Day 3: Seb on course for win

Loeb's closest challenger, Peugeot's Marcus Gronholm, started the third day as he ended the second - by spinning. That slip, which cost over 30secs, gave Loeb even more of a comfort zone up front. Undeterred, Gronholm stormed to the fastest time on SS16, Hara, but is now just over a minute in arrears of Loeb.

Gronholm's early mishap allowed Petter Solberg into range of his second spot, but the battle for fourth was a much closer affair. Carlos Sainz started his day well by setting the fastest time on SS14, Sagen, but the Citroen star was blitzed by Ford's Janne Tuohino on the following test at Rammen, which elevated the young Finn ahead of the Spanish veteran. Sainz fought back on SS16, and is just 0.2secs behind Tuohino with three stages remaining.

Henning Solberg, Petter's elder brother, held sixth, ahead of the recovering Ford Focus of Markko Martin, who reckons seventh is about the best he can get out of an event which started so well on Friday, but turned into a nightmare yesterday.

Three stages remain this afternoon.