The battle in the 2WD and Junior Cup class resumes this morning with last years Junior Champion Akira Bamba (Japan) just 10 seconds in front of current points leader Michael Young (New Zealander).

Both driving Proton Satria 1.6 Neo’s the pair swopped times and the lead all through Day 1, with Bamba heading into last nights Spectator stage at the Caloundra Airport with a 13 second lead.

Young managed to claw back 3 seconds on the two tarmac tests to bring the gap down to 10 seconds with 138 competitive kilometres still to run on the final day, including the giant 35k ‘Big Derrier’ last stage.