Sordo maintains lead on day two

Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen had both passed Citroen driver Sordo in the first stage of the afternoon, having closed on the Spaniard throughout the morning as Sordo struggled with the dusty surface.

They then pulled away from the Citroen through the next two stages, before deliberately dropping almost 20 seconds apiece in SS16.

That allowed Sordo to move back into the lead, 8.5 seconds ahead of Latvala and 10.4 seconds ahead of Hirvonen, and means that the Citroen driver will have to clean the road for the chasing pack for a second consecutive day.

The Ford duo were disingenuous about their tactics.

"After the watersplash I didn't feel comfortable so I slowed down to see if there was any damage," said Latvala, while Hirvonen claimed his "foot slipped off the throttle..."

Latvala is confident that the advantage of a cleaner surface will be sufficient to overturn the lead he had handed Sordo.

"I think it will be fine," he said.

Hirvonen expects a three-way battle for victory between Sordo and the two Fords in Sunday's decisive stages.

"Tomorrow is a long day and everything is very open, so it's going to be a good fight," he said.

Sordo was nonchalent about his surprise elevation back into the lead, and the prospect of having to run first on the road again on day three.

"We'll see tomorrow - that's the important day," he said. "The most important thing is to be fast in the stages."

Behind the top three, the rest of the WRC field has remained static during the afternoon, with Chris Atkinson (Subaru) and Urmo Aava (Estonian World Rally Team Citroen) still on course for lonely fourth and fifth places.

Stobart Ford teammates Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg are engaged in a close battle for sixth. The Norweigan has been edging closer to the British driver after losing time with brake problems yesterday and is now 14 seconds behind.

Munchi's Ford driver Federico Villagra holds the final points-scoring position at present, but is under pressure from Khalid Al-Qassimi in the third factory Ford.

Having rejoined under the superally system after damaging his car yesterday, Gigi Galli completes the current top ten for Stobart Ford.