Day 2: Loeb builds advantage

The Citroen star found himself at the head of the field following erstwhile event leader Markko Martin's rock-induced suspension drama on SS11. Loeb responded by setting the fastest time on SS11 and SS12, and is looking likely to take his second consecutive WRC win.

Peugeot star Gronholm pushed hard on this morning's stages in a bid to recover from time lost with power steering troubles yesterday. The Finn continued this push with the fastest time on the afternoon's first stage, SS10.

Gronholm dropped 1.6s to Loeb on SS11, but with Martin's problems found himself within 30s of the event lead. But things all went wrong on SS12. The Finn spun his 307 WRC in top gear, ripping off the front wing, bumper and headlights, leaving his radiator exposed to the elements. He dropped 14.2s to Loeb, handing a massive 40.6s to the Frenchman with just six stages to run tomorrow.

"It was a good day for us," said Loeb. "The car was perfect and I made no mistakes, which was not easy with the high rhythm. I was lucky today, but sometimes you need a bit of luck. If I don't make any mistakes, I think I'll be okay tomorrow."

Gronholm admitted that he'd need some luck to win, but refused to give up. "I think it's difficult for me now," he said. "I had a big spin, and the gap [to Loeb] is too big now. But I never give up, so I'll try to catch him tomorrow."

Petter Solberg made a good recovery from earlier mechanical trouble to end the day third in his Subaru Impreza. The reigning champion overhauled Ford driver Janne Tuohino on the afternoon's stages, and set the fastest time on the day's final short superspecial stage.

Tuohino dropped down to fourth, but is under increasing pressure from Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard, another to strike trouble this morning, is just 0.8s behind the Finn at the overnight halt.

Henning Solberg runs sixth, ahead of fellow Peugeot 206 privateer Daniel Carlsson. Long-time event leader Markko Martin was able to continue in the event after his Ford crew did a heroic repair job on his Focus RS WRC03's suspension. The Estonian moved up to eighth overall following the retirement of Freddy Loix, whose Peugeot 307 suffered engine problems.

Martin was still smarting from his earlier error. "I don't know what to say, it was a big disappointment," he said. "It was just really silly to lose it like that."