CS2: McRae goes on a charge

With two of the first leg's four stages behind them, Makinen and McRae are 1m02s apart. The Scot took nearly half a minute out of the Finn's lead over the 81km Seyabei test, but is not getting carried away.

"It would be good to take time out of Tommi but I'm not going to take any risks," said the Ford Focus ace. After a cautious start on the opening stage, McRae admitted: "I pushed a bit harder - that section was medium rough rather than very rough."

WRC points leader Marcus Gronholm has spoken of his disappointment after retiring on the opening stage with an engine problem. "This was nine minutes for nothing," he said. "It's a very long way to come for this to happen. The car was okay to start with and then after nine minutes it was like the master switch had gone off. There was no warning at all and we tried everything to fix it for 20 minutes."

The surprise of SS1, Thomas Radstrom, could not keep up his pace on the Seyabei stage and dropped from second to seventh. But there is good news for Skoda, with Kenneth Eriksson rising up to an excellent third. McRae's team-mate Carlos Sainz, who is second in the championship standings, is fourth.

Hyundai is enduring a dreaful first Safari Rally. Following Freddy Loix's retirement with clutch failure on the first stage, Armin Schwarz was forced out on the road section before Seyabei when his alternator broke. The third works Accent of Juha Kankkunen broke its suspension on the opening test and the repairs cost the veteran road penalties that have left him 15th.

Reigning world champion Richard Burns has set a conservative pace on the first morning and is 10th.