News after SS20

Rally leader Juha Kankkunen was slowed by a puncture on SS19 and lost time to his team-mate Richard Burns. He still managed to pull away from Carlos Sainz, who seems resigned to finishing on the lower step of the podium.

Toni Gardemeister had engine problem towards the end of yesterday's leg, which he believes cost him as much as 1m20s. He now has the SEAT to his liking and is going flat-out but stands little chance of scoring points unless one of the top six retires.

The rally ends with a live TV stage, counting for extra points. The rules allow retired works WRC cars to be repaired to enter this stage and go for more points, so Tommi Makinen will get a chance to salvage something from the event.

Skoda's Armin Schwarz will not be taking part. He is still suffering from stiffness in his neck and back after his big accident on leg one.

Ford plan to withdraw Thomas Radstrom from the event. Cars which have retired and been repaired run first on the live TV stage, and so the team have retired Radstrom to get themselves as much exposure as possible on the TV broadcast. He was only running 19th after a time-consuming accident yesterday.

Top privateer Sebastian Lindholm was unable to hold off Toni Gardemeister for 7th place this morning but is still pulling away from the troubled Didier Auriol. A worrying amount of smoke has been seen coming from the brakes of his Ford Escort today but he claims his main problem at the moment is just staying awake...

Tapio Laukkanen still leads F2 from Jarmo Kytolehto, Alister McRae and Martin Rowe.

Juoko Puhakka is heading for Group N victory, Jani Paasonen and Manfred Stohl are next up in the 'Showroom' category.

Having been persuaded to continue with the rally, Francois Delecour runs 11th, but is unlikely to be able to catch Janne Tuohine for 10th. Freddy Loix is going better today and closing on them both.