BBC SPORT | Motorsport | World Rally | Kenya chaos helps McRae

Colin McRae is being chased by Peugeot's Harri Rovanpera as the retirements mount up in the Safari Rally in Kenya.

Overnight leader Tommi Makinen, Carlos Sainz, who had been running in second, and Richard Burns were all forced to quit on Saturday.

Briton McRae holds a two-minute advantage over Finn Rovanpera and has more than nine minutes in hand over third-placed Markko Marton going into Sunday's final session.

Burns had a less successful day in his Peugeot.

Richard Burns in his Peugeot
Burns left the rally in tears

The Englishman got stuck in a ditch filled with powdery dust just one kilometre before the service stop.

And he was forced to quit because rally rules do not allow crews to help their drivers outside of the service areas.

Burns abandoned after a 30-minute struggle, before bursting into tears in the arms of a photographer friend.

His demise is likely to provoke an investigation into the suitability of the Suswa service park.

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Thick dust, half a metre deep, has coated the field throughout the event and the area has been condemned by crews, mechanics and the media alike.

Sainz could not blame conditions for his failure.

The Spaniard had been running second on stage eight when he was forced out with a broken oil pump belt.

We cruised through the seventh stage without problems

Markko Marton

Overnight leader Makinen, meanwhile, withdrew early on Saturday after he terminally damaged his front suspension.

Swede Kenneth Eriksson also retired when his Skoda had a transmission failure within sight of the sanctuary of the service area.

These three casualties turned the leaderboard on its head and gave Ford's Martin - now lying third - a chance to become the third driver to win this race at his first attempt.

"We cruised through the seventh stage without problems," said the Estonian.

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"We were very careful in the rougher sections and the car felt more stable than in the previous test even though we could find no reason for the oversteering.

Martin will have to drive fast to reel in McRae and Rovanpera, while Thomas Radstrom lies fourth with only Sunday's action to come.

Saturday's second scheduled stage was cancelled because low clouds grounded all support helicopters.

Leading positions after Saturday's stages:

1 Colin McRae (Gbr) Ford - five hours 39 minutes 2.8 seconds
2 Harri Rovanpera (Fin) Peugeot at two mins 26.2 secs
3 Markko Martin (Est) Ford at 9:20.5
4 Thomas Radstrom (Swe) Citroen at 13:17.7
5 Sebastien Loeb (Fra) Citroen at 16:50.4
6 Gilles Panizzi (Fra) Peugeot at 34:43.3
7 Roman Kresta (Cze) Skoda at 38.07.1
8 Juha Kankkunen (Fin) Hyundai at 38.25.4
9 Alister McRae (Gbr) Mitsubishi at 1:03:29.1
10 Marcos Ligato (Arg) Mitsubishi at 1:48:31.0