Greece, June 08: Estonia's Markko Martin has maintained his lead after the second day of the 50th Acropolis Rally on Saturday (June 7). Amid stifling heat and dusty conditions Ford's Martin, who has yet to win a round of the championship, led Citroen's Carlos Sainz of Spain by 55.8 seconds after 16 stages. Norway's Petter Solberg finished the day in third place overall in his Subaru, trailing Martin by one minute and 17 seconds. Britain's Colin McRae, who has won the event for the past three years, is in fourth place, one minute, 33.6 seconds behind the leader. McRae, who joined Citroen from Ford this season, had been half a minute behind Sainz at the end of the 13th stage, the longest of the day, but Solberg managed to snatch third place from the Scot by the 16th and final stage. Tommi Makinen of Finland was fifth in his Subaru, one place ahead of championship leader Richard Burns. The Briton recovered from ninth place at the end of the first day, when his Peugeot had been plagued by gearbox problems.


Finn Harri Rovanpera finished the day seventh overall after his Peugeot suffered transmission problems early on in day two.


Leading positions in the Acropolis Rally after 16 stages on Saturday: 1. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 3hrs 30mins 25.8secs 2. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 3:31.21.6 3. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 3:31.42.8 4. Colin McRae (GB) Citroen 3:31.59.4 5. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 3:32.30.8 6. Richard Burns (GB) Peugeot 3:32.36.5 7. Harri Rovanpera (Finland) Peugeot 3:33.56.9 8. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 3:34.00.7 9. Didier Auriol (France) Skoda 3:34.38.7


Bureau Report