Sebastien Ogier continues to lead Rally Wales GB at the end of Day 2, but the battle for second place still rages. Mikko Hirvonen is holding the runner-up spot at present but Kris Meeke is just 3 seconds adrift. And not far behind him is Citroen team mate Mads Ostberg with Thierry Neuville closing the gap as well and Elfyn Evans is also within reach in sixth place.Euan Thorburn has dropped back a wee bit. He had a knackered bottom balljoint last night, but purloined a spare from M-Sport. This morning he had a misfire on the first two stages and this was traced to a crank sensor. It apparently cleared itself in the third test and then he stalled it at a chicane in the fourth test. It was on a tarmac stretch of road, but the front runners had scattered slittery mud all over it and he just turned in, slid wide and smacked a bale.
Tony Jardine was lucky to re-start this morning after the Scroots cleared his repairs at 3.00 am, then at 6.00 am he was told he would need a new o/s front wing and headlamp before he would be allowed to start. Eventually he managed to borrow the parts from Citroen - apparently they had a stock for their recce cars - and the boys managed to get the car looking showroom-good just minutes before he was due to re-start.
Garry Pearson had a half spin on the first stage this morning but he's pleased with his pace using Chris Ingram in the works Peugeot as a guide.
Leaderboard after 17 of 23 stages (and list of top Brits):
1, S. OGIER, 2:33:19.3
2, M. HIRVONEN, 2:34:17.4
3, K. MEEKE, 2:34:20.8
4, M. OSTBERG, 2:35:00.5
5, T. NEUVILLE, 2:35:03.8
6, E. EVANS, 2:35:11.7
7, O. TANAK, 2:35:52.6
8, J. LATVALA, 2:36:47.4
9, H. SOLBERG, 2:36:56.7
10, M. PROKOP, 2:37:13.8
15, M. WILSON, 2:44:37.4
16, T. CAVE, 2:44:39.2
19, O. PRYCE, 2:45:51.5
25, P. MORROW, 2:52:27.8
29, A. FISHER, 2:57:09.2
30, E. THORBURN, 2:58:18.7
41, J. GREER, 3:04:51.5
42, C. INGRAM, 3:04:59.1
43, W. UTTING, 3:05:03.4
47, M. MCCORMACK, 3:07:05.2
48, G. GREENSMITH, 3:09:24.8
50, S. WILLIAMS, 3:11:55.3
52, S. WILKINSON, 3:15:43.5
53, T. JARDINE, 3:18:14.8
58, T. SIMPSON, 3:29:51.2
59, B. MCKAY, 3:32:09.3
60, G. PEARSON, 3:35:32.4
61, S. KAKAD, 3:42:20.9
