Italian Fiat Grande Punto JTD driver Marco Cavigioli is well on course to claim the inaugural Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2WD Cup title after claiming second place in the class after day one of the China Rally was completed today.

Italian Fiat Grande Punto JTD driver Marco Cavigioli is firmly on course to claim the inaugural Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) 2WD Cup title after claiming second place in class after day one of the China Rally today.

The Fiat Punto turbodiesel driver needs to finish in the top four of the two-wheel drive class in China this weekend in order to overhaul the current IRC 2WD Cup points leader Alessandro Bettega (Honda). Bettega has a total of 18 points at the moment, whereas Cavigioli has 15.

But if Cavigioli finishes where he is, that will be enough for him to clinch the inaugural IRC 2WD Cup title. At the end of day one and with 80 competitive kilometres in China completed, the Italian is second in the two-wheel drive category, around 45 seconds behind the current class leader, Honda driver Jianrong Wan. The Volkswagen Polo of Xiong Xie is third in class, approximately 17 seconds behind Cavigioli.

"If we can take the title, then the long trip to China will definitely have been worth it," said a cautious Cavigioli at the conclusion of today's opening leg stages. "We've had some quite bad luck so far this year, so hopefully our fortunes will change now!"

Meanwhile at the end of the opening day of the China Rally, flying Finn Juha Salo has extended his lead over his compatriot Jarkko Miettinen to more than 30 seconds with one day remaining. The Mitsubishi driver gradually extended his lead over the afternoon stages. While Liu Caodong is still third, there is a big fight for fourth with Jun Xu (Mitsubishi) having passed Fan Fan in the afternoon. Six stages remain to be contested during leg two tomorrow, before the rally finish at 15:12 (local time) in Shaowu.