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Ford willing to use tactics again

Ford team principal Malcolm Wilson says he has not ruled out another tactical approach to the final day of the Rally of Turkey

With three stages remaining on day two, Mikko Hirvonen leads the event by 12 seconds from his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, but the biggest threat to the pair - Citroen's Sebastien Loeb - is sitting in third place, just over half a minute off the lead.

Wilson refused to be drawn on whether he would drop both of his drivers behind Loeb for the second day in succession.

"I'm not ruling anything out," he said. "We will take a look at things after the next stage."

If Wilson does decide to tactically slow his drivers again, it would have to be carried out in the penultimate stage as tomorrow's running order is decided ahead of the Antalya superspecial stage which concludes the day two action.

Wilson added: "My priority is 18 points for the manufacturers' championship. That's what we need going into the second half of the year, where there are three asphalt rounds which could be tough for us."

He pointed out that Ford had never won a drivers' title, hinting at a potential preference for Hirvonen to win, but the Cumbrian has a history of allowing his drivers to battle within the team.

Hirvonen's preferred option is to lead from the front through the final day, but he added he has work to do through the final three stages of today.

"If the time stays like it is now," said Hirvonen, "it's sure that Jari-Matti [Latvala] will come past me. The gap's not big enough. Okay, I would like to win the rally, but the most important thing is for me to get back in the lead of the championship and for that, I need to add another 15 seconds to the lead this afternoon to make a 50-second gap to Sebastien [Loeb]."

Citroen driver Loeb agreed that a 50-second gap would be insurmountable through the final day's three stages and 68 kilometres.

"If it was 35 seconds or something like it is now I would push hard and it might be possible," said the Frenchman, "but at 50 seconds, it's getting a big risk. One thing is sure, I'm tired of cleaning now. I want to be behind them for tomorrow."

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