Rally d’Italia-Sardegna - Leg 2 - 20th May 2006 Leg information: Stages: 6 (3 repeated) 137.36 km Surface: soft and fine gravel, abrasive base surface Weather: Hot and dry all day, temperatures in the region of 27° centigrade

Suzuki summary:

Suzuki Swift driver Guy Wilks has maintained the lead of the Junior World Championship classification after the second day of the Rally d’Italia-Sardinia. The Englishman started the leg with a lead of nearly a minute and a half, and ended it with an increased advantage of more than two and a half minutes.

His team mate P-G Andersson rejoined today’s action under the super rally system after going off the road yesterday, and ends the day in a points-scoring eighth place.

Estonian driver Urmo Aava continued his impressive run by climbing as high as third overall. However, a puncture dropped him down to fifth. A Suzuki set fastest time on all of today’s six stages.

News from the leading Suzuki driver:

Guy Wilks (1st in JWRC): “The stages today were not as rough as yesterday but they are still very slippery. I really liked the stages though as they were very fast and flowing. It would have been nice to commit to them fully, but today was all about being sensible and keeping out of trouble. It’s actually quite difficult to drive these cars conservatively, as they are designed to be pushed to the maximum. I need to keep my concentration tomorrow, as six stages in a row without service means that you cannot afford any mistakes.”

Other news from Suzuki:

P-G Andersson (8th in JWRC): “Things started off badly today as I got a puncture on the first stage, which I was forced to stop and change. I caught up another competitor and didn’t see a rock, which is how I got the puncture. After that we had no problems, but it’s very disappointing to lose so much time. My objective tomorrow is to push: on pace alone I reckon we can climb to sixth place.”

News from “Monster” Tajima:

“It’s been another impressive drive from Guy over a day which has been just as tough and rocky as the first leg yesterday. Again like yesterday, a Suzuki has won every single special stage. We have yet to be beaten on this rally and this makes me very happy! But we cannot take anything for granted. Tomorrow is likely to be the toughest day of all, as the roads are very fast and the crews have to complete six stages without service. Everybody needs to remain very concentrated…”

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of Leg Two, Rally d’Italia-Sardegna:

1 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Swift) 3h24m58.6s
2 Patrick Sandell (Renault Clio) +2m36.8s
3 Conrad Rautenbach (Renault Clio) +6m52.5s
4 Julien Pressac (Citroen C2) +7m59.8s
5 Urmo Aava (Suzuki Swift) +9m37.1s
6 Luca Betti (Renault Clio) +11m41.2s
7 Aaron Burkart (Citroen C2) +11m54.4s
8 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Swift) +12m16.6s