Sebastien Ogier springs into Rally Australia lead

Triple world champion elect Sebastien Ogier has scrambled to a slender lead after a tense end to the second day of Coates Hire Rally Australia.

The Volkswagen ace spotted Citroen’s Kris Meeke 2.4s going into the final 7.94km night stage through Valla before emerging with a .3s lead over the Ulsterman.

Ogier, who was second into the stage, had the better of the dusty conditions where officials set a huge five-minute intervals between runs.

It was just reward for Ogier who has driven brilliantly on the opening two days where he was forced to sweep the road for his rivals.

Meeke, one of the last cars to launch into the night stage, was bitterly disappointed at losing 2.7s to Ogier where he caught heavy dust toward the end of Valla.

Jari-Matti Latvala is in third overall 2.6s behind his Volkswagen team-mate, setting up an epic close to Round 10 of the World Rally Championship.

Ogier moved ahead of Latvala overall following the second run through Nambucca in the late afternoon.

“It was difficult. I tried hard but I suffered from a lack of grip in the wide section. Maybe I tried too much and I was sliding too much,” Ogier said.

“The beginning was quite dusty but then it was okay. I expected more grip. Tomorrow will be a big day. I didn’t find the optimum rhythm.”

Andreas Mikkelsen is just under 10s back in fourth position in the third Volkswagen Polo R having indicating his night lights had not been set at the correct angle.

“It was really hard to see. My lights were a little bit too much down,” Mikkelsen said.

The slick work Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon did to top SS9 and SS10 came unstuck on the second run through Nambucca when he had tyre and gearbox issues.

Paddon leaked 11.2s over SS11 to stage winner Ogier, to be sixth for the run but holding fifth overall.

“We completely lost the tyres with about 15km to go,” Paddon said.

“I couldn’t control the car and then we had a gear shift problem with about 10km out. It seemed to be changing gears itself,” Paddon said.

Paddon made it through the night stage fifth fastest, reflecting his overall position which sees him now 19.4s off the lead.

Thierry Neuville has managed to squeeze in front of fellow Hyundai i20 pilot Dani Sordo with the Belgian now seventh, one spot ahead of the Spaniard.

Elfyn Evans’ miserable rally continued after the M-Sport man had a huge moment when he speared off the road before rejoining in the night stage.

“It broke away from me in sixth gear. We were really lucky to be honest. It was a massive moment we were really, really lucky,” Evans said.

Five stages remain tomorrow with repeats of Bucca Long (21.95km) and Wedding Bells (9.23km) and the single run through the 6.4km of Settles Road.

VIDEO: Stage 11

Top 10 WRC standings after SS12