Richard Burns stormed into the lead as soon as the Cyprus Rally resumed under cloudless skies today.
The 30-year-old Englishman, second behind world champion Marcus Gronholm overnight, immediately turned a deficit of 5.7 seconds into a lead of7.4secs.
Another title contender, Colin McRae, also improved his placing, moving up from fourth to third by leapfrogging his Ford team-mate FrancoisDelecour.
The third Ford driver, Carlos Sainz, was fastest on the first of today's eight stages and rose to fifth position.
Gronholm, whose new Peugeot had proved instantly competitive on the opening leg, clocked a time 20secs slower than Sainz and was clearlystruggling as first man on the road.
The Finn was having to act as pathfinder on the tight, twisty gravel stages and his rivals behind him had the benefit of being able to follow thedriving line he had set.
His cautious approach allowed Burns to capitalise, and the Andorra-based Subaru driver put himself into a strong position to gain the victory hedesperately needs to boost his World Championship prospects.
With points leader Tommi Makinen out of the event after crashing yesterday, Burns and McRae, 18 and 17 points adrift respectively, both knowthey have a fine chance to slash their arrears in the standings.
PA