Positions at the top of the Rally Japan leaderboard remain unchanged at the end of the second day of competition. BP Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala hold first and second respectively, and Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total) - driving for the world title - is in third position.

Today’s route took in two identical loops of four stages south of Sapporo, before returning to the Dome for another two runs around the 1.49 kilometre super special stage. In total, the route covered 156.24 competitive kilometres.

Hirvonen started the day with a 26.2 second advantage over his team-mate and has won just two of the day’s forestry stages. The Finn is in a comfortable position and while Latvala has edged closer, the gap to Loeb in third position has nearly doubled. Hirvonen must win the event to remain in the fight for the Championship, but if Loeb maintains his third position, the Frenchman will clinch a record-breaking fifth consecutive world title.

Behind the leading trio, Australian Chris Atkinson has maintained fourth overnight, but a battle with team-mate Petter Solberg saw him drop to fifth before the Norwegian damaged the Subaru’s rear suspension, costing him nearly two minutes. Solberg was forced into retirement leaving Atkinson with a healthy advantage over Britain’s Matthew Wilson. The Stobart Ford driver has struggled with his pace notes today but overnights in fifth. Suzuki’s Toni Gardemeister is however hot on his heels, just 6.9 seconds adrift in sixth with team-mate Per-Gunnar Andersson seventh. Both had problems this afternoon; Gardemeister with a broken rear differential while Andersson was forced to stop and change a puncture. Federico Villagra (Munchi’s Ford) rounds off the top eight.

Rally Japan - Results after Day 2

1 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen              Ford Focus RS WRC         2 hr 21 min 31.8s
2 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla              Ford Focus RS WRC         2 hr 21 min 47.3s
3 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën      C4 WRC                           2 hr 22 min 25.3s
4 Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prévot             Subaru Impreza WRC        2 hr 23 min 57.8s
5 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin                 Ford Focus RS WRC         2 hr 26 min 03.4s
6 Toni Gardemeister/Tomi Tuominen         Suzuki SX4                       2 hr 26 min 10.3s
7 Per-G Andersson/Jonas Andersson       Suzuki SX4                        2 hr 26 min 43.6s
8 Federico Villagra/Jorge P Companc       Ford Focus RS WRC          2 hr 31 min 31.4s