Loeb dominates in wet conditions

Overnight rain left the stages very slippery and the watersplashes extremely deep, problems that were compounded by fog.

Solberg expected to take the fight to Loeb once leg two got underway, but instead Loeb started pulling away, extending his lead by 25 seconds in SS12 alone. As the cars headed for the midday service, Loeb had a margin of 57.5 seconds over Solberg.

"It's been a very, very good morning, but some very, very difficult conditions," Loeb said. "A lot of mud, a lot of fog, and stones also.

"Now we have a good gap to Petter, close to one minute, and that's looking good for the moment.

"I'm pushing hard, especially this morning. In the first three stages, it was a big attack."

Although Solberg hoped for a straightforward day after a catalogue of glitches on Friday, leg two began badly for the Subaru driver when he broke his semi-automatic gearshift paddle in a watersplash in SS11 and had to switch to the manual system until he could effect makeshift repairs. He then lost more ground thanks to an incorrect tyre choice.

"I had the wrong tyre choice on the wet stages, but this one was dry so I was doing the same times as the other guys," said Solberg after SS14.

"A lot of things can still happen, but it's very bad when you have the wrong tyres on in very muddy conditions, it costs you a lot of time."

Gigi Galli felt his driving was too tense early on, and his third place looked to be under threat from Manfred Stohl. That pressure eased considerably when Stohl's tyre choice also proved incorrect for the wettest stages, causing two costly spins. The Austrian dropped to fifth behind his OMV Peugeot teammate Henning Solberg.

Dani Sordo and Chris Atkinson are still embroiled in a close batle for sixth, while eighth-placed Matt Wilson is having to keep an eye on his teammate Luis Perez-Companc, who has been closing throughout the morning.

Both Marcus Gronholm and Xavier Pons have been setting quick times after rejoining under SupeRally regulations, with the Ford quickest in SS11/12, and Pons winning SS13. But they are still some way from getting back into the points.

Leading positions after SS14:

Pos  Driver         Make        Time
 1.  Loeb           Citroen     2:45.14.0
 2.  P Solberg      Subaru         + 57.5
 3.  Galli          Peugeot      + 2:00.6
 4.  H Solberg      Peugeot      + 3:10.7
 5.  Stohl          Peugeot      + 3:17.9
 6.  Sordo          Citroen      + 3:48.2
 7.  Atkinson       Subaru       + 3:50.1
 8.  Wilson         Ford         + 7:21.1
 9.  Perez Companc  Ford         + 7:26.0
10.  MacHale        Ford        + 10:52.4
11.  Villagra       Mitsubishi  + 14:13.0
12.  Gronholm       Ford        + 14:26.8
13.  Omar           Subaru      + 16:09.4
14.  Al-Attiyah     Subaru      + 17:13.1
15.  Kuzaj          Subaru      + 18:11.4
16.  Menzi          Subaru      + 18:21.4
17.  Baldacci       Mitsubishi  + 18:40.8
18.  Pons           Citroen     + 25:41.1
19.  Wilks          Suzuki      + 25:53.6
20.  Andres         Subaru      + 26:20.6