Martin still in front in Greece

Estonia’s Markko Martin kept his Ford Focus at the front of the field in the Acropolis Rally as an intense battle developed behind him today.

He established a 40-second lead over Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who in his Citroen Xsara has a comfortable advantage over third-placed Briton Colin McRae.

The Scot, also in a Xsara, had only a half-second lead over Norwegian driver Petter Solberg’s Subaru.

Solberg suffered a transmission problem earlier in the day to give McRae his chance to overhaul him.

Meanwhile, Martin was delighted to have survived his ‘jinx’ stage – last year he suffered a puncture on the marathon from Elatia to Zeli which cost him almost certain victory.

Yesterday – when the stage was run for the first time on this year’s event - he had the Ford Focus bonnet fly open and come to rest against his windscreen for the final 20km.

“It makes a pleasant change to come out of that stage with an extended lead instead of a problem,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Peugeot’s hopes of victory suffered a major blow during the second stage when Harri Rovanpera encountered a major gearbox problem.

Starting the day in second place, the Finn rapidly tumbled down the field into eighth place as the gearbox in his Peugeot 206 became a victim of the rally’s famously gruelling conditions.

He finished stage 13 still in eighth but more than three minutes behind Martin.