Richard Burns is on course to become the first English winner of the World Rally championship.

Another day of steady driving through Saturday's five special stages on the Network Q Rally Of Great Britain will edge the Subaru driver closer to the crown.

Burns had a scare on Saturday morning when his Impreza failed to start, but new spark plugs solved the problem and he made it to the initial assembly point at Cardiff City Hall on time at 0700 GMT.

He finished day two in second place behind Marcus Gronholm.

The Reading-born driver needs a top four finish to be crowned world champion after seeing title rivals Colin McRae and Tommi Makinen crash out on Friday.

He trails outgoing title-holder Gronholm by 36.6secs after eight stages but is nearly two minutes ahead of fifth-placed Carlos Sainzl, the only other driver with a mathematical chance of winning the title.

Burns' hopes were boosted by the retirements of McRae and Makinen.

McRae, who is desperate to remain Britain's only World Rally Champion, said: "This is the biggest disappointment of my career.

"I feel terrible about it, both for myself and for the whole Ford team. There's not a lot more I can do now.

"Richard is in the driving seat and all I can do is sit at home and hope he has some kind of a problem," he added.

Burns, runner-up in the championship the past two years, said of McRae's accident: "I'm surprised Colin was taking big risks on that stage.

"He's paid the price. I'm easing off a little because I need the points but I'm not easing off too much."

Burns was made even more mindful of the need not take chances when Estonia's Markko Martin became his second Subaru team-mate to retire with mechanical problems.

Blurred vision

McRae's challenge ended 10 minutes into the third stage of the day when his Ford Focus barrel-rolled into a ditch.

He and Welsh co-driver Nicky Grist emerged seemingly unhurt from the 100mph accident.

But McRae was later taken to hospital in Swansea with blurred vision in his left eye, which he injured in a crash during last season's Corsica Rally.

However, he was given the all-clear after an examination, and took the blame for his exit.

"We cut a corner a bit too much and the car hit a hole and just rolled," he said.

Although the impetus is now with Burns, Grist believes they are still in the championship race.

"It's not nice when it ends like this, but we have to remember a couple of years ago when Tommi won the championship after he had retired so it's not over yet," he said.

French co-driver Herve Panizzi was also taken to hospital after being struck by a stone thrown up by another car.

Makinen's nightmare

The injury was not serious but doctors at the Port Talbot hospital wanted to keep him in overnight for observation.

Former champion Makinen, saw his hopes end on Friday's opening stage.

The Finn hit a rock, taking a front wheel off his Mitsubishi Lancer and wrecking the suspension, just 10km into the second special stage.

Makinen had been second in the standings on 41 points - one behind McRae.

He had begun the day in 18th position after a mistake-riddled first special stage in Cardiff on Thursday.

McRae began the day in the lead, having won Thursday's stage in Cardiff by 0.1 of a second.

1 M Gronholm (Fin, Peugeot) 1hour 20mins 15.0secs
2 R Burns (GB, Subaru) at 36.6
3 H Rovanpera (Fin, Peugeot) at 52.4
4 D Auriol (Fra, Peugeot) at 2mins 10.0
5 C Sainz (Spa, Ford) at 2:26.9
6 A McRae (GB, Hyundai) at 2:37.6
7 M Higgins (GB, Ford) at 3:41.9
8 A Schwarz (Ger, Skoda) at 3:51.9
9 K Eriksson (Swe, Hyundai) at 3:52.4
10 F Loix (Bel, Mitsubishi) at 4:17.5