Loeb aims to safeguard lead

An unfavourable road position left Loeb over 30 seconds behind Solberg after the first three stages of the rally, but he fought back and took the lead on the opening stage of leg two. Loeb and Solberg then enjoyed an extremely close tussle until Solberg's power steering problems allowed Loeb to end the day with a relatively comfortable advantage.

"It's been the sort of day that I really enjoy, with a full-on battle," said Loeb.

"We've been pushing at the limits of what's reasonable, particularly on the second run through Duarte.

"We will try to keep up a good rhythm and above all to avoid making mistakes. Such a hard-fought advantage deserves to be protected."

Solberg was keeping pace with Loeb until clipping a rock six kilometres into Derramadero 2. The impact broke the Subaru's power steering, costing Solberg nearly 30 seconds. The problem was rectified in the service halt, but then Solberg lost more time by spinning and stalling on the Nextel Superspecial at the end of the day. Despite these dramas, Solberg still believes that Loeb can be caught.

"I think we're in for an exciting finish tomorrow," he said. "Second place would mean some useful points, but I came here for a win and I'm going to try my best to get one."