Day 2: Solberg in charge

The world champion was forced to complete most of SS13 using the handbrake only after his brake pedal went soft, allowing Rovanpera and Loeb to cut his overall lead to 52s on SS13.

"The brakes broke 8km from the start, and I had to drive about 23km with just the handbrake," said Solberg. "I'm not sure what it was that caused the problem. It was pretty exciting stuff, and I'm very, very lucky, let me tell you. I just tried to stay focused and it worked out okay."

With his Subaru Impreza repaired for the afternoon session, Solberg was fastest in the final two of the three stages to stem the tide and give himself a comfortable advantage heading in to the last day.

Rovanera gave it his best shot in the last remaining Peugeot 307 - Marcus Gronholm having broken his suspension on SS11. The number two Peugeot driver was fastest on SS14, second quickest on SS15, but dropped the ball on the final stage of the day, coming home eighth fastest. Still he has built an 8.8s advantage over third-placed Citroen's Loeb to maintain his second position overnight.

Gronholm, so keen to make up for his disqualification from the Cyprus Rally, was unsurprisingly disappointed by his error. "About 500 metres from the end of SS11 I just slid a little bit wide, and hit the left rear wheel on a rock," he said. "The suspension triangle was broken and I knew then that it would be really difficult to continue.

"I stopped on the road section and tried to fix it," he explained, "but I wasn't feeling very optimistic. Sure enough we started the next stage, but I was forced to stop a bit later on and retire. The oil was coming out of the differential and I couldn't drive any more."

It is unclear whether the Finn will utilise the new SupeRally rules which would allow him to rejoin the rally tomorrow. Already Markko Martin (second fastest on SS16), the two factory Skoda drivers Armin Schwarz and Toni Gardemeister and Mitsubishi's Dani Sola are among those who have taken advantage of the regulation.

Loeb could not match his pace from this morning, which saw him take two stage wins, but has established a 9s advantage over Francois Duval who is fourth in his factory Ford Focus.

The impressive young Swede Daniel Carlsson in his Bozian Racing Peugeot 206 is fifth overall and on the final stage of the day was third quickest of all, just 0.9s off the pace.

Gilles Panizzi appears to have won his battle for sixth position with Mikko Hirvonen after the young Subaru driver rolled on the penultimate stage of the day. He managed to get the Impreza going again but ended the day 14th overall, more than 20 minutes behind the factory Mitsubishi.