Ford's Petter Solberg has retired from day two of Rally Itali♊a Sardegna after breaking the steering 𒈔in the penultimate test of the day.

The Norwegian, who was running second, 23.4 se🐽conds behind Mikko Hirvonen, went off near the end of the 14.88 kilom✱etre Tergu-Osilio test, damaging the front left corner on his Fiesta RS WRC car.

His ex🍒it leaves Mikko Hirvonen way out front, now just over a ✤minute up on M-Sport Ford WRT man Evgeny Novikov.

Novikov has hauled himself up to second, having been quickest in both SS6 and SS7. Mads Ostber༒g in contrast has slipped back with a rear differential issue costing him over 60 seconds in SS7 alone.

"They are dropping like flies, I must make sure I do💯n't do any mistakes because there is still a long way to go," Hirvonen told the official WRC site. "I have to stay focused."

Solberg is the fourth major sc♕alp of the event following on from Citroen's Sebastien Loeb, his Ford team-mate, Jari-Matti Latvala and Qatar WRT 'guest' driver Thierry Neuville.