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Thierry Neuville tightened his grip on the final round of the World Rally Championship season in Australia, with a dominant display on the shortened Saturday afternoon loop.
Neuville, who scooped up the rally lead on Saturday morning after his Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen crashed, dominated the opening stage of the afternoon – Welshs Creek, beating Latvala by 9.9 seconds.
On Argents Hill – the second half of the monster Nambucca stage – Neuville gained a further 2.8s and picked up his sixth stage win of the rally.
The final scheduled stage of the afternoon – the second running of Newry was cancelled due to safety concerns over a damaged bridge, meaning Neuville went to service with a lead of 19s over Latvala.
Kris Meeke, who started the morning in third place, retired with rear-right suspension damage sustained on Welshs Creek.
“Near the start, we went over a narrow bridge and I just touched the rear – something is broken,” Meeke explained.
M-Sport’s Ott Tanak is promoted to third position, 40.2s off the rally lead but 25s ahead of Craig Breen, who sits in a season’s best fourth place.
Hayden Paddon rounds out the top five for Hyundai while world champion Sebastien Ogier is sixth in the overall classification, despite his Fiesta missing its bumper for the majority of the afternoon.
His fellow countryman Stephane Lefebvre is in seventh place, the Frenchman spun in SS12 but was sixth quickest on Argents Hill.
The DMACK-shod Fiesta of Elfyn Evans had another miserable loop, reporting oversteer issues and slipping to more than three minutes off the rally lead in eighth place.
Finn Esapekka Lappi, who was the first driver onto the stages, is up to ninth in the overall classification following Meeke’s retirement.
Kalle Rovanpera, the sole WRC2 entry this weekend, rounds out the top 10 in his Fiesta R5.
The 2018 World Rally Championship will be launched at Autosport International, held on January 11-14. For ticket information, click here.