, 17.5km.
00:52:43It's 45.1, 2.5km further up the road.
00:52:46He's a minute down, so...
00:52:48But first visual we're going to get is stop control with Julian.
00:52:52So as soon as he completes, we'll see if we can take a look around that car.
00:52:55To drag a puncture, though, to drag a puncture 10km is a long way to do it.
00:53:15So I think maybe there's...
00:53:17I don't know, we'll have to see.
00:53:18It'll be there shortly.
00:53:23I think it'll probably stop and change it.
00:53:26And also, it's 15-second consistent time loss.
00:53:29A tyre would normally, if it's punctured, it gets worse and worse and worse and worse.
00:53:34So you'd expect the time loss to continue to increase.
00:53:38And it's not been doing, has it?
00:53:39So we'll see.
00:53:41Still no completed time yet for Lindholm.
00:54:00Léo Rosser, remember, it's just 5.8 seconds adrift of podium.
00:54:25He's trying to do everything he can to get closer to Nikolai Gryzin.
00:54:30But he is slower than Gryzin by 1.1 seconds at the penultimate split.
00:54:35One and a half at the final split.
00:54:36And Lindholm has completed.
00:54:38He's lost over a minute.
00:54:44So we'll be able to find out what's going on shortly when he gets to the stop control.
00:54:48There he is.
00:54:49Front left.
00:54:50We are rear left.
00:54:55Rear left, there you go.
00:55:01Yeah, frustrating.
00:55:02First one we've seen all weekend as well.
00:55:04We don't know the circumstances under which it happened.
00:55:06Or how it happened.
00:55:15I mean, I can see what's happened.
00:55:17How did it happen?
00:55:17Where did it happen?
00:55:18I lost the words, really.
00:55:21No idea.
00:55:23Just around 10Ks after the start, I started feeling some movement from the rear.
00:55:30Then more and more, and finally tied him off the rim and recited him.
00:55:35Absolutely no idea.
00:55:37That's hard.
00:55:40Huge shame because he was in a massive battle.
00:55:42He was in fifth position overall, only four tenths behind this man, Léo Rossell.
00:55:47So yeah, gutting for Emil Lindholm.
00:55:49They've been a strong performance so far, but he will drop right back down the standings now.
00:55:53Still into the green here, the yellow board's up and coming, red board's not too far away.
00:56:15Four seconds off the pace, right at the front.
00:56:21So third fastest, he's quicker than his brother, Johan Rossell, by just a tenth of a second.
00:56:26And the distance between him now and Nikolai Gryasin, so the distance between him and third position overall is 7.7 seconds.
00:56:36Leo, that's another stage turn.
00:56:57How was it in there for you?
00:56:58Yes, I'm OK.
00:57:00A lot of movement with my tyres, but it's the same for all.
00:57:05And honestly, it's a good morning, and we'll see for afternoon.
00:57:14He's happy with his morning then.
00:57:18Let's take a look then at the overall classification after nine completed stages.
00:57:23Khalil Rovampera's lead is now 36.9 seconds over Sébastien Ogier.
00:57:29Elvin Evans in third is 16.1 adrift of 7.53 seconds adrift of Rovampera.
00:57:35Sammy Pyrie is in fourth position and ahead of Taka Katsuta by 9.1 seconds.
00:57:41Edrian Formeau is in sixth position overall, 13.7 seconds adrift of Taka.
00:57:47Then we have Neuville and Tanak and Munster, then Rossell.
00:57:50OK, let's head out into the service park.
00:57:53We're heading now down to Kiri Bloor.
00:57:55He's going to be chatting to engineer Kevin Streuth.
00:58:03Indeed, I am.
00:58:04Kevin Streuth with me right now, chief engineer for Toyota.
00:58:07Now we're going to get straight down to business because we don't have that much time.
00:58:09It's a fantastic weekend for you so far.
00:58:12What are you doing so well that the others are missing?
00:58:15It's very difficult to know, to be honest.
00:58:17We are focused on our job, but we knew that coming here in Canaria for the first time,
00:58:21new rally, a very long time for the WRC to don't be on an event, very purely tarmac.
00:58:27It's like maybe Catalonia 22, the last one.
00:58:30So very long time.
00:58:31And we knew that on this kind of situation, the balance of the car, the setup will take
00:58:35quite a big part of the performance of the weekend, but also, and obviously the new tire
00:58:41this weekend was a key.
00:58:42So we work quite a lot with the base setup and try to make the car working with that.
00:58:47So we are working hard.
00:58:49We were confident before the weekend, but obviously we never think to have that much
00:58:53gap with the other.
00:58:54Yeah, I'm sure.
00:58:55Now you've managed to get your head around the perfect balance between the car and the
00:58:59tire situation.
00:58:59How did that come about because there hasn't been that much time to work with these tires?
00:59:04I would say that you start with the base and you walk around.
00:59:07I am not so sure we are perfect, but we are trying to maximize and to try to get the maximum
00:59:11out of the tire.
00:59:13So for sure has been a work to try to define what we have done well in the previous rally
00:59:18like this.
00:59:19Like I say, Catalonia 22 was our last one.
00:59:22We start from here and we walk around and try to understand what is a tire, what our driver
00:59:26was needed.
00:59:26So yeah, nothing really special, I would say.
00:59:30Now the tire attempts that are coming back from your guys out there comparatively to Toyota
00:59:35are a good percentage higher.
00:59:37That means obviously you're managing to get them working a lot more.
00:59:40What are the differences that allow that to happen?
00:59:44Well, I think it's a complete package.
00:59:45How you can manage to make those tires working to be on a good range from the start to the
00:59:49end of the stage.
00:59:50It's a lot of small details.
00:59:52There is nothing really big.
00:59:53We didn't come here with any big evolution on the car.
00:59:55We never come here with some joker.
00:59:57We knew that coming in the 2025 season will be a key around the tire.
01:00:02So we wanted to keep our car simple and to try to work on this big topic of tire around.
01:00:07It's very difficult to bring anything very new, very big on the car at the moment because
01:00:12you learn so much with the tire and it's a big part.
01:00:15And as you know, the limitation of the test may quite tricky to bring something.
01:00:19So it's just working on the base and try to adapt the tire.
01:00:22And I think it's been working well until now.
01:00:24Now, we've obviously heard a lot of talk at Hyundai about these homologated parts, but
01:00:30basically there's not a huge amount that you can change.
01:00:32But what are the differences, if the big differences that you can make with what you've got?
01:00:37Well, there is still option.
01:00:38The damper are still possible.
01:00:40After I don't want to comment what the other are doing.
01:00:43What I know is that they are coming here with quite a lot of new joker.
01:00:46So they are coming here with some new parts.
01:00:48So difficult to know.
01:00:50I don't want to comment is on their side.
01:00:52But we, like I say, we are focused on our side, on our work.
01:00:56We want to keep a simple car, base car that we had on the previous year.
01:01:00And it's just a simple evolution and working on some setup, fine tuning for the tires.
01:01:04Now, you've got a hard task in terms of your team because you've got some incredible drivers,
01:01:09some very different driving styles between Calais and Sébastien Auger.
01:01:12But also, you've got a big focus on Elvin Evans now because that is, at the moment,
01:01:17your championship title sort of hopes that he's leading the charge.
01:01:20How do you manage working all of those different setups and how much information do perhaps Calais
01:01:25and Seb share?
01:01:26Well, I think on our team, we have always been open in everything, in strategy, like in setup.
01:01:30And we are all discussing.
01:01:31They are making the difference on the stage, but they have all the same information.
01:01:35They know exactly what setup they will start every stage, to be fair.
01:01:37So it's just very open, very discussing to try to improve the car.
01:01:41Even yesterday, with a very good day, we sit all together and try to understand what we can do better today.
01:01:47Seb was still exchanging with Calais this morning to try to improve the car.
01:01:50So it's very, very open between all our guys.
01:01:53They work hard to make the car better.
01:01:55And after, the best makes the difference is the stage.
01:01:57That's it.
01:01:57OK, well, it's certainly working.
01:01:59I really do appreciate your time.
01:02:00Thank you so much.
01:02:01OK, well, there's plenty more stages coming your way.
01:02:03We've got four stages this afternoon.
01:02:05In between that, we have the Midday Media Zone.
01:02:07We'll be back with you in about an hour and 45 minutes or so.
01:02:10With that, we'll be hearing from the drivers.
01:02:12OK, well, from us now, it is goodbye.
01:02:15We'll see you on the other side of this.
01:02:17Make sure you join us in about an hour and 45 minutes.
01:02:20We'll be waiting for you, man.
01:02:50It is a brave new world for the WRC.
01:03:14We return to Spain with a first ever visit
01:03:17to the rugged beauty of Gran Canaria.
01:03:20It's joined the top tier of rallying for the first time
01:03:23and it's been quite some debut for this treacherous
01:03:26Tarmac Challenge so far.
01:03:28We've moved on to the Saturday afternoon loop
01:03:31on this crucial second day of action
01:03:33and the second pass of the stunning Moya Gouda test
01:03:36that provided such impressive entertainment
01:03:39earlier on this morning.
01:03:43And the rally Islas Canarias marks our fourth
01:03:47of a freshened up and extended 14 round calendar this year.
01:03:51The Spanish island one of three new events
01:03:54with Paraguay and Saudi Arabia also to come later in the year.
01:03:58This round is followed by our traditional tour
01:04:01of the European gravel classics through the spring
01:04:04and summer months with Estonia also back in the line-up.
01:04:08The focus right now though is very much on the Canary Islands
01:04:12in this first full asphalt round of the season.
01:04:15The rally one cars in full low slung Tarmac hugging spec
01:04:18is some sight to see on our first pure Tarmac action.
01:04:23And the relentlessly rapid roads of the breathtaking Grand Canaria
01:04:28mountains were familiar territory for the M Sport boys,
01:04:31both Josh McAleen and Greg Munster in previous experience,
01:04:35but tackling them in a rally one car proved a big challenge,
01:04:38both struggling for handling and pace on day one.
01:04:44Well Hyundai could actually boast a former Islas Canarias winner
01:04:47in Adrian Formo, albeit his 2020 victory coming on a rare wet weekend.
01:04:52The newly married Frenchman running fourth early on,
01:04:55but the honeymoon didn't last long with a steady dip in pace
01:04:59as the day progressed.
01:05:04For much of the day, Hyundai's new boy was outperforming
01:05:06his illustrious team-mates, but try as they might,
01:05:09the I-20 sweet spot set-up would prove elusive for all three.
01:05:13Overhauling Formo later in the day was as good as it got for Ointanac,
01:05:16while small improvements were found in the afternoon for the world champion too.
01:05:20Thierry Neuville at least able to attack
01:05:23and pass both his team-mates sixth place though,
01:05:26was clearly not worthy of the Belgian's talents.
01:05:31Maximising the grip from the new hard compound hand cooks
01:05:33for these unique stages was proving key,
01:05:36and it looked as though Toyota had been coming here for years.
01:05:39Even young Sammy Pirie was getting in on the axe,
01:05:42climbing to fourth by the end of the day.
01:05:44Grand Canary is also renowned for its changeable microclimate,
01:05:49damp roads, mist and fog, one moment and bright sunshine the next.
01:05:53One constant though was the enduring hot streak,
01:05:56the championship leader Elfin Evans running third for much of the day,
01:05:59despite his feeling fading as the stages wound down.
01:06:02And it's also welcome back Sebastian Ogier to WRC action.
01:06:09The allure of Canary's infamous reputation too strong for the eight-time champion to resist.
01:06:15As ever, the Frenchman's enduring class saw him quickly up to speed,
01:06:19but even he couldn't match the leader.
01:06:23Because after a strangely subdued start to the season,
01:06:26Kala Rovenpera is back with a bang,
01:06:28immediately at ease with the fast sweeping stages
01:06:31and no issue adapting to the hand-cooked hearts.
01:06:34It would be a clean sweep of six stage wins
01:06:37and a handy healthy lead already with just one day in the books.
01:06:45At that stage, the two-time champion
01:06:47held a lead of almost half a minute over Ogier
01:06:50with Evans 9.6 seconds further back.
01:06:52And what a day it was for Toyota.
01:06:55A complete lockout of the top five spots
01:06:58with Takakatsuta in fifth,
01:07:00the leader Hyundai Thierry Neuville over a minute off the pace.
01:07:05And we are three stages into Saturday again.
01:07:07There were misty conditions at times in the early runs.
01:07:11Formo wisely switching back to his original base setup
01:07:15that had served him so well yesterday morning,
01:07:18promptly moving back past his two teammates
01:07:20to sixth at the end of the day.
01:07:23No change out front though,
01:07:25with a championship leader still in a comfortable third.
01:07:28Evans though becoming increasingly disheartened
01:07:30at his inability to match the pace of the leading pair.
01:07:34Oshier, meanwhile, continued his ongoing efforts to break the stranglehold of stage wins
01:07:44from the rally leader.
01:07:46The changeable time-ac surface mid grip levels remain tricky to judge.
01:07:50The Monte Carlo winner though getting closer twice in a row,
01:07:55a second or less slower than Rovanpera.
01:07:58The Finn though seems determined to continue his lockout of fastest times
01:08:03just to underline his dominance.
01:08:05An incredible run through the 23-kilometer stage nine
01:08:08saw the two-time champion smash the rest of the field by eight and a half seconds.
01:08:13Rovanpera marches on then.
01:08:17The Flying Fins lead now approaching 40 seconds.
01:08:20Evans in a somewhat lonely third place with just over nine seconds
01:08:23between Pirie and Takakatsuta in the fight for fourth.
01:08:27Formo back up to sixth.
01:08:29They're doing his best to stay in touch with the back-marking Toyotas.
01:08:32So we return to the stunning Moya Gouda stage.
01:08:39It is today's longest challenge at just over 24 kilometers.
01:08:42It's one of the event's most impressive sequences,
01:08:45beginning in the heart of the picturesque village of Moya itself.
01:08:49A crowd-pleasing donut early on, round and round about.
01:08:52It's a long fast, hugely varied with, as ever, multiple grip changes.
01:08:57Demands a good tyre strategy.
01:08:59We saw that early on on these new hard compound Hankooks.
01:09:03It ends near Fagajesto, a true test of consistency and nerve.
01:09:08Well, we had overcast conditions earlier in the day,
01:09:10with some mist and cloud around, but a bit of blue sky starting to appear,
01:09:14as you'd expect.
01:09:15Temperatures have increased a few degrees, 21 degrees there.
01:09:18We're hearing a ground temperature of 31 Celsius.
01:09:22And we caught up with some of the drivers to tell us a bit more
01:09:25about this one earlier in the week.
01:09:29It's quite an interesting stage because we start in the middle of the town
01:09:34with a roundabout and after we go in a more, I would say, green stage,
01:09:41where there was like a big cliff on the left and then quite high altitude,
01:09:46so in some places.
01:09:47Moya is actually a pretty difficult stage in a way.
01:09:51It has a good flow to it all the time, but I think it's one of the states
01:09:55where we maybe have the most grip changes, a little bit different surfaces
01:10:00and, yeah, going between the trees, sometimes in the open.
01:10:04It makes a big difference always to the grip and how the tarmac is,
01:10:07so I think that's going to be the biggest challenge of that stage.
01:10:10Yeah, it's another one to keep them on their toes.
01:10:14And let's see what happens with those temperatures increasing.
01:10:16This is our start list then for this afternoon.
01:10:19Josh McAleen, Greg Munster leading us away.
01:10:21Then come the three Toyotas with Formo overhauling his two teammates today.
01:10:25It's a nice little battle to keep an eye on between Katsuta and Pairi
01:10:29with Evans doing what he needs to do as the championship leader.
01:10:32Seb Eugier is continuing that quest to try and get a stage win,
01:10:37at the very least, let's say, from his young teammates.
01:10:40Yaren Brassell leads the charge in the WRC 2 runners.
01:10:44Josh McAleen, Owen Tracy, a difficult one for them today.
01:10:47Motorsport Island Rally Academy backed, of course, and Cheney alongside me.
01:10:52It was an interesting one, wasn't it, earlier on this morning?
01:10:56And as we saw yesterday, a bit of a talking point then to come
01:10:59with the changing conditions that we're expecting to see
01:11:01with those temperatures increasing.
01:11:04Yeah, I mean, look, and the teams have been doing some significant changes.
01:11:08I know there's been some big changes to the M-Sport Puma that Josh is in now,
01:11:13just to try and get the car to work or to really make it lean on the car,
01:11:17to make the tyre bite into the surface of the road.
01:11:21Yeah, I mean, at the moment, for M-Sport, for Hyundai,
01:11:26it is a bit of a glorified test session, this rally now, isn't it?
01:11:29And, you know, there's no point making any bones about it.
01:11:32That's the situation that we are in.
01:11:34So now, yeah, the engineers have tried some fairly radical stuff
01:11:38because that car just wasn't working this morning.
01:11:41Yeah, I think Tanak made the classic quote in that midday media zone.
01:11:44He said they've tried all the reasonable changes
01:11:47and it's time to start attempting some unreasonable ones
01:11:50because such is the breadth of the changes they've all tried.
01:11:55I think Thierry Neuville at least is sort of happy
01:11:57that he's got the best of what he can get out of this weekend at least.
01:12:00Let's get more from him later as we watch Greg Munster away.
01:12:03And just a reminder, you've got Greg in ninth place overall.
01:12:09A long way adrift of Oytanak there.
01:12:11It seems strange to say Oytanak in eighth place.
01:12:14This is a man that we know can fight for victory on this surface.
01:12:19And Josh McAleon, he's still trying to fight his way,
01:12:22believe it or not, past the two lead WRC two runners,
01:12:25Yoram Russell and Alejandro Cachon, the leading local driver,
01:12:29with Josh there in 12th place.
01:12:31Here's that doughnut.
01:12:32Can't quite see from the heli above.
01:12:35It's actually kind of a downhill run into it.
01:12:37It's pretty spectacular little amphitheatre down there.
01:12:46Yeah, there has been a lot of head scratching going on, hasn't there,
01:12:50for a lot of the team.
01:12:51Well, certainly a lot of the team, certainly M Sport and Hyundai,
01:12:54as you say, it's been a difficult one.
01:12:57Yeah, I mean, the main talking point of the entire weekend
01:13:00has been trying to get the hard compound hand-cooked tyre and the car that it's married to,
01:13:08to work together.
01:13:09And that's now what M Sport and Hyundai are trying their very best to make happen.
01:13:15I think Hyundai have got their answers as to why it's not working.
01:13:19And I don't think they're going to be able to fully solve the problem,
01:13:23to unleash certainly the full potential of the car.
01:13:25Over at M Sport, they're not entirely sure as to why it's not coming together yet.
01:13:29And we just had that issue of, like I said, the car, the tyre not biting into the surface,
01:13:33just skating across the top of it.
01:13:35And as a result, you just end up with loads and loads of understeer on the way into the corner.
01:13:41And then once the front does eventually give you a bit of grip,
01:13:44you pick up the throttle and the back of the car starts to slide.
01:13:47So it's just understeer followed by oversteer.
01:13:50And that's what they're trying to do now.
01:13:52They're trying to force the tyre to bite into the surface of the road.
01:13:57Yeah, they are all beautiful, clean stages there.
01:14:00That was one of the kind of rarer corner cuts.
01:14:03We don't normally see much of that on this event.
01:14:06It's a beautiful, clean, sweeping tarmac.
01:14:11Head to the lead Hyundai then, Adrian Formeau and Alex Correa.
01:14:20I was thought he was going to stop for a second there as he got away,
01:14:22but no harm done.
01:14:23Interesting comments from Thierry Neville, wasn't there,
01:14:25in the media zone this afternoon?
01:14:27We know that they've had these obviously changing different setups
01:14:30and they've got this issue that the base setup with, you know,
01:14:33the things they can't change in the diff settings, et cetera.
01:14:36But it sounds like Formeau, which you didn't realize,
01:14:38actually has a different base setup.
01:14:40The two, certainly to Thierry, I don't know about Tanak,
01:14:42but that was an interesting comment from Thierry, wasn't it?
01:14:45That it does explain some of the differences we have seen.
01:14:48Yeah, for sure.
01:14:49I mean, Formeau has had the upper hand Hyundai, hasn't he?
01:14:52And it looks to have had a more stable car,
01:14:54or at least a car that gets those tyres, particularly the front,
01:14:57switched on a little bit better.
01:14:58It's been a bit more balanced, hasn't there?
01:14:59And Hyundai themselves have been fairly vocal about it,
01:15:02that in the drivetrain of the car is where they think the problem lies.
01:15:07And Thierry Neville alluded to, at the midday zone, as you said,
01:15:12that Adrian is perhaps running slightly different transmission settings
01:15:15or diff settings, and I don't know what that is.
01:15:17Personally, I don't know.
01:15:18And that's very unlikely they're going to share that information with me.
01:15:21But it's the first time we'd heard that.
01:15:23So, yeah, I mean, it would explain why perhaps Adrian's just had a little bit of an advantage.
01:15:30Yeah, and it was also interesting, wasn't it?
01:15:32Because they obviously came here.
01:15:33It was a question I asked Thierry that with the base set up,
01:15:36they obviously didn't do it deliberately.
01:15:38They had tested.
01:15:39I know that Thierry ran and Sierra Morena on the mainland
01:15:43a couple of weeks back in the ERC European competition.
01:15:47So they obviously came away from that feeling quite confident.
01:15:50But then it's obviously completely different conditions of road surface.
01:15:53And then, yeah, if they could change it,
01:15:55they probably know exactly what they need to do.
01:15:57But unfortunately, they've got this system, haven't they?
01:15:59Once it's homologated and locked in, that's it.
01:16:02Yeah, once you've made a choice, it's sealed.
01:16:04So that's what you're using.
01:16:05So you can't change that.
01:16:07And, yeah, so what Thierry's got is what he's got.
01:16:11That's it.
01:16:12And, again, you can adjust springs.
01:16:14You can put different dampers on it.
01:16:16But you can't play with the internals of the dampers.
01:16:19So it's a tarmac damper.
01:16:21You can play with spring rates, roll bars,
01:16:24and then the set up of the car in terms of the way the rebound works,
01:16:28everything else on the damper.
01:16:29You can play with the rake.
01:16:30So that's the angle of the car sits front to rear.
01:16:33But the key components you can't change.
01:16:37Still a beautiful thing to watch though, isn't it?
01:16:39Seeing these cars back in full asphalt spec,
01:16:41clipping the apex corner to corner.
01:16:43Setting for that fastest line is Adrian Formo.
01:16:46Looks like an aggressive run early on.
01:16:48I mean, he said he wants to do all he can
01:16:50just to keep those two Toyotas ahead.
01:16:52That's Katsuta and Pairi, honesty.
01:16:54Not sure he could catch them on pace alone,
01:16:56but you've just got to be there, haven't you?
01:16:57We've seen what's incredible considering how difficult and changeable
01:17:01sometimes the conditions are.
01:17:02I know it's been mainly dry, but not a single major error,
01:17:05which has been remarkable considering the speeds we see here.
01:17:09So yeah, Formo currently 13.7 seconds behind Katsuta.
01:17:14That's the man who's just trying to keep a bit of pressure on at the very least.
01:17:18Cause...
01:17:20Then it looks like an ocean to a have.
01:17:23Right, same day.
01:17:26Close Upon a computer,
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