Duval powers Ford Puma to head of JWRC pack.

Ford Puma driver Francois Duval has driven a sensational day in the Baumholder region to lead the FIA Junior World Rally Championship contingent tonight.

It has been a day of intense action on Rallye Deutschland, made worse by initially wet stages that dried as the day progressed. Seven crews were caught out by the conditions and failed to complete today's eight stages but the three remaining Ford Pumas are all in the top ten this evening.

Duval and co-driver Jean-Marc Fortin really put the hammer down on today's opening stage, taking a clear fastest time and immediately jumping into the lead of the JWRC competition. The Belgian duo held their advantage after the next stage and arrived at service with big grins across their faces. "I really enjoyed those wet stages," he said. "We adjusted our suspension for the conditions and got the tyre choice absolutely perfect."

The British pairing of Martin Rowe and Chris Wood were also flying this morning and growing in confidence. "We've had no dramas and the car's set-up is very good right now and is suiting my driving style. I did these stages last year but the grass is a lot shorter this time and you can see so many rocks and ditches. You really have to be careful here and I don't think that it will necessarily be the fastest driver who wins."

Unfortunately on the next stage, Rowe punctured a tyre and had to change the wheel, dropping him from fourth to tenth although he recovered to lie seventh tonight. "We were in sixth gear in a very narrow part of the stage when we saw a big rock. Because the road was so narrow we couldn't avoid it," said a very disappointed Manxman.

"I've been impressed with Martin's performance on this event," said Astra team manager Luca Pregliasco. "After some disappointments and bad luck earlier in the year, Martin needed to regain his confidence and, despite this one problem, the event has been good for him in that respect."

Roger Feghali and co-driver Nicola Arena were fortunate that Armin Schwarz's accident forced the cancellation of SS10. The Lebanese driver had suffered power steering failure on today's opening stage and was happy to learn that he was not going to be asked to contest 35.56kms of Panzerplatte. His lack of recce time again affected his efforts and he admitted to missing three junctions on SS13 but he lies tenth overall tonight.

The Swedish crew of Daniel Carlsson and Mattias Andersson joined the retirements list today when their engine was damaged in SS12. "That's rallying," he said philosophically. "It's not been a lucky event for me but I know that next time it could be my competitors' turn. Luck is sometimes with you and sometimes not."

Norway's Alexander Foss and Cato Menkerud admitted that they preferred yesterday's drier conditions to the rain-soaked stages of today. However, in their quest for experience in their first season of World Rally Championship competition they decided to push harder on this afternoon's stages, only to slide off the road and seriously damage the radiator on SS11, leaving them to coax the car through the next two stages to service.

Unfortunately there was evidence that the engine had been damaged and so there was no choice but to withdraw at service and get ready for the next round in San Remo.

Duval's team manager Chris Birkbeck, said this evening: "It's been a grand day! We've had very few problems while our main competition has suffered. Francois has driven well to establish and then extend his lead. It's a tricky day tomorrow and the WRC drivers will drag dirt onto the roads but Francois thinks they are like the ones at home in Belgium and so he's feeling as confident as possible that he can stay ahead to the finish."

News from Ford's 'Junior' rivals:

Late last night rally officials added a 20 sec road penalty to JWRC leader Niall McShea after the Ulsterman had to fix an alternator problem on the road section after SS6. As a result, instead of leading, McShea was dropped to second behind the Citroen Saxo of German driver Sven Haaf. McShea's rally ended when he rolled into retirement on SS14.

This morning saw Haaf retire on the long second stage of the day when his Citroen Saxo blew its engine 12kms into the 35.56kms Panzerplatte marathon, joining the Suzuki Ignis of Juha Kangas on the sidelines after the Finn had rolled out of the event on the opening test.

Giandomenico Basso had been among the pace-setters yesterday but the Italian had to fix the power steering on his Fiat Punto at today's first service, Germany's Nikolaus Schelle having dramatic steering difficulties with his Suzuki Ignis. Nicola Caldani retired his Fiat Punto on SS13.

It was confirmed this afternoon that the reason for Gwyndaf Evans' retirement after the first stage yesterday morning was that someone forgot to correctly refuel his MG ZR and he simply ran out of petrol.

Tomorrow's route:

After a day among the vineyards of the Mosel region on Friday and today's action over the military training area of Baumholder, crews now face a third very different style of stages for tomorrow's final leg.

The roads in the Saarland region are wider, smoother and more 'flowing' than any of those encountered over the past two days and have been likened to the roads in Catalunya.

The day starts at 0630 and features a group of three stages (totalling 48.56kms) that is then repeated later in the morning. After service the event concludes with a second run over the 5.81kms superspecial at St Wendel before the overall rally winners arrive at the finish podium at around 1600.

JWRC leaderboard after Leg 2 / SS16:

1.Francois DuvalFord Puma Super 16003hours 10mins 25.0secs2.Daniel SolaCitroen Saxo Super 1600+00mins 43.2secs3.Andrea DallavillaCitroen Saxo Super 1600+03mins 11.5secs4.Nikolaus SchelleSuzuki Ignis Super 1600+04mins 07.2secs5.Mirco BaldacciCitroen Saxo Super 1600+04mins 14.4secs6.Janne TuohinoCitroen Saxo Super 1600+06mins 30.3secs