Loeb retakes lead as Ford struggle

The Frenchman is now 11 seconds ahead of his teammate Dani Sordo, while Marcus Gronholm finished the day 50 seconds adrift of his championship rival.

"I tried really, really hard on the final stage," said Loeb. "I had a good rhythm, and I knew we had the right setup to I tried to make the most of it."

Sordo had initially extended his lead over the world champion during SS5, but the Spaniard fell behind his teammate in SS6, where changeable weather conditions affected several drivers.

"The stage was difficult in these conditions, so I drove slowly," said Sordo. "I have to finish the rally, this is my job."

Gronholm fell into the clutches of Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen as he struggled in the final leg of the day, and the two Finns are separated by less than three seconds heading into the second day of the event.

"Wrong setup, wrong tyres, wrong everything," said Hirvonen, who won SS5, and was 10 seconds faster than Gronholm through SS6 alone.

"But that's how it is. That (SS6) was the most testing stage I have ever done. We are lucky there are still two days to go."

Gronholm had little to say at the end of the day, apart from stating that he "hates Tarmac rallies."

Francois Duval is more than 30 seconds adrift of the two Fords, and the Belgian believes that he does not have a car capable of challenging for a podium place this weekend.

Petter Solberg ended the day relatively happy with his pace in sixth position, while his Subaru teammate Chris Atkinson lost seventh to Jari-Matti Latvala.

Standings after SS6:

Pos   Driver      Car       Time
 1.   Loeb        Citroen   1h22:16.5
 2.   Sordo       Citroen       +11.3
 3.   Gronholm    Ford          +50.6
 4.   Hirvonen    Ford          +53.2
 5.   Duval       Citroen     +1:25.8
 6.   P Solberg   Subaru      +1:35.4
 7.   Latvala     Ford        +2:09.2
 8.   Atkinson    Subaru      +2:20.2
 9.   Pons        Subaru      +3:18.3
10.   H Solberg   Ford        +5:43.3