BP Ford driver Jari-Matti Latvala leads Rally New Zealand at the end of the second day of competition.

The Finn won one of today’s stages, climbing from fourth to first as tactics came into play in the final stage of the day. Team-mate Mikko Hirvonen is just 9.3 seconds adrift in second with Sébastien Loeb (Citroën Total) third.

Like last year, when the winning margin was just three tenths of a second, tomorrow looks set to provide another close fight to the finish with no fewer than four drivers split by 15.7 seconds. Dani Sordo (Citroën Total), in fourth, remains in the fight and his beneficial road position tomorrow is sure to help the Spaniard.

Hirvonen, who started the day with a 27.8 second lead, was in the unenviable position of running first on the road and the Finn lost time to Loeb on all but one stage as he swept the roads clean of loose gravel. As a consequence his overnight advantage was slashed. Loeb briefly moved into the lead after the penultimate stage, but the Frenchman tactically lost time in the final stage to start third for the final day.

Latvala won one stage and has been flat-out on cleaner roads. In the final stage the Finn moved from 9.8 seconds behind, in third, to 9.3 seconds ahead of all his rivals. 

Sordo, fourth, has had a trouble-free day and remains in contention for victory. Behind him, François Duval (Stobart Ford) is fifth while Urmo Aava and Petter Solberg (Subaru) have been fighting for sixth. They remain closely matched and split by three seconds. Suzuki driver Per-Gunnar Andersson rounds off the provisional point scoring positions, ahead of team-mate Toni Gardemeister who lost more time today with a hydraulic leak.

Rally New Zealand - Results after Day 2

1 Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Antilla Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 57 min 29.0sec
2 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 57 min 38.3sec
3 Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena Citroën C4 WRC 2 hr 57 min 42.3sec
4 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti Citroën C4 WRC 2 hr 57 min 44.7sec
5 François Duval/Patrick Pivato Ford Focus RS WRC 2 hr 59 min 09.9sec
6 Urmo Aava/ Kuldar Sikk Citroën C4 WRC 3 hr 00 min 18.8sec
7 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills Subaru Impreza WRC 3 hr 00 min 21.8sec
8 Per-G Andersson/J Andersson Suzuki SX4 3 hr 02 min 00.0sec