Finland’s Marcus Grönholm has extended his lead during the second leg of the Rally of Turkey and looks to be in a position to maintain a Championship fight in the absence of series leader Sébastien Loeb. Maximum points to slash the deficit to Loeb are critical and while the Finn now has a two minute 05.2 second advantage over Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen, tricky and unpredictable conditions guarantee nothing. Petter Solberg, second throughout the leg and winner of two stages today, crashed in the penultimate stage and retired from the leg. Ironically it was brother Henning Solberg who benefited and moved into third overnight.

While conditions have been markedly better than yesterday, inconsistent levels of grip on the muddy mountain roads have made tyre choice difficult. And, while the rain held off for most of the day, a heavy hailstorm in the penultimate stage added yet another dimension to the 13th round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Marcus Grönholm and Petter Solberg (Subaru) have been battling hard throughout the leg, the two Scandinavians split by mere seconds and sharing stage wins in their fight for victory. Grönholm nevertheless inched out his advantage and was then handed the comfortable lead he so desperately needs when rival Petter Solberg retired from the leg. The Subaru driver hit a rock in stage 15 which launched the car off the road and into a ditch, where he was forced to retire from the leg and watch a potential best result in months disappear.

Grönholm’s team-mate Mikko Hirvonen - winner of two stages - now claims second and, with Henning Solberg nearly three minutes adrift of Grönholm, the Finn couldn’t have hoped for a better overnight result with just three stages to be run tomorrow. Chris Atkinson is now flying the flag for Subaru and the Australian has climbed from seventh to fourth. Kosti Katajamaki, in another Ford, holds a close fifth with Xavier Pons (Citroën Xsara) rounding off the top six. Britain’s Colin McRae, drafted in to replace the injured Sébastien Loeb, is seventh overnight. A combination of the wrong tyres and a set-up too hard for the wet conditions has conspired against the former World Rally Champion.

Rally of Turkey – Results after Leg 2
 

1	Marcus Grönholm/Timo Rautiainen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 49 min 50.4sec
2	Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 51 min 55.6sec
3	Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud	Peugeot 307 WRC	2 hr 52 min 36.0sec
4	Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall	Subaru Impreza WRC	2 hr 52 min 54.4sec
5	Kosti Katajamäki/Timo Alanne	Ford Focus RS WRC	2 hr 52 min 56.1sec
6	Xavier Pons/Carlos Del Barrio	Citroën Xsara WRC	2 hr 53 min 19.9sec

 
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