BANBURY'S Subaru World Rally Team driver Chris Atkinson and co-driver Stéphane Prévot hold fourth position overall for the Oxfordshire team after battling in-car temperatures of more than 40C on today's second day of the Rally of Jordan.

Petter Solberg and Phil Mills however were ruled out of the competition on the day's final stage, having earlier demonstrated improved pace with a raft of top-four stage times.

Subaru team principal David Richards said: "Chris did exactly what he needed today and as a result was able to climb to fourth overall. He should be happy with his position after two very difficult days.

"Clearly it has been a very tough day for Petter and Phil with all the problems they have experienced and it is a very disappointing end to their rally."

Atkinson and Prévot claimed fourth place on the 15 kilometre stage 11, the longest of the day, after an accident between rally leader Sebastien Loeb and Conrad Rautenbach on the road section between stages forced both involved to retire. With a comfortable gap to the crews in third and fifth, and despite going third fastest on stage 15, Atkinson wasn't taking any risks on the treacherously difficult surface.

"The biggest focus for us today was to get to the finish, make no mistakes and just hold position" said Chris Atkinson. "We had no major problems and got here OK. There is a big gap in front and behind of us, but we can't afford to lose too much time so we were still driving reasonably quickly, just not taking any risks by driving around rocks and things like that. I'm happy with fourth though.

"I think tomorrow will need even more caution as the stages are more difficult, especially the long Jordan River stage, and they are a lot more loose and slippery. We'll approach tomorrow in exactly the same way."