Leg 2 pm: Panizzi takes control

Sainz had to swerve to avoid a car on the apex of the corner but then had to take drastic action to stay clear of more cars on the outside of the sixth gear corner, crashing off the road in the process and putting himself on the retirements list amid a flurry of invective...

Sainz was not the first big-name retirement today. Tommi Makinen set off from Lloret de Mar this morning but didn't even reach first service before his Subaru engine - apparently damaged in last night's final stage ditching - expired.

"There was no warning," he said. "Now we have to try and relax, put ourselves in a good frame of mind and be prepared for the rallies ahead of us."

Spectator crowding caused the organisers to cancel the first two stages today and for a while it seemed that SS9 and SS10 might go the same way. Last year San Remo taped off any on-stage parking areas at least two days before the event started to keep them clear of parked cars. Unusually for a rally that has frequently won awards for its safety measures, this year's Catalunya Rally failed to do so and the organisers seemed surprised when rally fans camped out overnight and then left their cars in dangerous places.

By the organisers' own admission, 236 cars had to be removed from the stages before they could run. Doubtless Sainz would have preferred them to have shifted a few more...

Gilles Panizzi has continued to dominate the event but on that controversial SS10 it was Subaru's Petter Solberg who ended the Peugeot driver's unbeaten run by setting his first fastest time of the event. He has spent a large part of the rally running with brake problems but said: "If I got a clean run I knew there was a fastest time to be had."

With the two Citroens not eligible for makes points and Marcus Gronholm looking to be Peugeot's non-scoring third car it means that Solberg will bag useful points for Subaru, just ahead of Colin McRae's Ford. McRae has driven a heroes rally and has had to admit this morning that his injured finger is hurting badly.

Catalunya is an event that isn't renowned for last-minute dramas and, as the only battle between the top crews for a position swap is between Solberg, Gronholm and possibly Sebastien Loeb, tomorrow looks like a day where the miles will just unroll towards an inevitable conclusion. However, the third stage of each group is the one with THAT bridge and even the most predictable outcome won't stop the local fans hanging off the edge to cheer the gladiators home!