Marcus Gronholm sliced through the field on day two of Rally Australia but was still suffering the effects of Friday's crash.
The Finn had rolled his Ford Focus on the first morning, costing him valuable time as it was extricated from the undergrowth and he hobbled on until repairs could be made later in the day.
But despite his charge, which saw him win five stages to move from 40th and into the points, the 38-year-old is still 10 minutes shy of the fourth place he requires to keep his faint championship hopes alive.
His title rival Sebastien Loeb, absent from the rally with a broken arm, is 25 points clear in the standings, and would take a third World Rally crown in as many years if Gronholm cannot overturn his time disadvantage.
While Gronholm languishes in seventh, his team-mate and countryman Miko Hirvonen still heads the field, after extending his lead to 32.3 seconds over second-placed Petter Solberg.
Hirvonen, who has yet to win a World Rally Championship event, has stated his intention this weekend is to help Ford strengthen their grip at the top of the constructors` championship.
He said: 'If Petter catches me I will not risk everything to stay ahead, because the points are more important than the win.'
Subaru's Solberg lost 27 seconds on Friday as he grappled with some tricky road surfaces and is hoping that more gravelly stages will play into his hands.
Manfred Stohl's Peugeot is third, while Xavier Pons, who is standing in for Loeb at Citroen this weekend, is in the fourth place Gronholm is chasing.
Mitsubishi's Marcos Ligato, Jari-Matti Latvala in his Subaru, Gronholm and Aki Teiskonen, in another Subaru, rounded out the points-paying positions.
