Subaru's
Chris Atkinson remains locked in a battle for fourth with
Francois Duval following day 2 of the Rally Monte Carlo.
The gap between the two was 14.9 seconds following day 1 however Duval slashed that margin to just 2.9 seconds on the first stage this morning, before Chris came back in SS4 and SS5 and took the margin back to 7 seconds.
The situation in the afternoon was much the same and Duval was again on it in St Pierreville, posting the second quickest time overall in his
Stobart Ford Focus and once again closing up on fourth.
Burzet and St Martial seemed to suit Atkinson more though and two third fastest times allowed the Aussie to increase his cushion from 3.4 seconds to 14 seconds going into day 3.
"I'm happy with today - we started ok this morning, and then made some set-up changes during the midday service which worked better," said Chris. "In the afternoon loop we pushed hard to finish with two third fastest stage times to keep fourth overall. There's a long way to go, but we're in a good position and going well.
"Tomorrow's stages are very fast. I went well on them last year although now there are slight changes to the routes, but I am looking forward to continuing the fight tomorrow."
Duval meanwhile was happier with his car on day 2 after making some changes to the set-up this morning in service B. The Belgian will be keen to try and come back at Atkinson on day 3, but he will also be mindful that a good result could be vital if his one-off outing with the Stobart team is to be extended.
"The car is feeling much better today with the tyres, brakes and also the pace-notes. The feeling I have is good so today has been very productive and you can see this with my second fastest stage time," he added.
"I enjoyed the stages today and things in the car are working well. The changes we made to the car last night helped a lot today."
