However, for Sigurdarson his promising start suddenly turned into a dramatic finish on SS8, when his car stepped out of line on a fast and bumpy narrow section of road, impact with a tree sending his car into a series of spins and rolls between the solid Manx banks. With his Evo IX in ruins, both he and his co-driver Isak Gudjonsson were taken to the local hospital for a check-up, where thankfully both were discharged later that day with nothing worse than bruises and a suspected fracture in Sigurdarson's hand.
At the first service halt of the day, the scoreboard showed Catchcart now leading by 38 seconds, with Cronin 31 ahead of McCance. Plagued by a season of bad luck so far, David Meredith had no choice but to retire at this point, when his car's clutch stopped working due to a sheared hydraulic coupling.
With roads drying out and teams now getting to grips with suspension settings, speeds for Saturday's second batch of three stages continued to rise. But the improved conditions didn't seem to help Bogie, who clipped a bank on stage 10, which flipped his car onto its roof and, although continuing, the consequent delay caused him to exceed his maximum lateness.
Johnston reported a lucky escape on SS11, when contact with a kerb caused a wheel to remove itself from the car and disappear over the side of a cliff, a swift change in the stage allowing him to make it back to the second service halt.
![Keith Cronin / Greg Shinnors - Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. RBS International Manx Rally [Pic credit: MREC UK]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/438595.jpg)
