Hirvonen puts the boot down

The second day of the Vodafone Rally de Portugal was one of carnage and chaos after the day’s final loop of stages were cancelled on safety grounds.

The Ford duo of Jari Matti Latvala and Peter Solberg missed a glorious opportunity to improve their championship positions when they both retired on the opening loop.

Latvala, the overnight leader, slid his Fiesta off the road on the opening stage while Solberg, who inherited the lead, did likewise a stage later.

Citroen’s Mikko Hirvonen leads Evgeny Novikov (Ford Fiesta) by 36.3 seconds after a day of fog and heavy rain. Dani Sordo (Mini) set the quickest stage times. Irish driver Craig Breen is also out after his Fiesta suffered engine damage when he went through a water splash. Tyrone’s, Alastair Fisher leads the Academy category.