Maguire and Brakey lead in Adelaide after leg two

Maguire stopped on safety grounds on Thursday at what he and co-driver Zak Brakey thought was a car fire, meaning they placed third in the provisional results in the evening.

Their time loss was reinstated and they were given a notional time for the stage and therefore started the day in the lead.

Over the course of Friday’s nine stages they edged ever so slightly ahead of their nearest challengers Jeff Morton and Daymon Nicoli in a Porsche.

In fact, the Dodge pairing won every stage bar one.

That left them 17 seconds ahead at the close of the day’s stages before heading into the Gouger Street Party in downtown Adelaide.

The Morton and Nicoli pairing were always fast, but were often beaten on special stages by a matter of tenths as the battle between the leaders continued to intensify.

With short stages on Saturday and Sunday, the Porsche crew will need to be right on the pace if they are to negate their current deficit to the lead.

Angus Kennard continues to sit third in his Nissan GTR, and with over a minute back to third position, he could be forgiven for easing up a little.

He is, however, continuing to consistently place behind Maguire and Morton in third position on the stage by stage time sheets.

Ben Calder sits in fourth, as he did at the end of Thursday, with his Audi running on song alongside his co-driver Steve Glenney.

He ended just ahead of Nick and Jacob Streckelsen in fifth.

Sitting just outside the top 10 was Stuart Bowes in his popular Toyota Celica GT-Four, however steering dramas put paid to his strong run.

With his ex-Toyota Team Europe car repaired, he’ll back in action tomorrow.

Ross Dunkerton also continues to get reacquainted with his Asia Pacific Rally Championship winning Galant VR4.

In the classic class of the event, Jack Monkhouse has continued to lead while learning more and more on tarmac driving. 

His Datsun 180B SSS has unsurprisingly not failed to impress crowds.

Andrew Booker and Neil Branum are second in the classics aboard their Nissan Skyline.

They’ll need to keep the pace on as they’re only 30 seconds ahead of an ever-improving Tom Dermody in third place.

The brand new APX Suspension Ford Escort was singing high in the rev range on Adelaide’s twisty roads, and only grabbed third late in the piece.

Roger Lomman’s Datsun 240Z did hold that coveted podium place for a lot of the day, but time loss to Dermody in the final three stages meant he’d have to settle for fourth overnight.

The Shannons Adelaide Rally continues for a third day on Saturday with a short and sharp day over 43 kilometres of action.

Ten stages will be run with competition beginning just after 10am.