Solberg extends advantage in Mexico
Petter Solberg has a lead of 29.6seconds after the second day of the Rally Mexico.
The Subaru driver was quickest on three of the day’s six stages and second quickest on the other three.
It left the Norwegian and his 2005-spec Subaru, which is making its debut on the event, ideally placed to add to his victory in Sweden last month.
Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm was never outside the top four on any of the day’s stages but was quickest on only one of them as he fell a further 9.1secs behind Solberg on the day.
His team-mate, Markko Martin is 52.7secs further back. Martin is under no pressure from behind, with a lead of almost three minutes over Ford’s Toni Gardemeister.
Gardemeister will have a fight to hold onto fourth, as Mitsubishi’s Harri Rovanpera is just 1.4secs behind.
Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb took the top time on the final stage to move up to sixth.
Loeb is 37.4secs off fourth-placed Gardemeister, having moved ahead of Ford’s Antony Warmbold on the 12th stage. Mitsubishi’s Gilles Panizzi is eighth, 24.6secs behind Warmbold.
Darlington driver Guy Wilks continues to dominate the junior world rally championship.
After winning four of the day’s six stages, the 24-year-old has carved out a massive lead of nearly 11 minutes on his Suzuki team-mate and defending junior champion Per-Gunnar Andersson.
