Loeb extends lead

World Champion and leg one leader Sebastien Loeb was fastest again on the 32.1km Col de Braus to Lantosque stage, extending his advantage over new team-mate Francois Duval to 37.8s.

Toni Gardemeister was the fastest non-Citroen on the stage - albeit 18s slower than the lead Xsara. His performance takes Ford's new recruit past Petter Solberg into fourth place, 19s behind third-placed Marcus Gronholm. Further down the top ten, Mitsubishi star Gilles Panizzi has edged lead privateer Didier Auriol back to eighth.

Solberg's Subaru team-mate Stephane Sarrazin lost the most time on SS5 - spinning early on the stage and then adding a half-rotation later on. He was also concerned that his ice notes were rather too conservative. The ex-single-seater star lost 40s to team-mate Solberg and slipped behind Roman Kresta to tenth.

Colin McRae's protégé Kris Meeke (Citroen C2) was fastest of the JWRC runners this morning and has closed to within 40.4s of class leader and reigning champion Per-Gunnar Andersson (Suzuki Ignis).



Sebastien Loeb (Citroen Xsara), 1h42m55.0s
Francois Duval (Citroen Xsara), 1h43m32.8s
Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot 307), 1h44m24.7s
Toni Gardemeister (Ford Focus), 1h44m43.7s
Petter Solberg (Subaru Impreza), 1h44m50.2s
Markko Martin (Peugeot 307), 1h45m03.0s
Gilles Panizzi (Mitsubishi Lancer), 1h45m19.3s
Didier Auriol (Peugeot 206), 1h45m42.2s
Roman Kresta (Ford Focus), 1h46m03.7s
Stephane Sarrazin (Subaru Impreza), 1h46m17.3s



Alexandre Bengue (Skoda Fabia), 1h46m49.1s
Harri Rovanpera (Mitsubishi Lancer), 1h46m53.1s
Armin Schwarz (Skoda Fabia), 1h48m37.3s
Antony Warmbold (Ford Focus), 1h50m53.5s