World championship leader Marcus Gronholm put himself in sight of a third successive victory in the Rally of Finland today when he finished the second day with a huge advantage over England's Richard Burns. The Peugeot driver built up a 1min 34sec lead over his team-mate, with Scotland's Colin McRae third, 2min 22sec off the pace in his Ford Focus.
Gronholm went into the race with a seven-point lead in the championship over McRae who had closed the gap at the top of the standings after winning the last two events in Greece and Kenya. He started the day in third place with a 21-second deficit on overnight leader and reigning world champion Burns and almost ten seconds behind Finnish team-mate Harri Rovanpera.
But the 2000 champion made the most of his rivals' errors to open up a lead which should see him through to victory on Sunday. First to crack under pressure was Burns. He won the opening stage of the day but then squandered his advantage on the second stage of the day and 11th of the race when his car landed heavily after a jump. The damage to the vehicle's turbo meant his car was under-powered until it could be repaired in service.
Rovanpera inherited the lead, but his advantage lasted only until the third stage of the day when his Peugeot lost a wheel and that opened the door for Gronholm and Burns to pile on the pressure on the chasing pack.
Filed by Shane Murray
