Andros: Muller takes lead

The ice of the Xonrupt Longemer track was resurfaced during the night, but remained uneven.

Jean-Philippe Dayraut, who needed a good result after his problems in the second session, started off well with a 42.131-second lap.

However, his times slipped for the second and third laps, and he finished in fifth place.

Muller proceeded to show the form that has won him four successive Trophies, lapping the 620m track in 41.906 seconds on his first time round.

His total time of 2:07.426 was half a second faster than James Ruffier, in the privately entered Opel Tigra.

Marcel Tarres was the only non-Opel in the top six, managing three careful, consistent laps in the Citroen Xsara.

The return of the ice saw the performances of the Nissan Micras slip, with Emmanuel Collard finishing seventh, just ahead of his experienced team-mate Jean-Pierre Malcher.

With two wins, Muller has taken the provisional lead, accounting for around 70% of the total points available.

James Ruffier came in an excellent second, with Jean-Philippe Dayraut in third place and Emmanuel Collard fourth.

In the Promotion category, Thorens winner Jean-Noël Lanctuit won the third session in his Nissan Micra, giving him the overall Promotion lead after the three qualifying rounds.

He was followed by Jean-Michel Neyrial, with Christophe Balas third.