Gronholm: Fight ended after losing spare wheel.

Marcus Gronholm's hopes of bouncing back from the shock absorber problems that cost him the lead on the Rally d'Italia at the end of Friday disappeared on the second stage this morning when he lost his spare wheel.

Gronholm was more or less on the same pace as Sebastien Loeb in SS7 and SS8 however, he had to ease up in the final stage of the loop, because of a slow puncture.

The Finn was forced to start the stage knowing he would have to be careful as he was unable to use the spare, having lost it around 4 kilometres into Monte Lerno when the retaining strap fractured.

As a result Marcus finished the morning loop more than 40 seconds adrift and although he tried to comeback on the repeat runs this afternoon, he was only able to reduce the deficit by 5 seconds.

With Loeb now more than 35 seconds in front, Gronholm conceded in the final service of the day that it is basically all over.

"It's virtually impossible to catch Loeb with that type of advantage," said the Finn. "There is nothing much between us on the stages but losing time last night cost us dearly and the fight for victory probably ended after this morning's second stage.

"I've not given up, I'm still driving fast but there aren't many kilometres tomorrow in which to catch him and I don't want to risk losing a good second place."

Asked about the problem in the morning, Gronholm explained that it was a big concern as it could have forced him to retire from the leg, something that would have meant he would have lost second.

"I finished the second stage and realised that the spare wheel had been knocked out of the rear of the car. I also had a rear puncture so I had to drive steadily through the next stage to ensure that we finished with four wheels on the car. I was worried because another puncture could have meant retirement," he added.

BP Ford team director, Malcolm Wilson meanwhile agreed that the incident put pay to any hope they had of Gronholm overhauling Loeb. He now wants to see Marcus and Mikko Hirvonen, who is third in the sister car, pace themselves through the final day.

"Marcus lost any real chance of catching Seb after the problems this morning in SS9, but we still have a good team result at the end of leg two. Tomorrow must be a case of trying to consolidate what we have," Wilson concluded.