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SS6, Mendenista 2: McRae takes overall lead

Colin McRae will be the first car through the second day's stages of the Acropolis Rally after setting the fastest time on the last test of the day, the re-run of Mendenista, and taking overall lead. The Ford driver inherits the top spot from the Subaru of Petter Solberg when the young Norwegian suffered gear change problems on SS6

McRae's time of 19m14.2s was just two tenths shy of Richard Burns' record set on the first run through the 26.92km test earlier in the day. The Scotsman now has a 21.1s advantage over team mate Carlos Sainz at the top of the leaderboard following Sainz's second quickest time, 10 seconds back from McRae.

Harri Rovanpera in the sole remaining works Peugeot was third fastest, just finishing ahead of compatriot Tommi Makinen in the Mitsubishi Lancer. However they are back in eighth and ninth overall respectively, over a minute behind the leaders.

Makinen's team mate Freddy Loix was next up, followed by the Subaru of Richard Burns. After running behind his lesser experienced team mates for most of the day, Burns will find himself clearing the roads for Solberg and Markko Martin on Saturday, as the young pair failed to set competitive times on the last stage of the leg. Martin's front suspension was set up too hard and so suffered over the rocks. He was 10th on the stage while Solberg, who couldn't shift his Subaru Impreza out of third gear, failed to get into the top 10. Martin has dropped down to fourth overall, while Solberg is one further place back in fifth.

Francois Delecour, struggling with a painful wrist, finished behind Burns in seventh, with Alister McRae's Hyundai Accent and the Skoda of Armin Schwarz in eighth and ninth respectively.

Citroen suffered a major blow on their first gravel event when leading runner Thomas Radstrom retired 2km from the end of the stage with an electrical fault. The Swede was running seventh overall before Mendenista in his first competitive since Rally Sweden in February.

The first of Leg Two's seven tests tomorrow is the re-run of the 24.45 Pavliani stage.

For SS6 results click here.

For full live timings table click here.

For full entry list click here.

For the itinerary click here.

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