Freddy Loix heads extremely tight battle for Rally Sanremo lead

Today's first stage saw early leader Andreas Mikkelsen (Skoda UK) reclaim the lead he had lost to Loix (BFO Skoda) last night.

But Mikkelsen could not pull away, and by winning the loop-ending Colle d'Oggia stage, Loix edged back into the lead by 2.5 seconds.

Mikkelsen remained calm, while ruing a set-up adjustment.

"We just made some slight changes to the car before the stage, and this stage was a little more bumpy," he said. "If we push too much before then we're driving very much on the limit. We're comfortable where we are now, but we could push more if needed."

For the second rally in a row, Thierry Neuville made a spectacular start to leg two and has flown back into contention for victory in his Kronos-run Peugeot Belgium/Luxembourg entry. Wins on two of this morning's three stages mean he is now just 4.4s off the lead again.

"It's a close battle. We pushed hard on the first stages to come back," said Neuville, who had been slowed by a brake issue last night.

"The feeling is good and the set-up is good. There are still some places where we slide too much. We'll try to do better on the next loop."

Peugeot France's Bryan Bouffier is still in contention in fourth, 11s off the lead.

Championship leader Jan Kopecky (Skoda) remains a solitary fifth.

Leading positions after SS10:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Freddy Loix        BFO Skoda             1h55m59.0s
 2.  Andreas Mikkelsen  Skoda UK                  + 2.5s
 3.  Thierry Neuville   Kronos/Peugeot Belux      + 4.4s
 4.  Bryan Bouffier     PH/Peugeot France        + 11.5s
 5.  Jan Kopecky        Skoda                    + 35.2s
 6.  Bruno Magalhaes    Peugeot Portugal       + 1m03.3s
 7.  Alessandro Perico  PA Peugeot             + 3m13.6s
 8.  Umberto Scandola   Car Ford               + 3m36.0s
 9.  Pierre Campana     Munaretto Peugeot      + 3m42.6s
10.  Toni Gardemeister  TGS Skoda              + 4m41.3s