Rally France: Yvan Muller and Romain Dumas find going tough

Former Le Mans winner Dumas rolled his Mini on SS9 but was able to continue in 17th, two places behind Muller.

The changeable conditions on the stages south-west of Strasbourg were more slippery than ever on Saturday morning. The unpredictable nature of the road frustrated both the World Touring Car champion and his endurance racing countryman.

Dumas said: "I was about five kilometres in a right corner [when I crashed]. Afterwards I continue with a puncture for the next 10 kilometres.

"The conditions on the road were quite damp, I didn't see and I didn't have [the problem] in the notes. I carried too much speed and we spun and went up on the bank, on the side of the car.

"The spectators came and put the car back on its wheels again, but I lost maybe one minute. It's hard this morning.

"Yesterday, at the end, when I was 1.6 or 1.5 [second per kilometre] off the pace of the guys at the front, I was starting to like it. But today, you have to be so precise and already, we are far from being precise."

He added: "When you go slow, you have no problem!"

Muller spun on the morning's longest stage, but enjoyed an otherwise trouble-free run.

"I am still here and the car still looks nice," said Muller.

"But it has been very hard. It's tough to bring some temperature to the tyres and then you go deep into the forest and it's wet and damp with mud... it's complicated.

"It's really hard. But the car is good - it's better than me!"