Leg 2am: Gronholm charges

Gronholm was the star of the morning in Germany, winning the first three stages of the day, going second fastest on the fourth and only faltering with a half-spin on the fifth. That brought the Finn up to third place overall, 43.6sec closer to leader Loeb - almost exactly halving the overnight deficit.

Burns too was closer to Loeb than he'd been last night, though Englishman's typically measured approach had not brought the dramatic times set by his team-mate. Still Richard notched up one stage win and he's just 18.8sec behind Loeb.

Rain and the fast, rough tank training ground stages also brought a string of retirements. Philippe Bugalski, third overnight, dropped out after SS9. The Citroen driver ran off the road on the first stage of the day and dislodged an oil pipe. That spelled the end of his rally before the next stage.

Armin Schwarz then had a violent accident at the end of stage 10. The Hyundai Accent WRC rolled at high-speed into the trees. Schwarz and co-driver Manfred Hiemer were taken to hospital, apparently not badly hurt. There Schwarz was found to have fractured and dislocated a rib. Team-mate Freddy Loix had already pulled out with an oil leak before the first stage of the day.

Petter Solberg dropped out next. He'd been setting a good pace in the Subaru and was on-target for a stage win on SS11, when he slid wide on a sixth-gear corner and took a rear-wheel off the Impreza WRC. He completed the stage, but that was the end for him.

Ford's Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz are still unable to challenge the leaders, but both are still going well in fourth and fifth places, just ahead of privateer upstart Bruno Thiry's Peugeot.