Further down the order,
Chris Atkinson is now sixth with
Henning Solberg seventh - albeit over a minute further back - and
Urmo Aava eighth and on course for the final drivers' point in his privately entered PH-Sport-run C4 WRC.
Suzuki World Rally Team duo
Toni Gardemeister and Per-Gunnar Andersson complete the top ten and neither reported any issues.
Of the rest,
Conrad Rautenbach is eleventh, followed by
Stobart Ford's
Matthew Wilson, Munchi's man
Federico Villagra,
Subaru's
Petter Solberg and Mads Ostberg.
Petter had a dismal morning and from being third overnight, slipped down to 7th in the opening test when he lost around 20-30 seconds. Worse was to come however and when he had to stop and change a puncture in SS8, he lost more time – around 5 minutes and is now 14th. ‘Hollywood' also finished the last stage of the loop with a cracked windscreen - as did Ostberg, who reported spectators were throwing stones at the cars.
In the Junior World Rally Championhips category, Martin Prokop continued to lead until SS9, when Michal Kosciuszko moved in front. Kosciuszko now heads the Czech by just 1.5 seconds, with Alessandro Bettega third, a further 1 minute 20 seconds further back. Shaun Gallagher and Aaron Burkart completed the JWRC top five.
In terms of retirees none of the front runners went out, although five Junior crews had issues and had to call it a day, including Patrik Sandell, who was running third, as well as Jaan Molder, Florian Niegel, Simone Bertolotti and Milos Komljenovic. It is not yet known if any of these runners will be able to re-start under the SupeRally on Sunday.
The action now resumes at 14.56 hours local time, when all three of this morning's test will be repeated to conclude the second day.
More to follow then...
