McRae: I'd settle for second, but...

Colin McRae has admitted that, under normal circumstances, he would settle for handing Skoda a rare WRC podium finish from his current position but, with this year's Rally Australia being anything but 'normal', the temptation to push for just a little more may be too hard to resist.

The Scot, making just his second public appearance in the Fabia WRC but already dubbed 'by far the most spectacular driver over the jumps' by team boss 'Martin Muehlmeier, made full use of his revised starting position after the opening day to complete the second leg in second place, just over 27 seconds shy of new leader Francois Duval and in the midst of a keen battle for the runners-up spot with Mitsubishi's Harri Rovanpera.

With a group of five stages without service during the morning, it was a frustrating that McRae lost the automatic gearshift on the opening run. The glitch cost a few precious seconds on each stage that followed, and allowed Rovanpera to catch and pass the Skoda, while Duval remained untouched and able to assume the lead of the event when overnight pacesetter Petter Solberg was poleaxed by a kangaroo.

However, a Rovanpera mistake allowed McRae to regain second place on the final stage in the 'loop', which he maintained on the return to Perth, despite his Finnish opponent again excelling on the superspecial.

"We lost some time this morning with the gearshift problem, but it wasn?EUR(TM)t so bad," McRae insisted, "Now I?EUR(TM)m working hard to win the battle with Harri, while trying to keep Francois under pressure.

"Given that I?EUR(TM)ve only driven the car in competition for less than 600km, I?EUR(TM)d settle for second right now - but I?EUR(TM)m still going to try and win if I can. The Fabia is certainly good enough to set the times it needs."

Veteran Armin Schwarz retained a top ten place at the end of the leg, and even set a couple of top three stage times along the way.

"It has been quite good fun today," the German admitted, "If the roads are on their second use, the ruts are very bad, and you have to be careful not to get out of them. However, if they are smooth, you can really enjoy sliding the car and entertaining the crowds."