Brit round-up: McRae problems par for the course

With just one stage of the second leg still to run, Saturday has seen three big names in British rallying fall foul in the atrocious conditions of the Welsh forests.

As well as erstwhile rally leader Colin McRae dropping out, British favourite Gwyndaf Evans will also not be heading into the final leg. The Welshman has not competed on a WRC event since last year's Rally GB and the 41-year-old was victim to the same bad luck of 1999.

Clutch problems on Evans' SEAT led to a second consecutive retirement. The mechanism began to slip at the beginning of the first stage of the day and by the end of SS9 Rhondda 2, the Cordoba WRC would go no further.

Alister McRae however, is soldiering on in 11th place despite an errant rock putting a hole in the sump of the Scot's Hyundai WRC. Co-driver David Senior effected temporary repairs in the middle of SS11 by plugging the hole with his T-shirt, enabling the pair to limp to the next service area where the sump was replaced.

British Rally Championship contenders Mark Higgins and Neil Wearden have also had their fair share of problems. Although Higgins is leading the Formula 2 class, he is only 23rd overall and contrived to put his Vauxhall Astra into a ditch at the end of SS12. Team mate Wearden, meanwhile, is only fourth in the F2 standings and a lowly 47th overall.

The final stage of Leg Two starts at 1800 BST, leaving just three stages to run before the finish on Sunday.

To see the very latest standings, click HERE.

To see the schedule click here. (NOTE: All times are in GMT)