Leg 2: McRae leads by example

Having led by almost a minute going into the stage, Martin drove over a sharp rock and punched a hole through the tread of his tyre. As Pirelli rally manager Fiorenzo Brivio explained: "Everyone gets punctures on this event and in every case the anti-deflation mousse has worked perfectly. In this situation, however, the size and nature of the hole was such that the system would not have been able to work."

"It's hard to describe how I feel right now," said a long-faced Martin who was certainly looking good for his first WRC event win. "Up to then it had been a perfect rally and we hadn't made any mistakes. That's the way the sport goes sometimes but I think we made our point."

McRae inherited the lead but not by much and he has had to work hard this afternoon to ease clear of arch rival Richard Burns. The Englishman, however, was unable to match McRae's pace and over the last few tests found himself being reeled in by his team mate Marcus Gronholm who will be pushing hard to snatch at least second over tomorrow's final four stages.

In many ways the battle for victory is now between these three. Rally Argentina winner Carlos Sainz is fourth but unless anyone hits trouble ahead of him, that's as far as he'll go. The four stages are no cakewalk either. All but one has been used before, the first two were on Friday's agenda and then the final two begin with a repeat of Elatia, the longest stage of the event and where Martin had his troubles.

Today should have seen the first run over the Mendenitsa stage (immediately after Elatia and without service) but it was scrubbed on safety grounds after a vital medical vehicle was found to be in the wrong location. Even though it missed being used today, observers said that it was a very rough stage and it will now provide the final battlefield for the victory contenders.

Tomorrow will be one of McRae's biggest tests of character in what has so far been a difficult season. Victory will bring him right into contention for the title but another blunder like the one in Cyprus will hand victory to 'the auld enemy' and win the Scot no friends at all. No pressure then...