Gronholm has the edge

Finland's Marcus Gronholm finished the second day of Rally Turkey with a comfortable lead after Petter Solberg crashed out late in the afternoon.

Solberg matched the 38-year-old Gronholm by winning two of the day's stages, but his challenge ended when he went into a ditch in the penultimate stage of the day as heavy rain made conditions difficult.

It means Gronholm is two minutes and 5.2 seconds ahead of his Ford team-mate Mikko Hirvonen as he chases Sebastien Loeb, who is top of the standings but out of action with a broken arm.

Gronholm said: "Today was very tricky. In some of the stage, I did not know where Petter was finding the speed.

"It was a nightmare in there (once the rain came). So slippery. I need now to just take a lot less risks and keep the car on the road."

Gronholm could give Ford a chance to overtake Citroen, for whom Loeb drives, in the manufacturers' standings, while also keeping the Finn's personal challenge alive.

Solberg won the opening stage of the day to reduce Gronholm's advantage to 26.3secs before the Finn fought back later in the day. The gap was 34secs when Solberg went into a ditch after colliding with a rock.

It allowed Hirvonen to move up to second, with Henning Solberg, Petter's older brother, edging into third.

Scotsman Colin McRae, standing in for injured world champion Loeb in the Citroen team, was seventh going into Sunday's final three stages.