Brits battle for third

Burns is just ahead at the end of leg two, but McRae has hunted him down relentlessly over the course of the day.

While the Scot has two stage wins to his name on Saturday, Burns' highest finish has been a third place on SS14. However the Englishman has been at a disadvantage, going out on the road first and not having the benefit of seeing other car's tracks in the braking points, so the Englishman thinks third on the podium is a realistic target.

"You'd have to say it looks like we're fighting for third," said Burns.

McRae reckons his rival will call the shots. "It depends how hard he (Burns) pushes," said the Scot. "He hasn't got to worry about the championship. I said before the start that we'd be happy with a podium finish, so a podium finish with Tommi [points leader Makinen] not finishing would be perfect, but I'm not going to throw away fourth just to get another point."

Burns's Subaru team mate Markko Martin is a dark horse bet to at least move ahead of McRae, but the Estonian, fifth overall, is not too confident about his chances. "I don't know about Colin," he said. "I'm going to try, but I think we've given him too much time."