Marcus Gronholm slim hopes of taking the 2007 drivers' title receded a little more on day two of the Wales Rally GB.
The BP Ford number one, who is making his 150th WRC start this weekend and who will retire at the end of this season, needs his arch-rival Sebastien Loeb to hit trouble to stand any chance of taking his third crown and with just one day left time is running out.
Gronholm had led the championship for much of the year but after crashing out on the previous two events in Japan and Ireland, he handed the initiative back to Seb, who currently has a six-point lead. As such to clinch the crown he will need the Citroen man to drop outside of the top-five and with Loeb running in a secure third it doesn't look good for the Finn.
"There was no stress and no pressure today as I can do nothing but wait and see what happens to Loeb,” he stated. “There's no plan to push to catch Mikko [Hirvonen – my team-mate, who leads]. It would be stupid for me to do that and make a mistake.
“My plan is to stay in second. It would be good to win my final rally but that's not my priority – the title is.”
Despite saying there was no stress though, Gronholm did have a bit of a scare on the final forest stage, the second run through the 18.37 kilometre Halfway test, when his car began to oversteer.
"I don't know what happened but the right corner was oversteering and the car was like a snake. I didn't hit anything and then on the motorway to the final stage in Cardiff it was OK again. It was a mystery," he added.
The 39-year-old though soon put that to the back of his mind and he sped to an emotional stage win on the super special in Cardiff, the final test of the day: “It was great to win in the Millennium Stadium. There was a fantastic atmosphere and I really appreciated the ovation the fans gave me at the end of the stage there," he summed-up.
