Corsica, Oct 19: Petter Solberg is in the lead after the second day of the Corsica Rally. Norway's Petter Solberg staged a remarkable comeback in the rain on Saturday (October 18) to take a 17.9-second lead in the Corsica Rally and reinforce his challenge for the world championship.
Belgium's Francois Duval, in a Ford, grabbed the lead early on the second day after overnight leader Sebastien Loeb of France spun his Citroen on stage eight.
Favourite Loeb, running on slick tyres despite the wet conditions, had to wait for spectators to help him and lost about 10 minutes on the second stage of the day.
The Pirelli tyres on Solberg's Subaru, renowned for their grip in the wet, made a huge difference as the day wore on. Nearly 44 seconds adrift overnight, Solberg won the 10th, 11th and final stages to leave Duval in second place and Carlos Sainz, in a Citroen, in third 22.4 seconds adrift. Solberg nearly missed the race after smashing into a telegraph pole in practice on Thursday. His mechanics had to work through the night to put the car back into racing shape.


Championship leader Richard Burns of Britain finished the day in eighth place. Burns, in a Peugeot, has 57 points, Loeb -- now out of contention in this race -- 55, Sainz 53 and Solberg 48. There are two rallies left in the season after Corsica.


Duval, second overnight and the youngest driver in the championship at 22, would be much closer to Solberg if he had not stalled his car at the beginning of the eighth stage on the Mediterranean island and lost about 15 seconds getting it away.


Estonia's Markko Martin crashed and lost a wheel from his Ford in the eighth stage after winning the first of the day. Fifth overnight, Martin lost about five minutes and, like Loeb, is now out of contention.


Saturday's 190 kms made it the longest day's racing on the 2003 calendar.



Leading times after the second day of the Rally of Corsica on Saturday: 1. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru three hours nine minutes and 13.6 seconds 2. Francois Duval (Belgium) Ford 17.9 seconds behind 3. Carlos Sainz (Spain) Citroen 22.4 4. Colin McRae (Britain) Citroen 1:15.5 5. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 1:23.6 6. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 1:26.5 7. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 2:10.3 8 . Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 2:22.0 9. Philippe Bugalski (France) Citroen 2:32.9 10. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland) Ford 2:33.9


Bureau Report