BANBURY'S Subaru World Rally Team driver Chris Atkinson is set for his best World Rally Championship finish after taking second position overall aboard his Subaru Impreza WRC2007 in the second day of the Rally Mexico.

His team-mate Petter Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills however fell foul of the conditions and were forced to retire mid-way through the morning's stages.

Solberg and Mills re-started the event today and are running 13th.

Atkinson and Solberg started the day in third and fourth positions respectively with Sevastien Loeb in a clear lead at the front.

Subaru World Rally Team Principal David Richards said: "We have had mixed fortunes in very challenging condition.

"Unfortunately Petter's car suffered a transmission failure that forced his retirement from a strong fourth position, but Chris has done a very good job to put himself on target for his highest WRC finish."

Atkinson and Prevot had a consistent morning, not taking any unnecessary risks to keep in touch with the leading duo.

The gap behind them grew with the early retirement of teammate Solberg, followed in the afternoon by Ford's Mikko Hirvonen who lost three minutes with a puncture after going off the road. Settled in a comfortable third, the afternoon's stages proceeded to reshape the leading trio.

Atkinson was promoted to second overall, ahead of Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala when the Finn suffered engine problems in stage 13, and extended his gap to a comfortable 1m 05seconds over third place going into the final day of the third round of the World Rally Championship.

Atkinson said: "We were settled for third this morning and I was just focused on matching Jari-Matti's pace.

"Now we find ourselves in second which is good for the team and Subaru. It's a shame for Jari, but we've had our problems and that's the way it is. We have a little bit of a gap each way but the plan doesn't change. We'll not take any silly risks and just focus on matching the gaps to Sebastien and Jari. We had a few small problems this afternoon with starts and lost a few seconds. The gap is comfortable but it won't be easy tomorrow. It'll be tricky and very loose, and we'll still need to push."

Today's final day of Rally Mexico is considerably shorter at only 143 competitive kilometres over four stages.