The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of François Delecour and Daniel Grataloup have powered up the Rallye de France - Tour de Corse leaderboard into eighth position at the end of the second leg. Team-mates Alister McRae and David Senior have also improved in their Lancer Evolution WRC, the British pair slotting into 12th position after 245 competitive kilometres.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

Yesterday’s opening leg saw just 10 competitors retire, but the remaining 51 crews were greeted with very different conditions when they left Ajaccio early this morning. Overnight rain left previously dry roads damp and as rain continued to fall throughout the day, the conditions became more and more of a lottery. Ominous low cloud hung over the distant mountains, making the job of the weather crews all the more important and tyre choice a constant talking point. The leg, with seven stages and 150 competitive kilometres to the north-east of Ajaccio, was the longest of the event and included a repetition of the longest stage (SS6), and two groups of three stages run twice.

The Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart crew of François Delecour and Daniel Grataloup started the day in 11th position, however the French duo have progressively worked their way up the leaderboard, powering ahead of rivals and also benefiting from the retirement of Finland’s Tommi Makinen. Like all the other crews, François has chosen his moments to conserve the tyres over the dry sections and has made adjustments to the Lancer Evolution WRC to improve its handling in wet conditions. Holding eighth overall and sixth of the registered manufacturers, the Frenchman is on course to score his first points with Mitsubishi.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart F. Delecour / D. Grataloup

"It’s been a good day - we’ve moved from 11th to eighth and that’s what we wanted to achieve", he said. "With points for Mitsubishi, our aim is to now get into the top six for drivers’ points. We wondered about our tyre choice once we got into the first of the last three stages because it was raining, but it turned out to be right over the whole group of stages and everything worked well".

Team-mates Alister McRae and David Senior have also moved up the leaderboard from 18th to 12th and have the potential to fight with no fewer than four rivals ahead of them. With a reasonably comfortable lead over 13th placed Freddy Loix in the Hyundai, the Scot can concentrate on attacking over the final stages tomorrow.

"We’ve climbed six places today which we’re pleased about and it’d be nice to do the same again tomorrow!" said Alister. "The car’s been working well and we’ve had no problems other than a broken damper at the start of stage 12, which cost us a bit of time. The stages have been very difficult today and there was a lot of mud and water in stage 10 in particular. Tomorrow we’ll push as hard as we can and see what happens".

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution WRC Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart A. McRae / D. Senior

Adding to their comments, Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team manager Derek Dauncey said: "It seems that the car is more competitive in wetter conditions and adjustments we’ve made throughout the day have resulted in a string of top 10 stage times. On that basis, hopefully the conditions will stay the same tomorrow. As a team, it’s good to be in a point-scoring position again".

Meanwhile...

Peugeot continue to dominate the leaderboard and have staked a claim on the top three positions. Asphalt expert and rally leader Gilles Panizzi has however extended his advantage over second-placed Marcus Gronholm despite brake problems in SS9, but the Finn and reigning World Champion Richard Burns are split by just 21 seconds after 145 kilometres of competition. First of the non-Michelin runners was Tommi Makinen in fourth position, however the Finnish Subaru driver aquaplaned into retirement in stage 10, damaging the front suspension beyond repair. Philippe Bugalski has catapulted up the leaderboard today, the French driver in the non-manufacturer supported Citroen Xsara climbing from eighth to an overnight fourth. Former winner of the Tour de Corse, Colin McRae (Ford), holds fifth, the Scot - like all the other crews - finding it difficult to chose tyres down in the service park on the seafront for stages that are 20 kilometres away in the mountains. Team-mate Carlos Sainz has slipped down the order to sixth this afternoon. The Spaniard’s advantage over Petter Solberg (Subaru) is however marginal, despite the Norwegian being the only driver seemingly capable of snatching two stage victories (SS6 and SS10) from one of the Peugeot drivers. Behind François Delecour in eighth, Armin Schwarz has upheld honours for Hyundai, the German posting fourth and fifth fastest times in stages 10 and 11 respectively to move into ninth. François Duval (Ford) holds the last position in the top 10. Subaru was the only manufacturer to have lost a car today and the only other leading retirement was that of Bruno Thiry in a privately-entered Peugeot 206 WRC.

Still to come...

The third and final leg of the Rallye de France - Tour de Corse starts at 08:20 hrs (local) on Sunday and takes the contenders to the south-east of Ajaccio. It includes just four stages and 112 competitive kilometres, however nothing will be guaranteed until the crews return to Ajaccio for the podium finish at 14:36 hrs (local).

Mitsubishi Motors drivers have tightened their grip on the Production Car class on the Tour de Corse, the second round of the 2002 FIA Production Car World Rally Championship. Peruvian Ramon Ferreyros has a comfortable lead in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution over Bulgaria’s Dimitar Iliev, and Mitsubishi drivers hold nine of the top 10 places in the Group N classification.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Gr.N R. Ferreyros / D. Vallejo

Ramon Ferreyros was mere fractions ahead of fellow Mitsubishi driver Hamed Al Wahaibi when he left Ajaccio in the morning, but a thrilling battle was decided when the Arabian star crashed on SS9. Ferreyros has cemented a comfortable lead since then in his Lancer Evolution.

"In the dry it was very close, but in the wet it was going our way and then Hamed made a mistake. The car is incredible. It is so stable on tarmac: it’s fantastic to drive", Ferreyros said.

Second place belongs to Dimitar Iliev, also driving a Lancer Evolution. It has been a highly impressive performance in difficult and unfamiliar conditions.

"It hasn’t been easy today. The car has been very good, but you don’t know what to expect when the weather changes all the time and this is brilliant for us", Iliev commented.

Local hero and former class winner Jean-Marie Santoni has climbed to third in the Production Class in his Lancer Evolution on one of his increasingly rare appearances.

"It’s been a tough rally for us, but it is going well now. I don’t think we can catch Iliev with only four stages left, but third would be a good result anyway", he said.

Britain’s Martin Rowe holds fourth in the class in a Carisma GT, with vastly experienced Uruguayan Gustavo Trelles fifth in a Lancer Evolution and Austria’s Beppo Harrach sixth in another Carisma GT.