LIMASSOL (Cyprus), April 20: Ford driver Colin McRae overcame problems with his power steering to extend his lead over Marcus Gronholm after 12 stages on the Cyprus Rally on Saturday.

Briton McRae, who began the penultimate leg with a 6.9-second advantage over championship leader Gronholm, lost most of his power steering about seven kilometres from the end of the ninth ‘Kourdali-Spilia’ run.

But the 33-year-old fought back after mechanics worked on his Ford Focus at the service park to consolidate his lead as he aims to repeat least year’s victory on the Limassol-based event.

Heavy rain on stages 11 and 12 helped McRae move 25.4 seconds clear on the timesheets.

Leading times

1. Colin McRae (Britain) Ford two hours 59 minutes 9.0 seconds 2. Marcus Gronholm (Finland) Peugeot 25.4 seconds behind 3. Tommi Makinen (Finland) Subaru 1:39.3 4. Richard Burns (Britain) Peugeot 2:04.5 5. Markko Martin (Estonia) Ford 2:06.8 6. Harri Rovanpera (Finland) Peugeot 2:13.1 7. Kenneth Eriksson (Sweden) Skoda 2:36.8 8. Armin Schwarz (Germany) Hyundai 2:38.0 9. Petter Solberg (Norway) Subaru 2:57.5 10. Gilles Panizzi (France) Peugeot 8:16.1—Reuters