Leg 2 (Friday) started at the civilised hour of 9am. The weather by this time had settled into definite Manx-mode – low cloud, a fair wind and continuous rain – but at least it made the teams' choice of tyres fairly easy. It was going to be a long day, with 12 of the island's most demanding stages to complete in the most atrocious conditions. With the service crews stranded at the distinctly inhospitable Jurby Airfield, reports were coming in from clearly impressed spectators of drivers flat out on the mountain stages at over 100mph with visibility at less than 30 metres. One could only think that whoever was to win this event would thoroughly deserve his (please don't accuse me of being sexist, but we do need some hard-charging female WRC car drivers. Any takers?) moment of glory.
Guy Wilks was the first casualty of the day, dropping out from 11th overall and third in the 1600 class with a blown engine. At the front there were mixed fortunes: Mark Higgins was still setting the pace, but Jonny Milner and Andrew Nesbitt were always close behind, with David Higgins keeping Ginley at arm's length in Group N. Justin Dale was defying any normal reference point by continuously (I know – I've seen it on the in-car tape) hitting the rev-limiter in sixth gear, despite the mist and standing water. Team mate and closest 1600 rival Rory Galligan, however, retired from an impressive seventh overall with a broken cam belt. Kris Meeke, driving his usual S-Mac Puma, dropped two minutes with electrical problems, and then his bonnet flew open, smashing the windscreen. David Henderson's luck continued to desert him (so much so that he asked ABIRO to change his PBRC registration number from 13 to 66). First a drive-shaft broke at the Brandywell chicane, and then he fell foul, along with several other competitors, of the swollen ford at the end of the Ballagyr stage where his radiator was terminally damaged. Meeke also retired at the same spot, as did Paul Alexander (Group N Evo7). Martin Samson, driving superbly in his 2001-spec Peugeot 106 kit car, was luckier: his gearbox packed up on stage 11, but he managed to get to service where the team replaced it within the 20 minutes allowance – a record time for them. Steve Petch, also making a welcome return to the Championship in his Hyundai Accent WRC, had an unscheduled trip through a wall and into a ditch but was helped out by that unexplained phenomenon of British rallying – a herd of beefy locals (or, surprisingly, Yorkshiremen in this case) appearing out of nowhere and lending vital assistance.
