SS6, Flynns Short: McRae takes lead

Auriol got his Peugeot 206 through the Flynns Short stage just 0.3s faster than McRae, which was enough to put the Scot ahead of Marcus Gronholm by the same margin on the overall leaderboard.

Richard Burns finished third on the 19.98km test 0.8s behind McRae to hold onto his third place overall, while Gronholm proved that he is far from out of the running by setting the fourth fastest time, trailing Burns by only 0.2s.

Gronholm's Peugeot team mate Harri Rovanpera finished fifth while Burns' Subaru stable mate Petter Solberg rounded out the top six, 7.6s off the overall pace.

McRae's team mate Carlos Sainz was less lucky and struck a post during the stage breaking a driveshaft on the Spaniard's Ford Focus. Sainz lost more than a minute and a half and with the top 10 so closely bunched, he dropped from fourth to 11th.

Tommi Makinen continued to struggle finishing eighth on the stage behind Gilles Panizzi, with Mitsubishi team mate Freddy Loix ninth and Francois Delecour in 10th. Like team mate Sainz, Delecour also had problems after making contact with something during the stage causing the bodywork of his Focus to rub on one of the wheels.

For full times from SS6, click here.

For full rally live timings, click here.

For rally itinerary, click here.

For full entry list, click here.