Day 2pm: Sainz in charge

Today's action centred round two loops of stages and on the second - three-stage - loop Sainz started to eat into the small lead Gronholm had laboriously built. El Matador beat his Finnish rival to the win on each of the first two stages of the loop and looked set to do it again on the third, when Gronholm took a wheel off his Peugeot and retired.

That meant three wins out of three for Sainz and on the short pair of superspecial spectator stages that closed the day's action he set a third and a fourth best time to head into the overnight halt with a 1m36.2s lead.

"Marcus's problem makes it a little easier for me," admitted 'El Matador', "but at the same time it can also be harder, because I have to be extra careful not to make a mistake."

Sainz is pleased with the way his Citroen Xsara has gone today. "The car has been good," he said, "apart from one small problem in the morning with a speed sensor on the differential."

As a strong favourite now to win the event, Sainz is in a great position and he's well aware of that, but he also knows that there are still another 84.96km of stages to complete including the classic El Condor stage which provides the event with a real sting in the tail. "Obviously I hope I will be in a position to win," said Sainz, "but there is still a lot that can happen."

Gronholm believes he was unfortunate to suffer the damage that he did on the car after he clipped a rock mid-stage.

"I think we were a bit unlucky," said the Finn. "I was going at a comfortable pace, which is why it is so disappointing to go out of the rally under these circumstances. There was a right-hand corner with a rock sticking out of the bank, which we didn't have marked in our notes. That took the wheel off, but we still could have finished the stage with three wheels.

"Unfortunately, the damage to the suspension also damaged the driveshaft, which broke the timing belt, so the engine stopped."

Francois Duval has driven a quiet, sensible, rally in the Ford Focua and as others have hit trouble and dropped by the wayside, so he's moved up the order. The Belgian is now a solid third and well on-course for a podium finish.

Subaru's hopes have today rested on young Finn Mikko Hirvonen's shoulders and he's risen to the challenge. He has set some good times over the day and was even second best to Sainz on SS19. He's now lying fourth overall, well behind Duval, but also still 1m50.6s clear of Peugeot's surviving car in the hands of Harri Rovanpera - a regular in the top three times today and winner of both superspecials.

Rovanpera is fifth - a place he'd probably have reckoned a distant dream as he struggled, and lost huge amounts of time, with power-steering trouble yesterday.

A couple of quick locals look set to score World Championship points too. Luis Perez Companc is sixth and Group N leader Gabriel Pozzo is also a hot tip for the final point for eighth place.