Leg 2: Leading pair neck-and-neck!

When Gronholm set off for the second leg, he might have been forgiven for feeling in confident mood. Around 1m40s ahead of Makinen and with a seemingly firm grip on the event, Gronholm should have been able to take life relatively easily.

However, fate conspired against him. Just as fog handed him over half that advantage on the final two stages of leg one, hydraulic problems wiped out a similar advantage on the first two stages of leg two and let Makinen close the gap. Over the next group of tests it was the Subaru driver in charge as he hunted down his prey, passing him for the lead with one stage to go.

On the final stage Gronholm and Burns shared the fastest time, two seconds ahead of Makinen, to send the rivals into the final leg neck and neck.

Only Richard Burns seemed able to stay with these two thanks to a pair of fastest stage times in the morning, but he seems destined not to notch this event up as his first win for Peugeot unless Makinen and Gronholm hit more problems.

Dramas today included a huge time loss for Alister McRae when a clip came off the turbo pipe and cost him all boost for the opening stage. Harri Rovanpera's Peugeot broke its engine on the same stage and retired on the road section afterwards, joined almost immediately by Hyundai's Freddy Loix when the Belgian's throttle system failed.

Peugeot's four-strong squad was further cut to two when Gilles Panizzi's cooling system packed up, and Ford was lucky to keep its full compliment of drivers after Markko Martin's near brakeless Focus came "within 80% of rolling" on SS16.

Petter Solberg continues to suffer with a stomach upset but had a real scare on the first of today's superspecials when he landed after a jump, the transmission locked up and then selected reverse

The final leg of the rally will witness a tense battle for victory. Makinen is one of only two drivers (Miki Biasion the other one) to have won this event three times and a fourth victory is a tempting proposition. However, more important is the 10 points available for the win. Makinen needs them to renew his tile bid after a post-Monte Carlo slump while Gronholm would find himself sitting pretty with en even greater advantage should he be able to edge out Makinen on some of the championship's signature stages.

Tomorrow's tests include the awesome El Condor and Giulio Cesare stages, a true test of nerve as they climb and plummet on roads clinging to the lunar landscape. Just four stages lie between victory and despair. High altitude and the possibility of fog or low cloud will simply add to the challenge. For Makinen and Gronholm the past two days now mean nothing and it's all down to the final leg.

For full times from SS18, click here.

For full rally live timings, click here.

For rally itinerary, click here.

For full entry list, click here.