SS14, Cassidy: Auriol breakthrough

Francois Delecour made it an Englishman sandwich in French bread on SS14, but it's still no picnic for Ford's third driver - he's five minutes back from the leaders, although he has moved ahead Toshi Arai's Subaru to 13th place.

Auriol's team mate Harri Rovanpera had to settle for the fourth fastest time through SS14. It was the first time the Finn has been outside the top two stage times on leg two, but despite this he's moved up to third overall after Carlos Sainz finished 12 seconds off the pace on Cassidy. Rovanpera now has an 11-second lead over the Spaniard in the battle for third.

Rovanpera's sights are now set on Colin McRae, who was fifth fastest through the stage, half a second quicker than the man he's closing in on in the championship Mitsubishi's Tommi Makinen. But the four-time world champion looks set to move up another place soon. He's less than a second behind Norwegian Petter Solberg, who set an identical time to Sainz on SS14.

Marcus Gronholm (seventh) and Toni Gardemeister (10th) made the top 10 through Cassidy as the rally heads to its penultimate stage on Saturday SS15 Mititai.

For SS14, Cassidy results, click here.

For full live timings table click here.

For full entry list click here.

For the itinerary click here.