Leg two round-up: Colin’s highs and lows

On a repeat of this morning's Sisteron stage, Ford's McRae set a time just 0.3 seconds slower than this morning, while erstwhile leader Tommi Makinen was fully 28s slower than his previous best in the Mitsubishi.

The pair had gambled on very different tyre choices, McRae taking a studded option to cope with the 6kms of snow and ice at the top of the mountain, while Makinen risked everything with an unstudded intermediate racer.

McRae's advantage is just 3.5s, a tenth of his overnight lead, but it could be enough to give the Scot his first Monte win and get his season off to a flying start.

"I'm not thinking about the win yet," said a guarded McRae. "But I'm sure there'll be spectator problems again tomorrow because of the battle between me and Tommi."

"I'd rather be leading," smiled Makinen, "but it's still quite a nice situation to be in."

Behind this battle for the lead, McRae's team mate Carlos Sainz is desperately trying to hang on to the front pair. But with 50s to make up, it seems that the Spaniard's chances of top spot are fading.

He is well clear, however, of Skoda's Armin Schwarz, who has been mighty in the Octavia this week, edging out Francois Delecour's Ford for fourth on the final stage today (thanks in part to the Frenchman again suffering gearshift troubles).

"I'm enjoying fighting with these guys," said Schwarz. "We work hard to get results, so when we do get them, it's great for the team."

Alister McRae is again putting up a strong showing in the Autosport-backed Hyundai, ahead of the lone semi-works Peugeot of Toni Gardemeister, who is battling it out with Mitsubishi's Freddy Loix at the tail-end of a still fluid top 10.