Latvala handed New Zealand lead

With both Mikko Hirvonen and Sebastien Loeb desperate to avoid being first on the road for tomorrow's decisive - but slippery - stages, only Latvala went through today's final stage at full speed, and consequently vaulted from third to first.

On pure pace, Loeb (Citroen) looked set to end the day in front. He had benefited from Ford driver Hirvonen being first in the running order this morning, and as the Finn cleared the loose gravel for those behind, Loeb was able to reduce his 27-second overnight deficit to nothing, taking the lead in the penultimate stage of the leg.

But the championship leader then slowed to a halt near the finish of Te Akau North, deliberately dropping 23 seconds to stage winner Latvala (Ford) and falling from first to third.

Hirvonen remains second, having been 14 seconds slower than Latvala in the stage. He will start Sunday's leg 9.3 seconds behind his rally-leading teammate, with Loeb 13 seconds - half the gap he faced this morning - off the lead in third place and set to enjoy the best road conditions of the main contenders.

The tactical shuffling has also kept the consistent Dani Sordo in contention in the second Citroen. He continues to have a quiet run in fourth place, but with the leaders moderating their pace, the Spaniard is still within 15.7 seconds of first position.

Stobart Ford's Francois Duval remains fifth, while satellite Citroen driver Urmo Aava has so far proved quick enough to fend off Subaru's Petter Solberg in their tight battle over sixth place. They will start day three only three seconds apart.

Per-Gunnar Andersson still holds eighth position, with his Suzuki teammate Toni Gardemeister able to continue in ninth following his morning hydraulic problems. Munchi's Ford's Federico Villagra completes the top ten at present.

Henning Solberg (Munchi's Ford) took all three stage wins this afternoon and has now recovered to 13th place overall following his time-consuming power steering failure on Friday.

Leading positions after day two:

Pos  Driver        Car      Time
 1.  Latvala       Ford     2h57:29.0
 2.  Hirvonen      Ford      +    9.3
 3.  Loeb          Citroen   +   13.3
 4.  Sordo         Citroen   +   15.7
 5.  Duval         Ford      + 1:40.9
 6.  Aava          Citroen   + 2:49.8
 7.  P Solberg     Subaru    + 2:52.8
 8.  Andersson     Suzuki    + 4:31.0
 9.  Gardemeister  Suzuki    + 6:37.4
10.  Villagra      Ford      + 6:56.8