Juho Hänninen has moved into the lead of Rallye Monte-Carlo with a scintillating time on the second stage of the event, the 41.06-kilometre Burzet-St Marital test.
In doing so, the defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion shattered Didier Auriol’s stage record of 24m09s, which has stood since 1994.
Škoda Motorsport driver Hänninen’s time of 22m39.6s was 15.1s faster than former world rally champion Petter Solberg could manage in his Peugeot France-backed 207 Super 2000 and puts him 35.6s clear of erstwhile leader Stéphane Sarrazin in another Peugeot.
Sarrazin said his decision to use a soft compound Michelin tyre had caused his car to slide a lot.
Belgian Freddy Loix has moved into third with Guy Wilks slipping to fifth behind Solberg.
Overall positions after SS2
| Pos. | Team | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | HANNINEN Juho/MARKKULA Mikko | Skoda Fabia S2000 | 46m15.5s |
| 2 | SARRAZIN Stéphane//RENUCCI Jacques-Julien | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +35.6s |
| 3 | LOIX Freddy/MICLOTTE Frederic | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +41.7s |
| 4 | SOLBERG Petter/PATTERSON Chris | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +44.6s |
| 5 | WILKS Guy/PUGH Philip | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +51.5s |
| 6 | BOUFFIER Bryan/PANSERI Xavier | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +52.3s |
| 7 | KOPECKY Jan/STARY Petr | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +1m04.6s |
| 8 | DELECOUR François/SAVIGNONI Dominique | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1m09.9s |
| 9 | BASSO Giandomenico/DOTTA Mitia | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1m22.2s |
| 10 | MAGALHAES Bruno/GRAVE Paulo | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1m36.3s |
| 11 | GARDEMEISTER Toni/TUOMINEN Tomi | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1m37.9s |
| 12 | MAURIN Julien/URAL Olivier | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +2m09.7s |
| 13 | VIGION Jean-Sébastien/YVERNAULT Eric | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +2m12.4s |
| 14 | BETTI Luca/MATTIODA Alessandro | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +3m05.3s |
| 15 | CRUGNOLA Andrea/MOMETTI Roberto | Renault Clio R3 | +3m50.4s |