Day 3am: Fog hits stages

The Citroen star won every stage of the day to increase his lead to a commanding 1m28.7s over Ford's Francois Duval, who seemed the only other driver able to push hard in the conditions.

Asked how he could drive so fast in the conditions Loeb said: "I don't know. I was very fast today in the fog, which made a difference compared to all the other drivers, except Francois Duval. There's no secret, I just tried to keep it on the road because it's very slippery. The feeling was good and the car was perfect, so the fog was no problem."

Duval also enjoyed the challenge of mastering the weather. "I like the difficult conditions," he said. "It's very difficult to drive in the fog, but for me it was no problem to attack."

However, Duval admitted his chances of catching Loeb were slim at best. "It's difficult because Sebastien is very fast," he said. "My position is very good considering it's my second time in Monte Carlo. Maybe Markko [Martin, team-mate] will pass me tomorrow - it's no problem."

Martin dropped behind his team-mate over the course of the day, but was very open about his shortcomings.

"I have to point out that I can't drive in the fog - I was crap," he explained. "But I'm very happy for Ford because to have two cars on the podium is very good for the manufacturers' championship."