Petter Solberg is firming in control of the rally, but with Sebastien Loeb comfortably holding second place, it does little to help his title defence. Marcus Gronholm held second place through most of the day til turbo problems got the better of his Peugeot, and the Finn lost over 23 minutes to the leaders, though, unusually, Gronholm didn’t retire, and he managed to stay at the top of the time tables for the rest of the day. This was bad news for Solberg, however, as Loeb moved in second place, and with Carlos Sainz over a minute behind the Frenchman, there was little chance of Loeb protecting his championship lead.

There will be a podium battle, however, with Markko Martin just behind Carlos Sainz. Martin hasn’t been happy with his Focus, and he’s really been off the pace, but he will push Sainz tomorrow. The rest of the points places are filled with privateers taking advantage of the high rate of factory car attrition (Harri Rovanpera, Mikko Hirvonen, Armin Schwarz, Toni Gardenmeister).

Posted on 2 October 2004