A rare mistake from Sebastien Ogier has handed the Central European Rally lead to Hyundai’s Ott Tanak while World Rally Championship Rally1 rookie Sami Pajari rolled on Sunday morning. 

Ogier started the final day of the rally with a 5.2s margin over Tanak but a lock up approaching a left-hander at the start of a bone dry but dirty stage 15 (Am Hochwald 12.17km) proved costly. 

The eight-time world champion’s Toyota GR Yaris, last to start the stage, ran off the road onto grass before eventually rejoining the stage, which cost him valuable seconds. 

Ogier reached the stage end 7.1s slower than Tanak, handing the Hyundai driver the rally lead by 1.9s.

“There was a lock-up for us and we went straight. All okay, it is the way it is,” said Ogier when asked about he incident. 

The stage proved to be particularly tricky for the later runners as gravel and dirt had been dragged onto the surface after several anti-cut devices had been removed. 

Tanak described the test as having “dirty surprises” and “very challenging” as he ultimately completed the test 3.8s slower than the pace set by the returning M-Sport-Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, who was first on the road.     

Sébastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

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Evans was second fastest on the stage to maintain third position overall. Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta was fourth quickest while Neuville was 0.2s faster than rival Tanak, although clearly frustrated by the lack of anti-cut devices. 

“If I see the conditions in there, I don’t want to push too much, there are many surprises,” said Neuville.  

“I had a big slide immediately in the beginning. All the anti-cuts have moved and some have been removed, it’s not nice. They are moved by just a tiny bit and the road is dirty.”

The challenging stage conditions were highlighted by Pajari, who rolled out of sixth position overall. 

The Finn, making his third Rally1 outing and his first on asphalt, ran wide at a medium-left corner running into a ditch that pitched his GR Yaris into a roll. The car eventually came to rest on its wheels but with damage to the front and rear of the car, which ended his rally prematurely.   

“It was so fast I don’t really know what happened. It is clear to see we went a bit wide on a corner and we rolled quite softly. The damage is not so bad on the car so maybe we could continue, but we don’t want to cause any more damage,” said Pajari.

“It is quite a shame as it was quite a soft roll but I don’t know why it happened because in my opinion my pacenote was okay and there was nothing really surprising at that corner, so I don’t know why.”

The crews will tackle three more stages on Sunday.  

“I’m going to be honest and say it’s not as big a target as it was before I got there. I don’t feel like I got as much attention for being world number one as I thought I would.”

Winning a first World Championship title is the ultimate ambition for Allen, who will start his bid for a third Northern Ireland Open title in four years on Monday against China’s Liu Hongyu.

A Crucible triumph would be the highlight of a career which has already included success at the Masters, UK Championship and Champion of Champions.

“The ultimate goal is to be world champion. That’s the only thing that would raise my CV to the next level. I want to win every tournament that I play in, that’s why I practice so hard all year round.

“But, ultimately, your career is going to be looked back on to see, ‘did I win a world championship? How many did you win? Did you win triple crown events?’. That’s something I need to improve on. That’s the be all and end all for me.”

Allen admits that he would be disappointed if he didn’t land the sport’s biggest prize.

“I’ve won 20 tournaments as a professional and I’m in my 19th year. I’ve been to world number one and I’ve won every other tournament the game has to offer, really. I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t cross that off my list.

“It’s tough – you only get one chance a year and I know how hard it is. It’s no surprise that you see so many multiple winners and not many one-time winners. It’s up to me to break my own duck.

“As long as I feel like I have a chance of winning it then I’ll keep coming back for more.”

Former Dundee United, Wolves and Leeds left-back Barry Douglas, 35, is set for a trial period with St Johnstone. (The Courier), external

Hibs head coach David Gray said captain Joe Newell was “very disappointed in himself” for receiving a late red card as his side were beaten at Tannadice despite taking a 2-1 lead into stoppage time. (Edinburgh Evening News), external

Former Scotland defender Charlie Mulgrew reckons “forward thinking” Wigan Athletic boss Shaun Maloney would make a good manager for the national side in the future. (Scotsman), external

Kenny McLean insists he’ll “never show that disappointment” when not selected to play for Scotland and the Norwich midfielder is determined to maintain his run in the team after four consecutive starts. (The Herald, external – subscription)

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen was a guest at first club Partick Thistle yesterday, his first public appearance since a serious illness over the summer. (Scottish Sun), external

Reaching 1000 games as a manager remains an ambition for 60-year-od Ian McCall, who is on the 956 mark after leaving Clyde. (Sunday Mail), external

WAYNE ROONEY was almost lost for words after his Plymouth side were hammered by Cardiff.

The Manchester United legend, serving a one-game touchline ban,  watched the drama unfold from the stands.

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And the Pilgrims manager was helpless as Argyle produced a horror show in the Welsh capital.

Former Manchester City talent Alex Robertson fired the Bluebirds ahead in the 16th minute.

Wales international Rubin Colwill made it 2-0 eight minutes later.

Plymouth’s Ibrahim Cissoko was then sent off four minutes before half-time for shoving Perry Ng.

Anwar El Ghazi, Callum Robinson and Chris Willock all netted in the second half to add to Rooney’s misery.

Rooney said: “It’s difficult to put into words.

“I thought we started the game OK, we had decent control and should be 1-0 up, Michael Obafemi had a great chance.

“Beyond that, we got really sloppy, we gave the ball away a lot.

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“We didn’t win tackles or do the basics right.

“In this league, if you don’t do that right, you have difficult days like today.

“It’s difficult watching it from the stands, you want to be there at the side of the pitch trying to help the team.

“Today we have to give Cardiff a lot of credit. They deserved to win the game, they were the better team.”

Rooney, 38, did his best to stay calm after the heavy defeat.

And the former England skipper says he is trying to control his emotions better as a manager.

He added: “I think I’ve always been quite consistent with my messages.

“Of course, you’re angry, upset and disappointed. But I think that’s more when I’m speaking to my players.

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“I’m very upset with the performance because that’s not us.

“The main thing is we have to move on from this quickly.”

Victory means the Bluebirds have picked up seven points from their last three games under caretaker-boss Omer Riza.

And Riza revealed that injured Wales international and former Arsenal star Aaron Ramsey played a key role in Cardiff’s bumper win.

He said: “We had Aaron Ramsey upstairs casting an eye down to give us some information and it all came together well today.

“I said to Aaron that I’d like him to go up there, cast his eye over the game and, if he had anything of importance, to come down.

“To be fair, when he came down and mentioned a couple of things, it was what was in our minds anyway. So we’re all on the same page.”

Cardiff went into the match with the worst goal difference — minus 14 — of any team after nine games of a Championship season since Bolton in 2017-18.

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But they netted five times in a league game for the first time in seven years to move off the foot of the table and up to 22nd place.

And Riza reckons the likes of ex-Aston Villa man El Ghazi and former Arsenal winger Willock have helped transform Cardiff’s attack.

He said: “We’ve found positions for them which suit them. They’ve got to keep that up.

“Rubin was excellent today, his work rate, his intensity.

“The same with Ollie Tanner, same with Callum Robinson, same with Anwar and the boys who came on.

“We need to work. If we do that, we’ll get our rewards.”

Riza is determined to land the Cardiff job permanently after Turkish boss Erol Bulut was sacked by the Welsh side in September.

But the ex-Leyton Orient manager says he is trying not to put himself under too much pressure.

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He explained: “If I do things the right way, treat people the right way, I’ll get my rewards further down the line, whenever that is.

“If it doesn’t come here, it will come somewhere, I’ll just keep working hard.

“We’ve had good conversations here about not putting too much pressure on me. The players have been excellent.

“It’s been coming and now it has to continue. It can’t be a one off.”

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Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez overcame a poor start to win the Australian Grand Prix, beating championship leader Jorge Martin into second place.

Italy’s defending champion Francesco Bagnaia moved up from fifth on the grid to finish third but lost ground on Pramac Racing’s Martin in his quest for a third successive title.

Martin, 26, who claimed victory in Saturday’s sprint race, stretched his overall lead to 20 points over Ducati rider Bagnaia with three race weekends remaining.

It was Marquez, however, who took the spoils at Victoria’s Phillip Island circuit, despite falling from second on the grid to outside the top 10 after a tear-off from his own visor got stuck under his back tyre at the start.

“I don’t know where I was in the first corner but I overtook many riders and I thought that one time was impossible to catch Martin,” said the 31-year-old, who remains third in the overall standings after completing his third win of the season.

“Then in lap five or six I started to get the rhythm and it was more calm, it was a bit stressful but I’m super happy.”

Martin looked set to increase his championship lead even further after making a perfect start from pole and leading for much of the 27-lap race, but after being caught by Marquez in the closing stages the two riders swapped places a number of times in the final moments before the Gresini Racing rider finally came out on top.

Racing now moves on to the Thailand Grand Prix, which takes place at the Chang International Circuit on Saturday and Sunday, 26-27 October.

Australian Grand Prix results

1. Marc Marquez (Spa/Gresini Racing) 39mins 47.702secs

2. Jorge Martin (Spa/Pramac Racing) +0.997secs

3. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita/Ducati) +10.100

4. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ita/Ducati) +12.997

5. Enea Bastianini (Ita/Ducati) +13.310

Overall standings

1. Jorge Martin (Spa/Pramac Racing) 424 points

2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ita/Ducati) 404

3. Marc Marquez (Spa/Gresini Racing) 345

4. Enea Bastianini (Ita/Ducati) 331

5. Brad Binder (SA/KTM) 192