Zoom Latvala is holding on to his bonnet

The second passage over the Port Talbot stage was conducted under different weather conditions than encountered during the morning as the expected heavy rain and wind mightily presented themselves. The fast runs over the bedrock have been supplemented by additional mud and water running across the surface, making for a cautious approach.

Once again Mikko Hirvonen has been collecting stage wins, this time with a fastest run of 9'17"2, although he found this one harder to get across. "It is the second time through and it is certainly a lot rougher than I thought," said the works Ford driver. "I am pushing quite hard."

His teammate Marcus Grönholm took second position 4.2 seconds away. For his final WRC event, the Finn surely would have preferred a greater competitive challenge. "It is not changing so much for the moment. It is just average," he reported.

Third-placed Sébastien Loeb is not taking any chances with his title ambitions this week-end. "We are not taking any risks. It is very rough and we cannot see," he said of the terrible weather which only added to the rocky traps. "There are too many stones on the road. Stones sticking out, very hard for the tyres. "

A pair of Subaru team Imprezas took the fourth and fifth positions, about 10 seconds down from the stage leader, with both drivers commenting that their respective cars needed tweaking.

"It is very tricky conditions, but the car is better now. We still need to work harder on it," declared Petter Solberg, while Chris Atkinson said: "We are going faster, and we are about where we should be. There are still things that I have to work on."

Jari-Matti Latvala completed the test in sixth position but was very happy to have done so when considering the alternative. Potentially dangerous damage to his Stobart Ford car's bonnet occurred most probably following a hard compression.

"It was a scary moment," related Latvala, whose Focus also had a hanging front bumper. "We did not hit anything but the bonnet cap got loose and we couldn't see anything."

Dani Sordo has not been finding the right rhythm today at the controls of his works Citroën C4. "Our time is not good," he commented after reaching seventh place. "The conditions are really difficult, but it is OK."