Hirvonen leads into Turkey day three

The team had not wanted to run first on the road during today's stages so the top four Fords all slowed at the end of day one to allow Sebastien Loeb to move into the lead - forcing the world champion to clear the stages for a second consecutive day.

But despite Ford boss Malcolm Wilson admitting that he was open to using the tactic again today if necessary, Hirvonen completed today's final loop at full speed and will begin Sunday 16 seconds ahead of teammate Jari-Matti Latvala and 34 seconds clear of third-placed Loeb.

Hirvonen will therefore be first on the road for tomorrow's final leg, which consists of just three stages, although two of them are runs through the rally's leading test: the 31-kilometre Olympos stage.

"It's going to be a big fight and it's going to be tough," said Hirvonen. "I don't know if the gap we have is going to be enough, and Jari-Matti is not so far behind either. It's going to be a difficult day."

While Loeb remained frustrated at having spent two-thirds of the distance sweeping the dusty roads for his main rivals, his mood was still bullish.

"I've done everything I could since the start of the rally, with no mistakes and no problems with the car," he said.

"Anything is possible tomorrow. It's very frustrating at the moment to have been flat-out since the start and to always see the others going faster with better conditions, but I've done my best, I've been on the limit everywhere and I don't think I've lost too many seconds. We'll see."

Behind the top three, Dani Sordo (Citroen) has charged all day to make up for his Friday's suspension problems and is now just 6.6 seconds behind fourth-placed Henning Solberg, having passed the Stobart Ford driver's brother Petter Solberg (Subaru) for sixth earlier in the afternoon.

"I've been driving at full attack," said Sordo. "It's been a very good day. I'm still here, and that's important."

Matthew Wilson and the delayed Gigi Galli are on course for the final points in the other two Stobart cars, with Conrad Rautenbach's semi-works Citroen ninth ahead of Munchi's Ford teammates Federico Villagra and Barry Clark, the latter driving a steady rally on his second appearance in WRC machinery.

Leading positions after day two:

Pos  Driver      Car      Time
 1.  Hirvonen    Ford     3h47:37.8
 2.  Latvala     Ford      +   16.1
 3.  Loeb        Citroen   +   34.2
 4.  H Solberg   Ford      + 2:08.4
 5.  Sordo       Ford      + 2:15.0
 6.  P Solberg   Subaru    + 2:33.6
 7.  Wilson      Ford      + 3:41.1
 8.  Galli       Ford      + 5:20.0
 9.  Rautenbach  Citroen   + 6:08.5
10.  Villagra    Ford      + 7:43.7