 Solberg was in brilliant form during day two |
Subaru driver Petter Solberg shot into the lead of the Rally of Corsica by winning the final three stages on the event's penultimate day. Solberg heads Ford's Francois Duval by 17.9secs, with the Citroens of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae second and third.
World championship leader Richard Burns is in eighth place.
Citroen's Sebastien Loeb threw away a golden chance to take the series lead when he spun out of the lead on a wet track on stage eight.
The Frenchman, running on slick tyres despite overnight rain, lost about 10 minutes in the spin.
It handed the lead to Duval and dropped Loeb to 17th.
Loeb is just two points behind Burns, with Sainz a further two adrift with two events remaining after Corsica.
Duval, at 22 the youngest driver in the championship, might have held on to the lead in the face of Solberg's assault had he not stalled his car at the beginning of the eighth stage and lost about 15 seconds. Estonia's Markko Martin crashed and lost a wheel from his Ford in the eighth stage after winning the first run of the day.
Fifth overnight, Martin lost about five minutes and is 14th despite winning four of the nine stages. It was Martin's second mistake in as many days after he spun away the lead while battling with Loeb during day one.
Saturday's 190 kms made it the longest day's racing on the 2003 calendar.
MMIX
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