Hirvonen seizes chance in Italy

The second day of the Rally of Italy proved to be a graveyard for a number of leading contenders to leave Mikko Hirvonen in charge of his own destiny.

Hirvonen, who is without a victory in the World Rally Championship for over a year, holds a comfortable lead of almost 70 seconds to Russian Evgeny Novikov. The six stages on the island of Sardinia accounted for nine-times champion Sebastien Loeb, fellow Frenchman Thierry Neuville and factory Ford duo Petter Solberg and Jari-Matti Latvala.

Loeb went into day two with a 1.1secs lead over Hirvonen, but on the opening stage suffered a steering issue after striking a rock, forcing him into retirement for only the second time this year.

Sebastien Ogier then made WRC history by taking stage five in a Skoda Fabia – the first driver to triumph in a Super 2000-class car, which have less power than their World Rally counterparts.