18-time WRC winner Jari-Matti Latvala holds a comfortable lead in his Toyota Celica GT4
Le Mans winner Romain Dumas leading the charge against the flying Finn, holding 2nd place in his Porsche 911
Pascal Perroud hot on the heels of the Frenchman, holding 3rd place in his BMW M3.
Multiple WRC event winner Jari-Matti Latvala holds a comfortable lead after the second leg of Rally Costa Brava, opening round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship. Alongside Finnish co-driver Janni Hussi, the pair have been fastest on all nine special stages near Girona so far, holding a commanding 2 minute 22 second lead in their Toyota Celica GT4. Latvala also dominating the FIA Category 4 pack in the process.
British Historic Champion Seb Perez led the charge to the flying Finn in his Lancia Stratos, but a costly transmission issue dropped the Derbyshire driver down the order and from the lead of Category 2 as he and co-driver Dale Bowen incurred road penalties as they fixed the car.
Le Mans winner Romain Dumas with Mathieu Tyran alongside leads the charge to Latvala, holding 2nd place in his Porsche 911 and the lead in FIA Category 3.
The Frenchman is holding off the Swiss driver Pascal Perroud who holds 3rd place in his BMW M3. Perroud leads the hard charging Belgian pair of Pieter-Jan Maeyaert and Yves Dewulf in their identical car in Category 4. Pascal making his M3 softer on suspension settings for the wet conditions and reaping the benefit as his confidence in tricky conditions improved.
Italians Domenico Guagliardo and EHRC regular Giovanni Battista Campeis now lead the way in FIA Category 2 in their Porsche 911. Domenico making the most of the traction of the Porsche on some arduous but smooth tarmac roads. The Italians lead the Category after the drama for Perez, and are just ahead of the Irish duo of Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy.
With rain falling on all stages around the Girona area, it's been an easy day of tyre choices for the wet conditions. Many drivers in a record FIA EHRC entry have reported slippery conditions due to the very cold temperatures - unusually cold for this time of the year, dropping as low as 4c in some sections of stages.
Despite going off the road on SS1, James Potter and Croatia co-driver Lana Sutlovic are leading the FIA 1600cc Trophy in their Ford Escort Twincam. FIA Category 1 is an all-Italian affair on the rally, as lifelong friends Antonio Parisi and Carlo Fiorito are battling it out for the top spot. Parisi leads the way after the 9 special stages in his Porsche 911.Elsewhere, Italian legends and former EHRC Category 4 champions 'Lucky' and Fabrizia Pons have been having an eventful rally in their new 'Deltona' specification Lancia Delta Integrale, reporting some handling challenges in the wet conditions as they adjust to a new car.
Fast Frenchman Tanguy Tailler was just too fast for one section of the road. Sadly, the Porsche driver went off the road and was unable to rejoin after an impressive performance up to that point. Former WRC driver Tobias Johansson has been battling turbo boost issues in his Audi Quattro during the event but is continuing to set some strong times. British driver Rob Smith endured a torrid start to the season when the alternator failed on his BMW M3 on the way to the start of SS1 on Thursday evening. The Englishman enjoying the stages on Friday in some tricky and demanding conditions.
