Leg 2: McRae leads as Solberg stars

The Norwegian's fantastic run of form has moved him from 13th to eighth overall but victory is now destined for one of the top two unless disaster strikes. Tommi Makinen in third has little chance of victory this weekend and will spend tomorrow trying to ensure that Richard Burns and Harri Rovanpera are kept at bay.

When the date of the Cyprus Rally was moved to April, many predicted that rain would play its part in the outcome of the result. Over today's second leg this came true in spectacular fashion as a sudden torrential rainstorm turned the usually dusty and rocky stages into mudbaths. It immediately prompted drivers to reflect that they preferred the 'old' Cyprus Rally despite the searing temperatures in the mountains.

One of the few that suggested that he'd like the wet weather to continue was Mitsubishi's Francois Delecour, ironically just before his windscreen wipers failed on one of the longest stages of the event. His post-stage comments were not recorded...

Although the rain fell heavily this afternoon, overnight rain had already left the stages with a layer of mud when the cars left Limassol early today. Tyre choice was a nightmare as the first two stages were wet but the long third stage was dry. Teams had to balance traction over the first two with wear resistance for the third. McRae's overnight lead suddenly came under threat from Gronholm and the two drivers came out of SS9 just 1.9s apart.

McRae eased out a small 9.9s gap over the next two stages but then shot 25.4s ahead as storms lashed SS12. Petter Solberg got through unscathed and picked up so much time that he burst into the top 10 for the first time since his nightmare yesterday morning. McRae's tyre choice saw him a comfortable second while Gronholm made too few extra hand cuts to his tyres and lost his chance to stay in touch with the leader.

Richard Burns described the visibility as being less than two metres at times and the conditions were so bad that the organisers had no choice but to make an early decision not to run the stage a second time today. When Markko Martin's windscreen misted up, Burns was able to slide past into fourth place but the World Champion certainly hasn't yet got to grips with the 206 on gravel just yet.

Today's casualties included the flying Francois Duval whose Ford Focus blew its engine on today's third stage. Jani Paasonen smashed his suspension on a concrete block during the opening stage but the treacherous SS12 saw the end for Alister McRae, Roman Kresta, Freddy Loix and Bruno Thiry. McRae and Loix both suffered transmission failures, Kresta crashed and Thiry pulled up but has yet to explain the reason - he probably just didn't need the pain of trying to continue!

Tomorrow's final six stages (three stages, each run twice) total just 81.88kms. None are exceptionally long tests but Cyprus is not an event where anyone can relax until the finish line on Limassol sea front. It will be a tense night in the Ford camp as the team chases its first win of the season.