The all-new Suzuki Swift of Guy Wilks is aiming for a podium after finishing third on the second day of Germany's Rally Deutschland, round six of the Junior World Rally Championship. His team mate P-G Andersson is fourth, ahead of Kosti Katajamaki who is fifth in an Ignis. The final points-scoring place was occupied by Ignis driver Pavel Valousek in eighth.

Guy Wilks is heading for another podium with the Suzuki Swift

Guy started the day third, less than half a minute behind the Citroen C2s of Daniel Sordo and Kris Meeke. Given that these cars have been competing for over a year, whereas the Suzuki Swift is making its debut on asphalt, it was an extremely good effort from the Junior World Championship leader. Today he concentrated on keeping up a solid pace, but not pushing his new car beyond its limits. His biggest drama was on the second stage of the day, Panzerplatte, when he slid wide into a ditch and picked up a puncture which he had to stop and change. In the afternoon he had a brake balance problem which caused him to skid off several times, but this was finally cured for the last loop of stages.

Guy said: "I preferred today's stages to those of the opening leg: the roads were a bit more flowing and it was quite easy to get into a reasonably quick rhythm. The Baumholder stages, particularly Panzerplatte, have plenty of places that can catch you out, so I didn't want to take too many risks. After we slid into the ditch I kept my foot in, but there must have been a rock in the ditch because I knew straight away that we had a puncture. The brake balance problem turned into a bit of a disaster: we seemed to spend more time going backwards than forwards!"

P-G Andersson started leg two in fourth, after losing time with an overshoot and a broken catalytic converter. With these problems behind him the Swede was able to attack, although it was only his first visit to the Rally Germany. In the morning he lost time with another overshoot, and he also stopped to let a World Rally Car past, which was recovering from an electrical problem. In the afternoon he had a puncture, but was able to struggle to the end of the stage without losing too much time.

P-G, the reigning Junior World Champion, said: "I was quite pleased that it was dry today because that gave me the confidence to push a bit. It's been a tricky day, but the overshoot was my fault: I wasn't listening to my notes properly. We passed a World Rally Car that was stopped by the side of the road in SS8 with a problem, but when he got going again we preferred to stop and let him through rather than hold him up. Our puncture in the afternoon was annoying as we are only 20 seconds from third place: it would have made the difference."

Kosti Katajamaki, driving an Ignis run by Suzuki Sport Europe, enjoyed another trouble-free day after starting the rally in fifth this morning. His Ignis was a paragon of reliability, and the Finn made no mistakes. A spectator threw a stone against the windscreen in the car of the morning, which shook him up quite badly. But he is now concentrating on just getting to the finish.

Kosti reported: "I've got a bit of experience of the Rally Deutschland so I had half an idea of what to expect. I wasn't disappointed! These stages are quite something: you have to be brave. The spectator throwing a stone was really stupid: that is so dangerous. We're not pushing too hard now as there is a big gap in front of us and behind us."

Pavel Valousek started the day seventh but the place came under threat when he broke a driveshaft on SS8. He also had gearbox problems, but still maintained eighth place.

Ignis driver Martin Prokop was competing under the super rally system, after breaking a rear axle on the final stage yesterday. The young Czech concentrated on learning the event and gaining experience, but he was forced to retire with mechanical problems relating to the damage sustained on leg one.

Suzuki Sport president Nobuhiro 'Monster' Tajima said: "I am happy with the performance of the new Swift on asphalt, compared to our much more experienced opposition. I think we have shown that we have a good starting point with this car, but of course there is a lot more performance to come."

Tomorrow's final leg of the Rally Deutschland contains six special stages, split into two loops of three. Weather conditions are expected to be largely dry, but rain is always a possibility. The first car leaves Parc Ferme in Trier at 06:45 (CET) and the winner is due to spray the champagne at 16:30.

Junior World Rally Championship classification at end of leg two, Rallye Deutschland:

1 Daniel Sordo (Citroen C2) 2h50m06.8s
2 Kris Meeke (Citroen C2) +11.7s
3 Guy Wilks (Suzuki Swift) +4m00.2s
4 P-G Andersson (Suzuki Swift) +4m20.5s
5 Kosti Katajamaki (Suzuki Ignis) +5m04.3s
6 Luca Betti (Renault Clio) +8m00.3s
7 Mirco Baldacci (Fiat Punto) +10m33.5s
8 Pavel Valousek (Suzuki Ignis) +11m53.6s