Safari Rally: End of day two

Earlier drivers on the stage believed that local fans had dammed the river to make the water deeper.

The Ford emerged from the crossing but the engine died and McRae finally had to turn his back on Kenya when it refused to fire up after many agonising minutes.

The stage also spelled the end of the event for Marcus Gronholm's Peugeot, the Swedish Rally winner sidelined with electrical failure.

Richard Burns was able to back off into cruise mode for most of the day although the final stage was a nerve racking affair after the water temperature had soared at the end of the penultimate test.

Burns nursed his car home to the final service for the mechanics to carry out a complete
overhaul.

Burns still leads from team mate Juha Kankkunen after a second puncture-free day at the Subaru camp - a staggeringly unusual situation on this most demanding event.

McRae's demise promoted Didier Auriol back to third for SEAT.

The Frenchman had slipped a place after puncturing on the opening stage despite he and
co-driver Denis Giraudet changing the wheel in just 1m13s.

Tomorrow's final leg is a straight repeat of day one. Burns is now just 350km from a famous victory but this is Africa and quite literally anything can happen.