Britain's Colin McRae was left to rue his tyre choice on the final loop on Friday in Turkey, after it dropped him down the pecking order from fourth to sixth overall.

McRae, who has been drafted in by Kronos Citroen to sub for Sebastien Loeb, after the Frenchman broke his arm three weeks ago, enjoyed a solid start to the day, posting the fifth best time in the first test.

After the first service, he was then joint fourth fastest in the next test, hauling himself up into fourth overall, a position he held until the final two 'proper' tests, when the wrong tyre choice cost him loads of time. The Scot gambled on the roads drying up in SS7 and SS8, however that did not happen and as a result he dropped down the leader board to seventh and from being around 6 seconds off the final place on the podium, he went into the super special, over 35 seconds behind Mikko Hirvonen. Although me managed to claim back a place in the 5.20 km Akedeniz University test, he was disappointed with the day's proceedings.

"I can't pretend that I'm not a bit disappointed," he confirmed. "OK, we've lost time, but at least we know exactly why. We had hoped for dry conditions [in SS7 and SS8], or at least a clean line, whereas it was muddy from start to finish. However, I'm very happy with my Xsara. I grew in confidence with it as the day went on. It's certainly been an interesting way to get to grips with it!"

As for the conditions he reckoned they were 'impossible' early on and worse than those encountered in Portugal back in 2001: “In the first stage of the day it was important to survive and stay on the road. For sure, it's not the best conditions for my comeback but we are going to do it anyway. Of course, in such difficult conditions [my experience] helps, but it won't guarantee that you cannot make a mistake," he continued. "What's surprising is how fast the stages dried off. I think I need a bit more time to be back on the pace 100 per cent."

All-in-all it was a far from rosy day for Kronos, with Xavier Pons seventh in the 'third' car and Daniel Sordo down in eleventh, not even on course for one manufacturers' point. Dani like McRae opted for the wrong tyres in the final loop.

"From the start of SS7, where there was mud everywhere, I knew my tyre choice was wrong,” reflected Sordo. “The positive side was that my Xsara still felt predictable and easy to drive despite that handicap. On SS8 my notes worked well and I had a good feeling - I was hoping for a decent performance. Tomorrow, we will try to make the right tyre choices and climb back up the leader board."