Loeb still leads on day two in Spain

There were no changes at the top of the order, but Ford were back up to speed after a difficult afternoon on the first day of the event.

Marcus Gronholm has pulled back around six seconds on the Frenchman from yesterday, and Loeb admits that Citroen can't afford to relax, despite the big gap back to the Ford drivers.

"The Fords are going fast, so we have to push hard to keep our place," said Loeb. "Everybody is doing similar times, it's a big battle.

"It's good that at the end of yesterday we could do a big difference so that now we are a bit more comfortable."

Dani Sordo has maintained his solid pace just behind his teammate, and the Spaniard is still in a comfortable second place ahead of the Fords.

Gronholm did not share the same views as Loeb about the battle at the front, and the Finn believes that Citroen are not feeling much pressure.

"Ok, we are getting quicker, but we cannot catch Sebastien," said Gronholm. "Of course he has to push a little bit, but they have a safe margin."

Mikko Hirvonen was more upbeat about Ford's chances to keep the pressure on the leaders, and he also pointed out that he could not back off with Francois Duval around half a minute behind in fifth place.

Duval does not believe that his Citroen Xsara is capable of fighting the top four cars, but he now has a safe margin back to Petter Solberg in sixth place.

Jari-Matti Latvala is in a lonely seventh place, as Chris Atkinson was disappointed to lose further ground to the Ford driver this morning.

Xevi Pons is nearly one minute behind his Subaru teammate, and the Spaniard will probably need those ahead of him to hit trouble if he is to score any points on home soil.

Times after SS10:

Pos   Driver        Car        Time     
 1.   Loeb          Citroen    1h56:38.6
 2.   Sordo         Citroen        +14.4
 3.   Gronholm      Ford           +47.6
 4.   Hirvonen      Ford         +1:00.4
 5.   Duval         Citroen      +1:34.7
 6.   Solberg       Subaru       +2:07.8
 7.   Latvala       Ford         +2:34.0
 8.   Atkinson      Subaru       +3:09.0
 9.   Pons          Subaru       +4:03.1
10.   Solberg       Ford         +7:03.2