Aava, who was leading by more than 10 seconds, made a crucial error and crashed out in Calcatoggio 1. It has yet to be confirmed if he will be able to re-start or not. If he cannot P-G is guaranteed the Junior title as while they are equal top in the JRC standings - both having scored 38 points, P-G has the edge in terms of wins, three to Urmo's 1.
SS8 though wasn't kind to Andersson either and he lost over 2 minutes with a puncture, dropping from second to fourth. The Swede finished the day fifth overall.
Jozef Beres is on course for the JRC runners-up spot - 34.9 seconds off Aava, while
Conrad Rautenbach completes the podium, a further 35 seconds or so adrift.
Yoann Bonato is next up - fourth in the class and he has had a brilliant day on his first outing in a
Citroen C2 S1600, setting the JRC pace in every single test.
Of the ‘big' retirees on day 1 - namely
Mikko Hirvonen, Nicolas Bernardi and Alessandro Bettega, all three re-started this morning under the SupeRally. The latter made the most progress and finished the day 14th overall, while Hirvonen is now just inside the top 30 in the #2
BP Ford Focus.
Bernardi did not complete the second leg however in the new
Suzuki SX4 WRC car - he retired
en-route to SS11 due to engine problems. Prior to that he had set the 16th best time in SS7, the 14th best in SS8, the 12th best in SS9 and the 13th best in SS10.
The action now resumes on Sunday at 07.55 hours local time, when SS13 - the 24.24 kilometre-run through Penitencier-Coti-Pietra Rossa 1, kicks off the third and final leg. Two tests will be run on day 3, both repeated twice, totally around 112 competitive kilometres.
