Citroen boss says Sordo's car will be okay for day three

Citroen's Dani Sordo has revealed more details of the handling problems he encountered on Friday's last three stages.

"I first knew I had a problem about five kilometres into SS6 when I was driving around a hairpin," said Sordo. "There was a surface change and immediately it was obvious something was wrong. The car started to handle like it was rear-wheel drive only but I had no choice but to push on. From that point on I had to drive absolutely flat out everywhere. The team will have a look at it in service, so I'm sure it will be fine tomorrow."

Citroen's new team principal, Olivier Quesnel, acknowledged Sordo's problem but denied that the Spaniard was left with just two-wheel drive. "Maybe there was less drive to the rear, but there was power there. But it's back in service now and it won't be a problem for us to fix. The car will be okay for tomorrow."

Sordo's problems allowed Mikko Hirvonen to narrow the gap between them by 15 seconds. Hirvonen will begin the third day of the rally just 26 second adrift of the Spaniard and has not given up on catching him. "If he [Sordo] had a problem today then he'll definitely go hard tomorrow and I'll have to do the same," said Hirvonen. "If I'm going to fight I have to learn to drive over the limit and with the risk."