The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of Tommi Makinen and Timo Hantunen continue to lead the team’s assault in Rally Australia, the Finnish pairing holding sixth position at the end of the second day of competition. Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have put in an impressive performance, but dropped down the order to 11th after electrical problems delayed them at the start of stage 15.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart T. Makinen / T. Hantunen

Mitsubishi Motors drivers hold the top five places in the Group N production class however. Australia’s Ed Ordynski continues to lead the way in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, but he is still under pressure from Argentina’s Gabriel Pozzo in a similar car, with Mitsubishi Carisma GT driver Juha Kangas right behind in third place.

The second leg took the 63 remaining crews 150 kilometres to the south of Perth for a scheduled six forestry stages around the small town of Harvey, before returning to the city for the final run at the super special stage this evening. However, following an accident involving the Ford crew of Francois Delecour/Daniel Grataloup, stage 13 - the awesome 45 kilometre Wellington Dam - was cancelled. Francois escaped unscathed, however Daniel was airlifted to hospital with two/three cracked ribs, a cracked collarbone and shoulder blade. Ironically it was through a gesture of goodwill to team-mate Colin McRae that the Frenchman was forced to run first on the road today. Last night the organisers deemed McRae late for the road position draw and the Scot hence forfeited his right to choose his running place and, as a consequence, was by default allocated first on the road. However, by Delecour incurring tactical penalties, McRae at least had one car ahead of him to sweep away some of the loose gravel.

As forecast, the weather took a marked change for the worse today, early morning warm but overcast conditions giving way to torrential rain in the service park and lighter drizzle during the early afternoon stages. For Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution driver Tommi Makinen the day started much better than it finished last night, the muscular pain in his back considerably eased after intense physiotherapy and a good night’s rest. Brake problems hampered his early morning charge and dropped him back behind Subaru’s Petter Solberg, however a determined effort throughout the day and a host of top stage times has seen the Finns retake sixth position, an important move as, if all the positions remain unchanged tomorrow, McRae, Makinen and Burns will be separated by just three points going into the final round.

"We’ve had a few little problems today, a leak on the brake cooling system this morning and the engine cutting out this afternoon, but we’ve got a few other little things we’re going to try tomorrow", said Tommi. "It was good to have got past Petter again and back into the drivers’ points, and it’s also encouraging that Colin is only one place ahead of me. With a one minute gap though it’ll be difficult to catch him, but we have to try!"

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Loix / S. Smeets

Team-mates Freddy Loix and Sven Smeets have also demonstrated the pace of the gravel-spec Lancer Evolution WRC, promising performances allowing them to push hard over the gravel strewn stages. However, the Belgians incurred a two minute 10 second penalty at the beginning of stage 15 when they had to work furiously to repair a broken connection to the battery. The 13 minute delay dropped them from ninth to 12th, but the pair clawed their way back to 11th by the end of the day.

"I had a smell in the car which I could tell was coming from the battery", said Freddy, "and found that one of the electrical connections was broken. I forced it back on with the jack handle while Sven started the engine. It’s disappointing to have lost so much time, but otherwise I’m happy with the day. The car feels very good on gravel, as I always thought it would, and I’m pleased with our times today, especially in the last two stages. The plan tomorrow is to drive flat out, not make any mistakes and see if we can get past Alister (McRae)".

Ed Ordynski has won Group N on the Rally Australia seven times, but he knew better than to relax, despite building up a useful lead in his Lancer Evolution during the first leg.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N E. Ordynski / I. Stewart