Jari-Matti Latvala charged into the lead of Coates Hire Rally Australia on the final stage of the opening day, three stage victories this afternoon powering him up the leaderboard from fifth. The Finn snatched the position from Kris Meeke, the Citroën driver having led from the fourth stage but losing time in the final test, hampered by some hanging dust. Sébastien Ogier, running first on the road, also managed to move up the leaderboard from an earlier eighth, the Frenchman finally gaining some advantage from his road position in the last stage.

Rally Australia got underway this morning and crews faced two identical loops of four stages to the south of Coffs Harbour. Running second on the road Latvala struggled with the road conditions this morning and also lacked the final two per cent to improve his stage times. Despite being cautious in the last stage of the first loop he managed to move into fifth, but it was this afternoon when the Finn came into his own, winning three of the repeated stages and grabbing the lead in the final one by just two seconds. Meeke has enjoyed a good day, his sixth position on the road aiding his charge and the Northern Irishman took the lead before the lunchtime service. He maintained his advantage throughout the afternoon until being overhauled by Latvala in the final test. Ogier has struggled all day, the Frenchman on the limit but constantly losing time due to running first. Unsurprisingly he won no stages until taking victory in the final one when dust began to hang in the air for crews following in his wake. From eighth, he is now third overnight just 4.6 seconds off the lead.

Volkswagen Polo R WRC team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen is fourth, another 8.3 seconds adrift. The Norwegian had an uneventful day until his car developed a possible transmission problem in the final stage, resulting in a number of scary moments. Dani Sordo was the surprise early leader, the Spaniard pulling out a seven second advantage after winning the first three stages. A stall in the fourth stage, caused by a gearshift problem, lost him over 11 seconds and saw him drop to second. He maintained position into the afternoon but then dropped back to fifth this evening, he too losing time in the dust. Team-mates Hayden Paddon and Thierry Neuville are sixth and seventh respectively. Both have been making changes to set-up and pace notes throughout the day, with Paddon also suffering with handling and balance issues this afternoon, and are doing their best to hold off eighth-placed Ott Tanak. The Estonian is just three seconds adrift of Neuville but lost time with a stall and a spin. He has also been hampered by a diff problem. Team-mate Elfyn Evans has had a disastrous day. The Welshman has struggled with confidence, a spin and a puncture and simply has no answer to his lack of pace. He is ninth ahead of Lorenzo Bertelli who has had a string of technical issues throughout the day. Stephane Lefebvre, who was drafted into the Citroën team at the last moment when Mads Østberg fractured two ribs during a recce accident, has again run well. The Frenchman was within the top 10 in his first competitive outing in a world rally car on gravel until clouting a rock in the final stage and damaging the suspension.

In the FIA WRC 2 Championship category, Nasser Al-Attiyah has taken the early lead, the Qatari ahead of Championship rivals Yurii Protasov and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari. Local hero and fellow WRC 2 competitor Scott Pedder was out of the rally in only the second stage, the Australian taking a wheel off after hitting a cattle grid.

Coates Hire Rally Australia – Unofficial Results after Section 3