British interest in the Rally of Scotland was hit hard by the first two stages of the afternoon, with Guy Wilks retiring and Kris Meeke hitting brake trouble.
Wilks retired after the re-run Craigvinean test, when his Skoda was struck by transmission problems. Peugeot's Meeke is still running, but he has slipped to fourth place, 1m30sec off the leader Juho Hanninen (Skoda).
A spokesperson from the Skoda GB team said: "We're absolutely gutted. Guy had this event, it was there for him to win. We don't know exactly what has happened yet, but it's bad news. I feel for Guy, his co-driver Phil [Pugh] and the rest of the team – this had looked like it could have been the perfect result."
Meeke had led the event early on, posting fastest time on the opening run through Craigvinean, but he dropped back with a puncture on the third stage of today. He has now damaged the rear brakes on his 207 and is running with front brakes only for the day's final test.
This year's Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Hanninen is now 12 seconds clear of Andreas Mikkelsen's Ford Fiesta at the head of the field.