Sect. 4, Maili Tisa: Sainz closing in

But section proved to be a car breaker, in particular for the Peugeots. Didier Auriol's 206 WRC rolled 50km into the test and caught fire, while team mate Marcus Gronholm lost a wheel and couldn't continue.

One piece of solace for the French team is that Harri Rovanpera is still very much in the thick of the action. The Finn, who was nominated to score manufacturer points ahead of Auriol for this event, maintains his third place overall after finishing Maili Tisa with the fourth fastest time.

Another team suffering today is Subaru. Following Richard Burns's exit on the first test of the day, team mate Toshihiro Arai is out on the last, when the suspension broke on his Impreza.

Francois Delecour is one of the main benefactors of the Peugeot retirements. He was fifth fastest through Maili Tisa and the Frenchman moves up to fifth overall despite being more than nine minutes off Makinen's benchmark time.

The second Mitsubishi of Freddy Loix rounded out the top six, finishing the timed section nearly eight minutes off Sainz's time. To highlight what a tough event the Safari is, Loix is managing to hold eighth place overall despite being almost half an hour slower than the leading car, the Mitsubishi of team mate Makinen.

For Sect. 4 Maili Tisa results click here.

For full live timings table click here.