Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen has maintained his lead during the second leg of Rally Australia, the 14th round of the FIA World Rally Championship. The 26-year-old Ford driver has controlled the pace at the front of the field and takes a 32.3 second advantage into the final day of competition on Sunday. Petter Solberg, in second, has pushed hard but struggled to make a dent in the young Finn’s lead, while Peugeot driver Manfred Stohl has overhauled Xavier Pons to take third position.

After a day of carnage yesterday, in which five of the Championship-contending crews were forced onto the sidelines, few have hit problems today. All but Henning Solberg re-started today’s leg, permitted under the Super Rally regulations, and competition has been fierce over the nine stages run largely in the ‘Bunnings’ complex, famous for its roller-coaster jumps and water splashes.

Hirvonen, who is chasing his first World Rally victory, was the pace-setter from the outset and out- performed double World Champion team-mate Marcus Grönholm on all but four stages. Four fastest stage times during a day of faultless driving keep Hirvonen in the frame but, with 103 competitive kilometres yet to run, his first victory at world level is far from secure.

With a healthy advantage over his nearest rival, Petter Solberg has been focused on Hirvonen, but the Subaru driver was simply unable to close the gap, with only one stage win. Xavier Pons (Citroën Xsara) and Manfred Stohl started the leg split by just 9.2 seconds but within two stages Stohl had overhauled his rival to climb into the final provisional podium position.

In contrast to yesterday, Marcus Grönholm has enjoyed a trouble-free run and the Finn has powered up the leaderboard from 18th to seventh, with four stage victories. However, without retirements ahead of him, Grönholm has little, if any chance of climbing to third to maintain any hope of fighting for the FIA World Rally Championship title.

Rally Australia - Results after Leg 2

1	Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 17 min 01.8sec
2	Petter Solberg/Phil Mills	Subaru Impreza WRC	2 hr 17 min 34.1sec
3	Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor	Peugeot 307 WRC	2 hr 19 min 38.7sec
4	Xavier Pons/Carlos Del Barrio	Citroën Xsara WRC	2 hr 19 min 58.8sec
5	Marcos Ligato/Rubèn Garcia	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo	2 hr 28 min 27.1sec
6	Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila	Subaru Impreza WRX	2 hr 28 min 54.9sec

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