With the weather still a mixture of light drizzle and brief dry spells the roads were now very greasy and numerous drivers were commenting on 'big moments' or half spins but Stage 12, Ryehill 1, would prove to be the undoing of Rory Galligan. Despite having limited experience of the islands roads Galligan had been going well but an especially slippery section caught him out and the works Mitsubishi driver rolled his Evo IX into retirement.
After two short spectator stages the cars returned to service to prepare for the final two stages on Friday, both repeats of the morning loop.
By now Champion was past Wilks, happy with the set up on his car and had Higgins in his sights. Despite loosing time to Higgins on Union Mills, Champion was confident he could make some back on the final stage of the day, Cringle 2. However a deceptively slippery section caught the Mitsubishi driver out, he clipped the bank and ripped a wheel off, sustaining a lot of damage to the side of the car. He was able to limp around the corner before parking up. The crew both jumped out to slow the next car, Irish contender Seamus Leonard, down but he had also been caught out by the conditions and crashed out in the same place, rolling over the bank and into a field! As a result the stage was stopped and the rest of the competitors given nominal times.
"It is so frustrating," said Champion. "We were going so well and were not taking any big risks. If you had to give me another shot at that section I’d take the same line at the same speed. It’s so annoying but that’s part of what the Isle of Man is all about."
By the end of day two Mark Higgins now led Wilks by over 2 minutes, with Milner up to third after some spirited driving. Creeping into the top six was young Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach who, despite a few spins, was quickly adjusting to the tricky conditions on his first attempt at this event.
