Ford driver Mikko Hirvonen maintained his lead on the second day of the Rally of Poland on Saturday.
The Finn was 12 seconds ahead of compatriot Jari-Matti Latvala, also in a Ford.
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“I was going flat out all the time, the stages were very fast,” said Hirvonen, who had started the day with an advantage of 8.9 seconds over the field.
World champion Sebastien Loeb was down in 13th place. Guardian.co.uk
The duo, who secured maximum points for their team at the Acropolis Rally of Greece earlier this month, maintained their grip on the top two spots despite a strong challenge from Citreon’s Spanish driver Dani Sordo.
Hirvonen finished the day 12 seconds clear of Latvala, with Sordo a further 26.5 seconds back in third.
Victory for Hirvonen will take him above Loeb in the overall standings, with just four events of the 2009 season remaining.
“This afternoon was absolutely insane,” said Hirvonen.
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“I thought it could be a bit easier but since the second stage today we’ve been absolutely flat-out. It’s been fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!”
Sordo began the day 28 seconds behind Latvala but had closed the gap to 16 seconds by the middle of the day, only for the Ford Focus pair to raise their game again in the afternoon specials, taking advantage of the increased grip available to reassert their control over proceedings.
“Tomorrow we have four big stages to go and Sordo is pushing really hard - we have no choice but to keep on going at this speed,” said Latvala.
Citreon C4 driver Sebastien Ogier of France got the better of Norwegian brothers Petter (Citroen Xsara) and Henning Solberg (Ford Focus) to snatch fourth place, but only 8.4 seconds separate the trio going into the deciding day. AFP
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