Loeb, Radstrom enjoy excellent day for Xsaras.

The Citroen Xsara WRCs of Thomas R?dstr?m/Denis Giraudet and S?bastien Loeb/Daniel Elena returned to Nairobi tonight in fourth and fifth positions respectively, after the French cars demonstrated high performance by setting two fastest times during the day.

The hardest thing, as they say, is not to go to hell, but having to go back there. The competitors of the 50th Safari Rally left very early this morning to tackle five competitive sections, each of which had previously been driven yesterday in the reverse direction. Just 19 factory crews took the start after six had retired on leg one, and this particularly high attrition rate among the 'official' teams, where reliability is the main word, illustrated on its own the merciless aspect of this rally now played by elimination.

In these untypical conditions, Citro?n is a relative novice. The Xsara WRC and its two drivers have never taken part in the event before and, keen to build experience, both crews had to find the right balance between high speed and car preservation.

The Xsaras were fast on day one, but encountered suspension problems like many of their competitors. On day two, however, both Citro?ns went through a problem-free day and posted excellent times, thanks to the determined work of the technical team but also the great adaptation skills of the crews.

Loeb got things right straight away by setting the fastest time in the first stage and, after he confirmed his performance with second best time on SS8, he was again the quickest in the day's final stage.

R?dstr?m's performance also demonstrated the team's improvements since the first day, giving Citroen boss Guy Fr?quelin good reason to be satisfied, even if he stayed very cautious.

"The third leg promises to be very tough," he warned, "We're happy that we made the suspension more reliable with new settings. For the first time in this rally, our results are encouraging."