SS14: Auriol takes the lead

The pair had been battling for the lead ever since Tommi Makinen's brush with a tree dropped him from first to fourth, but initially it looked like Burns had the situation under control.

However, Auriol picked up the pace on SS14 to take over at the head of the leaderboard with a 7s advantage.

Makinen is now third, having set several fastest stage times while recovering not just from his leg one off, but also a second excursion on SS10 and a double puncture one stage later.

Carlos Sainz and Juha Kankkunen have been consistent in fourth and fifth, and are close enough to battle for the place on tomorrow's final leg. Behind them, Harri Rovanpera has set the occasional excellent stage time in the SEAT but is too far back to make any progress unless others drop out. His team-mate Piero Liatti would most probably have been in front of the Finn had he not retired after his air intake filled with water and drowned the engine yesterday.

Volcan Isik in the best Teams' Cup contender in seventh, his main rival Abdullah Bakhashab having disappeared early on leg two after breaking his suspension on a rock.

For once it is a Subaru leading Group N, eighth placed Toshi Arai holding off a charging Hamed Al Wahaibi, who is looking to close the points gap to Gustavo Trelles. The latter is only running fifth in class at present.

Alister McRae continues to stretch his Formula Two lead over Hyundai team-mate Kenneth Eriksson, but the conditions are taking their toll on the field, and this rally could end up with a remarkably small number of finishers.

Leading positions after SS14: