Loeb hanging on to tiny lead

Gronholm has demolished Loeb's once ample lead this morning, closing the gap from 25.1 seconds to 5.4 seconds with just one stage to go.

Unfortunately for Gronholm, the remaining stage is the short Obihiro superspecial, where it will be very difficult to overhaul what remains of Loeb's advantage.

There were fears that the showdown could become an anticlimax after Luis Perez Companc crashed in the penultimate stage. With initial reports suggesting that the stranded Ford was blocking the road, it appeared that the stage might have to be cancelled, but it ultimately proved possible to squeeze past Perez Companc's car.

If Loeb can protect his lead through the superspecial, he will beat Carlos Sainz's record for the most wins in the World Rally Championship by taking his career tally to 27.

The Kronos Citroen driver will also extend his championship lead to 33 points over Gronholm with five rallies remaining.

He admitted to having found this morning stressful.

"It's very difficult because in my position what's most important is finishing but fighting for the victory is good too," said Loeb. "Marcus today was really flat-out and it was difficult to keep the rhythm."

Further down the order, Dani Sordo lost over a minute negotiating Perez Companc's car and fell to seventh, behind Toshi Arai.

Gareth MacHale was another late retirement, striking a bridge in SS25 and putting himself out of ninth place with just two and a half stages remaining.

Leading positions after SS26:

Pos  Driver     Make              Time
 1.  Loeb       Citroen     3h 21:09.2
 2.  Gronholm   Ford             + 5.4
 3.  Hirvonen   Ford          + 2:46.7
 4.  Atkinson   Subaru        + 6:06.6
 5.  Stohl      Peugeot       + 7:08.9
 6.  Arai       Subaru        + 9:02.5
 7.  Sordo      Citroen       + 9:05.9
 8.  P Solberg  Subaru       + 11:42.4
 9.  MacHale    Ford         + 22:39.8
10.  Nutahara   Mitsubishi   + 22:53.6