Loeb dominates early stages

After yesterday's multiple stage cancellations, today's action has run exactly according to plan so far - especially for Loeb, who was fastest through all five stages held during the morning.

The world champion leads Marcus Gronholm by 15.4 seconds as the cars head for the lunchtime service.

In his wake, Gronholm and Petter Solberg have been embroiled in a close battle for second. Solberg took the position in SS10 before losing six seconds to his rival with a quick spin in the next stage.

The Subaru gradually regained that ground during the loop and was within 3.5 seconds of Gronholm before the Finn pulled away again in Cosquin 2.

Mikko Hirvonen gradually lost touch with this group after some competitive early times. His fourth place is already a lonely one - 40 seconds adrift of the lead, and equally distant from Chris Atkinson and Dani Sordo's contest for fifth, which saw the Subaru reel in and pass the Citroen as the morning progressed, only to lose the place again on the final stage of the loop.

Stobart Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala has again been the works teams' main challenger and presently holds a secure seventh place, ahead of OMV Citroen driver Manfred Stohl. Latvala's teammate Henning Solberg remains ninth despite losing time with a puncture.

Both Matthew Wilson (Stobart Ford) and Luis Perez Companc (Munchi's Ford) dropped out during SS10, struck by electrical problems and broken suspension respectively. Their departures mean that Production class leader Federico Villagra currently completes the overall top ten.

Leading times after SS14:

Pos  Driver     Make        Time
 1.  Loeb       Citroen     59:26.6
 2.  Gronholm   Ford        + 15.4
 3.  P Solberg  Subaru      + 25.2
 4.  Hirvonen   Ford        + 41.4
 5.  Sordo      Citroen     + 1:19.3
 6.  Atkinson   Subaru      + 1:23.1
 7.  Latvala    Ford        + 1:34.2
 8.  Stohl      Citroen     + 1:45.0
 9.  H Solberg  Ford        + 1:59.7
10.  Villagra   Mitsubishi  + 5:36.2