Duval takes lead from Loeb

In his first appearance in the OMV Citroen Xsara, Duval benefited from a poor tyre choice by champion and erstwhile rally leader Sebastien Loeb to take a 1.3 second advantage into the second leg.

Loeb had chosen too soft a tyre for the conditions, and lost ground to Duval throughout the afternoon - but was relieved not to drop further behind.

"I'm very happy to be in this position," Loeb said. "We had a really soft tyre because we expected wet and humid conditions but it was completely dry and sunny all afternoon.

"It was a very big mistake, but it's a very good tyre to do these times in these conditions."

Marcus Gronholm remains third, and was surprised not to have closed the 16 second gap to Loeb given his title rival's tyre error.

"Sebastien is doing extremely well with his softs, but it's always the same - he's very quick," Gronholm said.

"I am closer, but the first stage was bad in the morning so we have a big gap. I will push tomorrow."

Dani Sordo and Petter Solberg both hit trouble during the afternoon - the Citroen stopping before the start of SS6, and the Subaru developing a serious vibration before Solberg damaged his tyre and suspension when he made an error in the final stage.

While Sordo had to retire from the leg, Solberg continues in ninth place. His elder brother Henning Solberg was another retirement, having ripped a wheel from his Ford Focus.

Sordo's departure has elevated Mikko Hirvonen to fourth place, five seconds behind his Ford teammate Gronholm.

The problems amongst the works cars have allowed privateers Toni Gardemeister (Citroen) and Jan Kopecky (Skoda) into fifth and sixth places, ahead of Xevi Pons in the third Subaru.

Pos  Driver        Car             Time
 1.  Duval         Citroen   1h 14:10.9
 2.  Loeb          Citroen     +    1.3
 3.  Gronholm      Ford        +   17.4
 4.  Hirvonen      Ford        +   22.7
 5.  Gardemeister  Citroen     + 1:04.2
 6.  Kopecky       Skoda       + 1:26.6
 7.  Pons          Subaru      + 1:37.2
 8.  Latvala       Ford        + 1:40.7
 9.  P Solberg     Subaru      + 1:50.7
10.  Stohl         Citroen     + 2:10.3