Gronholm set for Italia victory

Loeb had established a 36-second lead over Gronholm before spinning into a ditch in SS13.

Gronholm also made a mistake in the same stage, but his error only cost him 17 seconds, and he was able to continue in the rally with a comfortable advantage over his works Ford teammate Mikko Hirvonen.

As the cars headed for the mid-morning refuelling break, Gronholm led Hirvonen by 33 seconds - the younger Finn having won two of this morning's three stages despite declaring yesterday that he would drive conservatively to the finish.

The battle for the final podium position remains wide open. Dani Sordo had taken fourth from Henning Solberg at the end of leg two, after the Norweigan spun his Stobart Ford while pushing to stay ahead of the charging Citroen number two. Loeb's departure made this contest a fight for third, and Solberg proved he would not give up easily by winning SS14, having already been faster than Sordo in SS13.

The Spaniard struck back in SS15, where he was 1.3 seconds quicker than Solberg, but with three stages to go, the gap between them is only 5.2 seconds.

Petter Solberg continues to run fifth, with Toni Gardemeister set for sixth provided he can resist Manfred Stohl in the final stages. Stohl has continued to inch closer to the Mitsubishi, but remains 19.7 seconds adrift.

Loeb's retirement moved a second privateer Mitsubishi driver - Juho Hanninen - up to eighth, ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala - who continues to show what he might have achieved by setting very competitive stage times, including being second fastest in SS13.

Under the Superally system, Loeb is currently still classified 10th, but once the penalties for missing subsequent stages take effect he will drop down the order and allow Chris Atkinson back into the top ten, the Subaru having passed new Munchi's Ford signing Federico Villagra for 11th in SS15.

Leading positions after SS15:

Pos  Driver        Make        Time
 1.  Gronholm      Ford        3h 31:25.4
 2.  Hirvonen      Ford         +    33.0
 3.  Sordo         Citroen      +  1:30.8
 4.  H Solberg     Ford         +  1:36.0
 5.  P Solberg     Subaru       +  2:23.7
 6.  Gardemeister  Mitsubishi   +  4:50.0
 7.  Stohl         Citroen      +  5:09.7
 8.  Hanninen      Mitsubishi   +  9:14.9
 9.  Latvala       Ford         + 11:28.7
10.  Loeb          Citroen      + 13:57.4