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Gronholm continues to dominate

Marcus Gronholm continues to lead the Rally Finland, exerting his authority by winning three of  today's second loop of stages

The Finn now has a 49.7-second lead over Sebastien Loeb - who, after hitting a rock earlier this morning, has admitted that his chances of victory have now gone.

"The fights with Marcus are just the best moments we've had this season, and this one is over, I think...," Loeb said.

Loeb maintains a comfortable lead over Mikko Hirvonen for third place, holding more than a half-minute advantage over the Finn.

Henning Solberg has been consistently quick to hold on to his fourth place, however, he has a bigger gap to fifth after Dani Sordo crashed out of the event.

Sordo was continuing to climb up the field after he lost time yesterday when his windscreen wipers failed during heavy rain.

However, on the second running of the 13.98km Ouninpohja Lansi 2 stage today, Sordo left the road after one of the event's notorious jumps.

He and co-driver Marc Marti were uninjured but the damage meant they retired from the leg.

The crash means that Gigi Galli has been promoted to fifth position on his return to the championship in his Pirelli-backed Peugeot,

Janne Tuohino's Citroen is in sixth, ahead of Jan Kopecky's Skoda and Matthew Wilson's Ford.

Subaru's Chris Atkinson lies in 14th position, coming back from his gear selection problems this morning, but is focusing on preparing for next month's Rally Japan.

Pos  Driver    Make        Time
 1.  Gronholm  Ford        2h16:42.1
 2.  Loeb      Citroen     +    49.7
 3.  Hirvonen  Ford        +  1:26.2
 4.  Solberg   Peugeot     +  2:57.5
 5.  Galli     Peugeot     +  4:11.0
 6.  Tuohino   Citroen     +  4:50.8
 7.  Valimaki  Mitsubishi  +  5:00.5
 8.  Kopecky   Skoda       +  7:25.5
 9.  Wilson    Ford        + 11:16.2
10.  Stohl     Peugeot     + 11:21.4
11.  Alen      Subaru      + 12:45.2
12.  Flodin    Subaru      + 12:47.4
13.  Sordo     Citroen     + 13:49.9
14.  Wilks     Suzuki      + 15:38.7
15.  Atkinson  Subaru      + 15:49.1

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