Leg 3 (am): McRae rolls twice!

The first error on SS16 handed the lead to Peugeot ace Marcus Gronholm. With McRae breaking his powersteering in the accident, he lost over 50 seconds to the Finn.

McRae started the day with a 26sec advantage over Gronholm, but in clear weather conditions, the 2000 world champion was in no mood to settle for second place. He took 13sec out of McRae's lead on SS15, and it was on the following stage that the Scot made his first error.

Then after his Focus had been serviced by the Ford mechanics, McRae rolled again on SS18. He is now down in seventh with a battle on his hands to get back into the points. Hyundai's Armin Schwarz is nine seconds ahead of him in sixth.

Subaru ace Tommi Makinen put in a charge in the morning and won back-to-back stages. But Richard Burns has been putting in a spurt of his own and the world champion has overhauled the Impreza. That means Peugeot could be heading for another one-two.

Harri Rovanpera lies fourth, ahead of Petter Solberg who has made a brilliant comeback after his problems on the first day. But the Norwegian's day was almost ruined when he rolled his Subaru on SS17. Fortunately for him, he lost very little time.

Like McRae, Markko Martin rolled his Ford Focus on SS16 and broke his powersteering. He is hanging on in eighth. To complete a miserable morning for Ford, Carlos Sainz also suffered powersteering failure and has dropped a place to 11th.

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.