Andros: Dayraut leads second session

Muller still has a provisional lead after the first day.

'The rain makes the track very unpredictable,' Promotion leader Christophe Balas said.

'Whereas the ice this morning was very regular and behaved the same all over the circuit, the rain changes everything, meaning that one corner might have grip, while another has none at all.

'You can't rely on anything - it's just a case of improvising!'

Opel's Jean-Philippe Dayraut finally found the speed he'd been looking for during the second session, putting in three 57-second laps to take the provisional lead, two-tenths slower than Muller's first session time.

Emmanuel Collard also appeared to come to grips with the difficult circuit, knocking five seconds off his previous time.

As usual, the four fastest drivers were in the final group.

All started smoothly, with Yvan Muller setting the fastest time of the day on his first lap - 57.133 - and further improving to 57.124 on his second lap.

However, before he could reel in the third time, Marcel Tarrès' Citroen Xsara came to a halt, blocking the track.

Jean-Pierre Malcher, Eric Helary and Muller were forced to stop behind him.

The session was red-flagged and restarted, without Tarres, as stated in the regulations.

Before a lap had been completed, Helary landed in the snow-bank, putting him out of the session and leaving only Malcher and Muller to re-do the three laps.

However, the Opel was now short on fuel, and the Astra had to be refuelled on the track before the session could be restarted.

Muller appeared to lose concentration, however, and hit the walls twice on his first lap,
setting a time of only 59.195.

His total time was 2:53.375, putting him second behind his Opel team-mate Dayraut.

In the Promotion category, Guyhlem Dussaucy set the best time, followed by first round victor Jean-Noël Lanctuit and Christophe Balas.

The third, decisive qualifying session will be held on the Sunday morning.

The best two results will count towards the overall qualifying mark, which represents around 70 per cent of the total points.

Results from second qualifying: