Citroen duo hold station at front

Rising star Sordo had been closing on his team leader during the first loop of stages this morning, but both men were more cautious through SS11 and 12.

"I'm following the splits now," said Loeb. "This morning Dani was really fast.

"We had some team orders to say 'okay, don't break the cars'.

"We just have to control it and finish first and second."

"My rally is not with Sebastien," Sordo added.

The gap between the two Xsaras is now 24 seconds, and - barring unexpected misfortunes - the lead positions appear to be set.

Marcus Gronholm has moved back into third place after Toni Gardemeister struggled to find grip during in the central loop.

"I can do nothing on these stages," he admitted. "I'm pushing like hell, but we have no grip."

Like his Ford teammate Gronholm, Mikko Hirvonen produced his best pace of the event so far during SS11 and 12, and took fifth from Manfred Stohl in the process. Hirvonen was concerned by a serious vibration, but it barely affected his times.

Stohl was left frustrated, angrily blaming a poor tyre choice for his loss of time and position.

"A very stupid mistake," he said. "I don't know why we make so many mistakes with tyre choice on this rally. Unbelievable."

Andreas Aigner currently retains his seventh place but lost some time with a few stalls this morning, so is starting to come under pressure from Stephane Sarrazin.

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