After two days of tough competition in Switzerland Umberto Scandola (above) starts today's final leg in third place and snapping at the heels of the leaders as Abarth's title aspirations hang in the balance.

After the second leg of the Rallye du Valais – the longest day of the event – Peugeot Spain driver Nicolas Vouilloz holds a lead of just over 30 seconds from his team mate Enrique Garcia Ojeda. None of the Peugeot drivers had any major problems during yesterday's second leg, although Garcia Ojeda was hit by a 20-second road penalty for leaving the service park late after the Peugeot team had to change his 207’s water pump in the first morning service halt.

The Abarth team’s mechanics were also busy during the second leg, with a gearbox change for Umberto Scandola required halfway through the day. This also caused the Italian (who started the day seventh) to pick up some road penalties, enabling the privateer Abarth Grande Punto of Freddy Loix to get past him. However, Scandola took Loix back on SS9 – meaning that the young Italian ended the day in third position: just six seconds off Ojeda’s second place.

Loix also enjoyed a solid run through the tricky stages on Friday, ending up fourth at the overnight halt just 15 seconds behind Scandola – despite a spin in the morning. He is followed by the factory Grande Punto of title challenger Andrea Navarra, fighting back from a front-left puncture yesterday that cost him around a minute and some set-up problems this morning. This raises an intriguing possibility: with two Abarths between Navarra and his title rivals from Peugeot, will the Italian manufacturer play a tactical game in order to keep Navarra in the Intercontinental Rally Championship title contention?

Local driver Christian Jaquillard is sixth and top Swiss in a Peugeot, just ahead of the leading Mitsubishi driver Florian Gonon. Another impressive local driver was Antonio Galli in a Citroen C2 Super 1600, whose rapid progress was halted by a fuel pump problem on SS9 yesterday. Luca Betti, in the all-new Honda Civic Type R R3, finished just outside the top 10 after being delayed by a puncture.

Conditions were chilly on Friday morning but not quite as cold as had been expected, meaning that the competitors did not encounter ice on the road during the opening 37-kilometre stage, Les Cols. Vouilloz said: “We had some very nice stages today [Friday]: I really enjoyed the fast downhill sections! I tried to push hard towards the end of the day to make up for a bit of time that we lost earlier in the morning. Everybody behind me is driving quite quickly, so I can’t afford to back off. ” Ojeda added: “Vouilloz is driving very quickly: I thought I might be able to compete with him but that isn’t the case. I’m just trying to look after second place now: it’s going to be hard to catch him. I’m thinking more about the people who are behind me, in fact...” 112 competitive kilometres remain to be contested today before the finish back in Martigny at 17:00.